Late Macedonian President Gligorov Was 'Certified' Bulgarian

Diplomacy | January 3, 2012, Tuesday // 14:03|  views

A 1943 Certificate from the Bulgarian authorities in Skopje certifying that Kiro Glirogov was an "honest and reliable Bulgarian". Source: sitebulgarizaedno.com

Macedonia's late President Kiro Gligorov, who was buried in Skopje Tuesday, had a document issued by the Bulgarian authorities in 1942 that he was of Bulgarian origin.

Gligorov passed away Sunday evening at the age of 94, his office said. His funeral took place on January 03 at the Butel cemetery in Skopje.

Gligorov, who led Macedonia to independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, served for two terms, from January 27, 1991 to November 19, 1999.

He is known for often espousing "anti-Bulgarian" positions, i.e. promoting explicitly a distinct Macedonian national identity counter to the paradigm of the period before communist Yugoslavia when Macedonia was viewed as part of the Bulgarian nation.

Gligorov was born in 1917 in the town of Stip in Eastern Macedonia, which was then part of the Tsardom (Kingdom) of Bulgaria during World War I. After Bulgaria lost the war, the region of Vardar Macedonia was made part of the Kingdom of Sebrs, Croats, and Slovenes, turned into the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929.

Gligorov graduated from the law department of the Belgrade University in 1940, after attending a Serbian high school in Skopje. After the collapse of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and Bulgaria's taking over of the region of Vardar Macedonia in 1941, he moved back to Skopje and worked as a bank lawyer.

In 1942, he was arrested by the police on accusations that he was a pro-Serbian communist, but was released with the guarantees of Skopje Mayor Spiro Kitinchev. It was in 1942-1943 that Gligorov received two documents from the Bulgarian authorities certifying his Bulgarian origin.

(Translation from the photo copy above:)

"Certificate

The Skopje city municipal government certifies based on an agent's inspection and in reference to the population register that Kiril Blagoev Grigorov is a resident of the city of Skopje entered into volume VII, page 18113, and is a Bulgarian citizen.

He is an honest and reliable Bulgarian, of Bulgarian origin.

The present [certificate] is given to him to be used for the legalization of his diploma before the Ministry of Education.

Skopje City Municipality

Tsardom of Bulgaria

March 22, 1943"

 

(Translation from the photo copy above)

"Certificate

The Stip city municipal government certifies that Kiril Blagoev Gligorov, from the town of Stip, born in the town of Stip, Bulgarian by ethnicity, of Bulgarian origin, is an honest and reliable citizen.

The present [certificate] is given to him to be used before the Skopje Bar Association.

Stip City Municipal Government

Tsardom of Bulgaria

August 7, 1942"

 

According to neighbors living near the former family house of Kiro Gligorov in Stip, cited by BGNES, his real family name was Panchev; it was changed to Gligorovic when he was seven and started school by the school's Serbian headmaster. He kept this family name until 1941 when Macedonia was again part of Bulgaria, when he changed his name to Gligorov or Grigorov.

Gligorov's father was a craftsman, and his mother was a housewife. He used to visit his hometown Stip regularly until a few years ago.

Gligorov held various high positions in the political establishment of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, including a secretary of State for finance in the Federal executive Council, a member of the Yugoslav Presidency as well as President of the Assembly of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from May 15, 1974 to May 15, 1978.[2]

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Tags: Kiro Gligorov, macedonia, Yugoslavia, FYROM, Macedonian President, Skopje, Stip, Yugoslavia, communist Yugoslavia, Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Serbia, Serbian, Kingdom of Serbs Croats and Slovenes

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