Macedonian Newspaper Deceives Readers about Dilma Rousseff's Origin

Macedonian newspaper Dnevnik, together with Macedonian Facebook users, has been quick to declare Brazil's new President Dilma Rousseff "Macedonian" completely misrepresenting the facts. Photo by EPA/BGNES

The Editorial Team of Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency) protests against its mentioning in an article of Macedonian newspaper Dnevnik which contains untrue information about the origin of Brazil's newly-elected President, Dilma Rousseff.

The Dnevnik publication from Wednesday, November 3, 2010, entitled "Maiden from Pirin Region Leads Brazil" ( http://www.dnevnik.com.mk/?itemID=3318A1B4C532404786505239EEB081C8&arc=1 ) cites an article of Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency) in a way that might create the misleading impression that Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency) supports the claims of a Macedonian Facebook group and of the Dnevnik newspaper that Dilma Rousseff has "Macedonian" origin.

The Dnevnik article states twice that Dilma Rousseff's Bulgarian father, Petar Rusev, is from Gabrovo, Pirin Macedonia. It confuses – deliberately or not – two places in Bulgaria both named "Gabrovo": the city of Gabrovo, with a population of about 80 000, located in Central Bulgaria, which is the actual birthplace of Dilma Rousseff's Bulgarian father Petar Rusev – and the small village of Gabrovo in the Blagoevgrad Municipality, Southwestern Bulgaria in the historical and geographic region known as "Pirin Macedonia" after the Pirin Mountain located there.

This confusion has apparently enabled the Macedonian paper Dnevnik to play around with Macedonia's dormant claims circulated by the Macedonian press that Southwestern Bulgaria constitutes "Macedonian territory" inhabited by a "Macedonian minority." As a result, the Dnevnik article proclaims that Dilma Rousseff has "Macedonian" origin.

All articles and interviews about Dilma Rousseff and her family published by Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency) – which have already been cited correctly all around the world including in Brazil, the EU, and the USA – explicitly make it clear that Petar Rusev was born in the Bulgarian town of Gabrovo (which could also be termed a city given Bulgaria's proportions), and which is nowhere near the region of Pirin Macedonia.

The Editorial Team of Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency) is perplexed as to how and why the Macedonian newspaper Dnevnik is the only media in the world drawing incorrect and misleading interpretations from our articles, and mistaking a city of 80 000 people for a small village.

Even if the region of Pirin Macedonia were the birthplace of Petar Rusev, it is unclear how this could give grounds to the Macedonian press to suggest that Dilma Rousseff's origin was linked to the "Macedonian nation" and "Macedonian identity".

The precise quote from the Dnevnik article, which cites Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency), and makes untrue claims, reads:

"The father of Dilma Petar Stefanov Russev, was born in Gabrovo, in Pirin Macedonia, and in 1929 emigrated because of the persecution of communists. Dilma Vana Rusef, the first woman president in the history of Brazil, has Macedonian origin. This, at least, claim users of the social network Facebook, and is reported by the Sofia news agency Novinite... The Father of Dilma Petar Stefanov Russev, was born in Gabrovo, in Pirin Macedonia in Bulgaria."

No articles of Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency) have ever suggested that Dilma Rousseff's father Petar Rusev could be considered to be of any ethnic origin other than Bulgarian simply because there are no kind of grounds for that. Any claims that Petar Rusev had "Macedonian identity" or "Macedonian ethnicity" are ridiculous.

Regardless of what certain people in Macedonia might wish, Brazil's new President, Mrs. Dilma Rousseff, is of Brazilian nationality and citizenship, and of Bulgarian origin on her father's side – in the very least, she herself has made these fact clear numerous times.

The Editorial Team of Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency) condemns the misinterpretation of its articles by the Macedonian newspaper Dnevnik. This is not just poor journalism but leave doubts of intentional actions.

The Editorial Team of Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency) demands that the Macedonian newspaper Dnevnik should publish the current statement as a correction of their article, and should issue an apology making it clear that Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency) has never suggested that Petar Rusev and his daughter Dilma Rousseff, Brazil's new President, are of Macedonian origin.

 

Editorial Team

Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency)

The Sofia Morning News

The Sofia Weekly

*This statement has been submitted to the editorial staff of the Macedonian newspaper Dnevnik and to the paper's publisher, the German media group WAZ. We will notify the readers of Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency) about any reaction to our statement - or, potentially, the lack thereof.

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