On behalf of Macedonians in Albania and of the members of the Macedonian Association Ilinden Tirana, we express our disbelief at the frauds, undignified lies and numerous provocations issued by the Bulgarian Embassy in Albania on January 6th 2022. In a number of photographs and in an article that contained nothing that is factually correct, the Embassy published the most brazen Bulgarian fraud yet. In this press release, published at the internet site of the Bulgarian Embassy, it is claimed that the children of the Korca region celebrated "Christmas in the Bulgarian style" and that all children in the municipality of Pustec, from kindergarten up to 12th grade, received Christmas and New Year presents.

The citizens of this area, as well as the only Macedonian political party in Albania - the Macedonian Association for European Integration (MAEI) reacted to this press release. In its response, MAEI strongly condemns the latest provocations and lies from the Bulgarian Embassy in Tirana and informs the entire public that there was no celebration of "Christmas in the Bulgarian style" in the municipality of Pustec. We present excerpts from the MAEI reaction in response to the Bulgarian lies.

"Today Macedonians in Pustec and in other parts of Albania celebrated their traditional, Maceodnian holiday of Badnik and tomorrow we celebrate Christmas, using customs inherited over centuries from our Macedonian ancestors. The shared elementary and high school 'Mitre Kolefski and Trajan Gjorgjiofski' in Pustec informs that nobody donated packages to the children today, and that the only such event was done on December 23rd 2021, when the municipality of Pustec handed out New Year packages to the children and their teachers in the schools, and they were told that the packages come from the municipality of Pustec.

The Bulgarian Embassy in Tirana does not mention the names of the school in its press release - 'Mitre Kolefski and Trajan Gjorgjiofski'. It knows full well that the heroic Trajan Gjorgjiofski from Pustec, after whom the school is named, joined the Macedonian partisans in 1942 and was killed fighting for liberation of Macedonia from the Bulgarian fascist occupier in 1944. The schools in the municipality of Pustec have continuously taught in the Macedonian language for 77 years.

Regarding the claim by the Bulgarian Embassy that they secured New Year packages to the children in the area of Gora, the municipality of Kuks, and that the children there celebrated "Christmas in the Bulgarian style", we consider it a clumsy provocation that is entirely out of place.

Nine villages in the area of Gora are inhabited by Macedonians of Islamic religion. During the last census that took place in 2011, these inhabitants of the area of Gora declared themselves as Macedonians - no-one expressed a Bulgarian identity. Therefore, we consider this awarding of packages to the children in the schools in Gora and the made up claim that they celebrated "Christmas in the Bulgarian style" to be a primitive perversion and toying with the religious feelings of the Macedonians of Islamic religion. But this is nothing new when Bulgaria is involved. Attempts from the time of Todor Zivkov to assimilate Bulgarian citizens of the Islamic religion with forced renaming and the erasing of their Muslim names are well known.

Macedonians in the areas of Gora and Golo Brdo expect a formal apology from Bulgaria for the war crimes carried out during the occupation of the areas of Gora and Golo Brdo during the First World War, crimes that remain engraved in the memory of Macedonians. We condemn the primitive Bulgarian tricks, which is trying to use the poverty in the areas where the Macedonians live in Albania, in an attempt to portray them as a Bulgarian community.

The areas of Prespa, Golo Brdo, Gora, Poleto and Vrbnik, where Bulgaria is 'seeking' a Bulgarian minority, are inhabited by self-determined and self-declared Macedonians who have the same folklore, traditions and language as the Macedonian people in whole, in all the Balkan states. They live in compact areas along the border with Macedonia, they have territorial continuity with the Macedonian state, and have no connection to Bulgaria!

Ahead of the planned population census that is expected to take place in October 2022, we expect to see renewed efforts by the Bulgarian authorities to assimilate the Macedonian community in Albania. We appeal to the Albanian Government and its relevant departments and institutions, but also to the international community representatives in Albania, to react against these activities of the Bulgarian Embassy and the authorities in Sofia, as they violate the principles of the Vienna convention on diplomatic relations and constitute rude interference in the internal affairs of the Republic of Albania. The institutions of the government are obligated to protect their fellow citizens - Macedonians - from the Bulgarian aggression, which rudely interferes in the internal affairs of the Republic of Albania with its policies and practices that go against having good-neighborly relations!", the Macedonian Association Ilinden Tirana said in its statement.