Scientists from the Institute for Bulgarian Language and the Institute for Historical Studies of BAS presented at a press conference today their opinions on the speculations that challenged the Bulgarian national identity of the Bulgarians in Serbia.
Prof. Ana Kocheva from the Institute for Bulgarian Language said that once again the idea of the existence of a separate “Shopi nation”, speaking the “Shopski language”, inhabiting both sides of the Bulgarian-Serbian border, as well as both sides of the current Serbian-North Macedonian border, was being circulated. She added that the Bulgarian dialect and literary language extended beyond the state borders as Bulgarian territories at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century remained outside the country’s borders.
At the Institute for Historical Studies, we have been studying the Bulgarians in the Western Bulgarian Outlands for a long time, Assoc. Prof. Angel Dzhonev said. He recalled that in November 2024, a scientific conference “Western Bulgarian Outlands – history and perspectives” was held at BAS. Tomorrow, a photo-documentary exhibition “The pogrom in Bosilegrad of May 15-16, 1917” will be opened in the National Assembly.
The leadership of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences supports the opinions of the scientists from the Institute for Bulgarian Language and the Institute for Historical Studies.
The opinions are published on the websites of the Institute for Bulgarian Language and the Institute for Historical Studies.
