Macedonia Celebrates Independence Day
BalkanTravellers.com
On September 8, 1991, 95 per cent of Macedonia’s citizens answered affirmatively to the referendum question, which endorsed independence from Yugoslavia, albeit legalising participation in a future union of the federation’s former states.
The main celebration of the anniversary will be held in one of the capital Skopje’s main squares, Makedonia. Festivities start at 8pm with a musical programme, the government announced, followed by a speech by the Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and concluded by fireworks at midnight.
The government, according to media reports, has said it will organise free transportation to Macedonians from other towns who want to attend the festivities in the capital.
Meanwhile, as the Sitel television station reported, about 5,000 Macedonians decided to spend their national holiday in Greece.
It seems that despite the long-running political dispute between the two countries over Macedonia’s constitutional name, which reached new heights recently, regular Macedonian citizens don’t see anything wrong with spending their holidays in Greece.
A total of 10,000 Macedonian citizens have crossed the border between the two countries in September, seemingly undeterred by earlier reports of Macedonian border authorities’ singling out as and hassling “unpatriotic” Macedonian holidaymakers who chose to travel to Greece.
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Photogalleries
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A Perfect Shot
Koprivshtitsa Fair, Bulgara. Photographs by Neva Micheva
In Homo Urbanus Europeanus, exhibited May 9-24 in front of the National Theatre in Sofia, Jean-Marc Caracci presents his photographs of people in the urban environment of European capitals.
RED&WHITE SOFIA. On the 1st of March Bulgarians say goodbye to the winter. They buy each other red&white threads to carry around until they see a stork and spring can begin. Photography by Lode Desmet
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360 degrees Bulgaria, an exhibition by photographer Alexandar Ivanov, is on display at the Sea Garden in Varna until August 28. It will be shown at Plovdiv’s Central Square from Sept 5.
The exhibition Photographs of a Trip Through Bulgaria by Hungarian photographer András Balla can be seen in Sofia's Hungarian Cultural Institute, at Aksakov 16 Street, until August 22
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Photographs by Albena Shkodrova
excellent smugs
