Media in North Macedonia linked Saturday’s transfer of Tsar Samuel’s remains from Greece to Bulgaria to disputes over shared history and what they described as political pressure on Skopje.
“Tsar Samuel’s Remains Arrive in Bulgaria: Messages of ‘Shared History’ and Blackmail against (North) Macedonia”, “How Did Historic Bones Become Currency for Settling Accounts between States?”, “The Tsar Between Archaeology and Politics: Samuel’s Remains Transferred from Greece to Bulgaria”, “Radev to Mitsotakis: Tsar Samuel Divided Us in the Past, Unites Us Today”, “MiG-29s and F-16s to Escort Military Spartan Carrying Tsar Samuel’s Remains”, and “Tsar Samuel Between History and Diplomacy: How Greek Media View the Historic Exchange with Bulgaria” were among the headlines in North Macedonia’s media. The Radev-Mitsotakis headline refers to Prime Minister Rumen Radev and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. The outlets drew on Bulgarian and Greek coverage of the transfer of the bones from the Museum of Byzantine Culture in Thessaloniki to Sofia.
“With MiG-29 and F-16 fighter flyovers, closed boulevards, police cordons and the country’s entire former and current leadership gathered in the square, Sofia is holding a state reception for Tsar Samuel’s remains, handed over by Greece. While Bulgaria’s media and public are jubilant over the transfer of the bones from the Basilica of St Achillios at Small Prespa Lake to Sofia’s St Sophia Church, local television studios are once again sending the familiar messages about ‘shared history’, but also clear ultimatums to Skopje,” 4news.mk wrote.
Citing special programmes aired by Bulgaria’s national television stations for the occasion, the outlet focused on guests’ assertions that “the transfer (of Tsar Samuel’s bones) should not hinder relations with (North) Macedonia, but should instead prompt Skopje to accept that he was an exclusively Bulgarian ruler”. It also noted that historians representing North Macedonia on the joint historical commission had long recognized that there were ample grounds to consider Samuel a Bulgarian ruler and an indisputable part of the shared history of Bulgaria and North Macedonia.
“The political message to (North) Macedonia was that St Sophia Church, where the remains will be placed, will henceforth become a mandatory stop on the official itinerary whenever Macedonian delegations visit Sofia, so that they can jointly pay tribute to the ruler. In other words, Sofia has given us another political task, even though the question of Tsar Samuel has long been settled. Had they wanted a joint commemoration, they would have left him at Small Prespa Lake. Local television studios broadcasting the ceremony are once again sending the familiar messages about ‘shared history’, but also clear ultimatums to our country. A special programme devoted to the event stressed that transferring the remains should not hinder relations with (North) Macedonia, but should instead prompt Skopje to accept that he was an exclusively Bulgarian ruler,” Nezavisen.mk wrote.
For Trn.mk, the agreement between Bulgaria and Greece, signed at the Museum of Byzantine Culture in Thessaloniki, “has a clear logic of balancing material and symbolic accounts”. “To obtain Samuel’s bones, the Bulgarian state had to give up 48 objects, mainly church vessels and a bishop’s throne, which the Bulgarian army seized in 1917 from the metropolitan dioceses of Serres and Nigrita,” the outlet wrote, interpreting Mitsotakis’s words “that religious relics should not be treated as spoils of war”.
“He considers the return of these vessels highly significant for Greece’s spiritual life, while handing over Samuel’s remains fulfils a historical duty. Talks on such a deal are not new: they began in the 1970s between the then leaders Konstantinos Karamanlis and Todor Zhivkov, but have only now reached a practical conclusion. Although the archaeological evidence points to the medieval tsar, the bones have remained locked away in Thessaloniki museum stores for decades, serving as a classic instrument of political pressure and diplomatic balancing. For decades, scientific considerations have given way to the question of who would use the remains to serve their own national mythology, and on what terms,” the outlet wrote.
This is Bulgaria’s second such transfer of remains for burial in the past two years, following the return of King Ferdinand’s remains from the German town of Coburg and their burial at Vrana Palace. Bulgaria’s leadership is thus continuing its practice of bringing historical rulers’ remains to the capital for burial, turning archaeological finds into closing chapters of its contemporary political narratives, media in North Macedonia wrote.
4news.mk also published a video showing Samuel’s bones shortly before their official handover to the Bulgarian authorities.
“For decades, these remains have been subject to strict museum procedures in Thessaloniki and have been at the heart of long-running diplomatic manoeuvring. While Sofia’s Knyaz Alexander I Square is being prepared for a grand reception with military aircraft and state honours, the video has also prompted further debate within the scientific community. Many experts point out that the bones have yet to undergo modern DNA testing to confirm their authenticity with absolute certainty,” the website wrote.
In its coverage of Saturday’s ceremony, Kolegium asked whose tsar Samuel was, “or, more precisely, whether he was a Macedonian or Bulgarian tsar”. It recalled the finding of the Joint Multidisciplinary Expert Commission on Historical and Educational Issues that “Tsar Samuel ruled a large medieval state which most contemporary historical research considers to have been Bulgarian”. It also cited the commission’s recommendation to both governments, under the Treaty of Friendship and Good Neighbourliness, that commemorating Samuel should express shared values, genuine good neighbourliness and friendship.
The outlet also carried a Facebook comment by former VMRO-DPMNE MP Ilija Dimovski, who said: “The problem concerning Tsar Samuel is here at home; we should not be angry with others.”
“Through (…) the Prespa Agreement, we renounced any claim to the heritage of Aegean Macedonia. Given that the presumed remains of Tsar Samuel were found and kept there, we have no official means of challenging or responding to Greece’s decision. Through the protocol of the first meeting of the Joint Intergovernmental Commission, dated June 10, 2019, we acknowledged to Bulgaria that modern scholarship recognizes Tsar Samuel’s state as the Bulgarian Empire. Both the transfer of the remains and the designation of Samuel on his new gravestone (as Tsar of the Bulgarians) have official validation and confirmation from the Macedonian side through the disastrous agreements of the past… (North) Macedonia has endured harder times, so we must not lose hope or the ideal of freedom. For a start, it is enough to say clearly that these agreements were imposed through violence and blackmail and run counter to the will of the Macedonian people. History will settle the rest,” Dimovski wrote. Other outlets also quoted his comments.
Racin.mk noted that “exchange” was among the key words in Greek media coverage of the event. Some outlets “present what happened as an agreement between Bulgaria and Greece rather than a unilateral return of Samuel’s bones, while ERT describes the event as a ‘historic agreement’, placing the relics returning to Greece and Samuel’s remains going to Bulgaria on an equal footing”.
North Macedonia’s Media React to Transfer of Tsar Samuel’s Remains to Bulgaria 2026 THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2026-10-03 13:29:00
Latest news World news Country news Most important news latest news most important latest of the day Justice Petar Nizamov Feathers Petar Nizamov- Feathers Justice bg iustitia.bg iustitia iusticia usticia investigation Burgas Bulgaria news news of the last hour news of the day news of today Bulgaria news The news from Bulgaria blitz news top news most important most commented latest news Boyko Borisov news weather coronavirus news news weather facebook youtube facebook instagram news today news of the last minutes news today today news news bg news leading news hot news bg news site for news all news news bg news of the last hour latest latest news bg news of today news today news today news of the last hour latest news today news bg news news 24 hours news vesti bg novini news world bird bg bivol bg bivol trud bg novini latest news today novinite bg news. Bulgaria news, Bulgarian news, news from Bulgaria, latest news Bulgaria, breaking news Bulgaria, Bulgaria today, Bulgarian politics, Bulgarian government. Bulgarian economy, Bulgarian business, Bulgarian society, Bulgarian culture, Bulgarian tourism, Bulgarian sports, Bulgarian media, Bulgarian parliament. Sofia news, Plovdiv news, Varna news, Burgas news, Ruse news, Stara Zagora news, Pleven news, Sliven news. Dobrich news, Shumen news, Pernik news, Haskovo news, Yambol news, Pazardzhik news, Blagoevgrad news, Veliko Tarnovo news. Vratsa news, Gabrovo news, Asenovgrad news, Vidin news, Bulgarian local news, Bulgaria current affairs, Bulgaria breaking news, Bulgaria headlines. Balkan news, Southeast Europe news, Bulgarian international news, Bulgaria world news, Bulgarian elections, Bulgaria events, Bulgaria analysis, Bulgaria updates.Supreme Court Inspectorate Supreme Court Supreme Judicial Council lawyer lawyer criminal cases lawyer civil cases lawyer marriage cases lawyer administrative criminal law criminal process civil law civil process administrative law constitutional law.
BULGARIA NEWS – NEWS AGENCY 2009–2026 2026-10-03 13:29:00
