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Bulgarians are an ethnic minority in the Republic of Macedonia. Bulgarians are mostly found in the Strumica area, but over the years, the absolute majority of southwestern Republic of Macedonia have declared themselves Macedonian. The town of Strumica and its surrounding area (including Novo Selo) were part of Bulgaria between the Balkan wars and the end of World War I, as well as during World War II. The total number of Bulgarians counted in the 2002 Census was 1,417 or roughly 0.07%.
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Yugoslavia
Until 1913 the majority of the Slav population of all three parts of the wider region of Macedonia had Bulgarian identity. In 1913, the region of present-day Republic of Macedonia became a part of the Kingdom of Serbia, thus becoming Southern Serbia. During World War II, when most regions of Macedonia were annexed by Bulgaria, a pro-Bulgarian ideology existed among the Slavic majority. However, harsh treatment by occupying Bulgarian troops reduced significantly the pro-Bulgarian orientation of the Macedonian Slavs. After the end of World War II, the creation of People's Republic of Macedonia and the codification of a new Macedonian language, a process of ethnogenesis started and a distinct national Macedonian identity was inaugurated into an established system. The new Yugoslav authorities began a policy of removing of any Bulgarian influence, making Macedonia a connecting link for the establishment of new Balkan Communist Federation and creating a distinct Slavic consciousness that would inspire identification with Yugoslavia. The authorities took also repressive measures that would overcome the pro-Bulgarian feelings among parts of the population, such as the Bloody Christmas in 1945. In Macedonia the Bulgarophobia increased almost to the level of state ideology, and the communists were successful in removing all Bulgarian influence in the region.
The fall of Communism to present-day
By the time the Republic of Macedonia proclaimed its independence those who continued to look to Bulgaria were very few. Some 3,000 - 4,000 people that stuck to their Bulgarian identity (most of them living in Strumica and the surroundings) met great hostility among the authorities and the rest of the population. With the fall of Communism this hostility has decreased, but still remains. Occasional trials against Bulgarophiles have continued until today.
In the period 2002-2017 about 70,000 citizens of Republic of Macedonia have acquired Bulgarian citizenship (which represents more than 5% of the self-declared ethnic Macedonians in the country in the 2002 population census), almost all of them acquired by descent and always on 1st position by acquired citizenship per country.
Politics
Bulgarians and Bulgarophiles in the Republic of Macedonia do not have their own political parties, but still have political activity. Many politicians revealed their bulgarophilness after leaving the political stage as Ljubčo Georgievski and Antonio Milošoski. During the last few years, rising economic prosperity and the EU membership of Bulgaria has seen around 60,000 Macedonians applying for Bulgarian citizenship; in order to obtain it they must provide evidence of their Bulgarian origin and sign a statement declaring they are Bulgarians by origin. About 50,000 Macedonian nationals have received Bulgarian citizenship in the past 10 years.
Association Radko
Association Radko is an illegal Bulgarian political organisation it the Republic of Macedonia. The "Radko" association was registered in Ohrid in 2000. In 2001 the Constitutional Court of Republic of Macedonia banned the organization Radko as "promoting racial and religious hate and intolerance". The association is named after the conspiration pseudonym of Ivan Mihailov, leader of Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization during the interbellum. In official Macedonian historiography, Mihailov is a terrorist and a Bulgarian chauvinist. In 2009 the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, condemned Republic of Macedonia because of violations of the European Convention of Human Rights in this case.