. However, I don't think that
> Macedonians and Bulgarians are the same people,
> ethnically Bulgarian, and currently organized as
> distinct states. I think (and so does Eva actually)
> that they are different nationalities, even if closely
> related at the level of language.*****
George,
I am not sure you got me right. I meant, it is not my business to
say what ethnicity they are. Up to 1945 they had a predominantly
Bulgarian national consciousness. The Ottoman archives
describe the population of Macedonia as ethnically Bulgarian to
its larger part. For centuries they had been calling themselves
Bulgarian (and everyone else called them so). But if something
happens and they decide they are no longer Bulgarians, this is
their business. I just don't want them to start rewriting my
history, writing Macedonian instead of Bulgarian everywhere (I
am sure Vaptsarov turned over in his grave when they called him
a Macedonian). I understand the political reasons standing
behind this, yet I find it is a lie and a wrong attitude to history.
Btw, nationality and ethnicity are not the same thing to me. They
could be ethnically Bulgarian and call themselves Macedonians.
Perfectly okay with me.
Eva