„Sometimes it seems to me that I am a national player of squash – you hit a tennis ball, it hits the wall, it comes back, you hit it, it comes back again. Unfortunately, our deliberations in the committee are exactly that – we hold to historical conclusions, they – no”. This is how Prof. Ivan Ilchev illustrates the activity of the Bulgarian-Macedonian Historical Commission in the program “The Live Day” on NOVA NEWS .
According to Ilchev, historians from the Republic of Macedonia are very subject to the political situation there. “I have always been critical of the Bulgarian governments, but during these 6 years of the Bulgarian government, no one has told us how to behave, everything is left to our historical conscience”, said Prof. Ilchev.
He did not predict the outcome of the RSM elections, but explained that Serbia purely psychologically does not want to allow Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina to become EU members before it. Prof. Ilchev passed on the story to his sister – documentary filmmaker that in Novi Sad there were huge posters that read: “Serbia is the mother of Serbia, and Russia is its father”. “We did not have such pro-Russian propaganda before 1989,” said Prof. Ilchev.
He emphasized the value of knowing our own genealogy, the names and stories of our ancestors. “In our national psychology, our family history seems to be neglected”, Ilchev explained and gave the example that he is a hereditary historian, but does not know the name of his great-grandmother. It is extremely important for a person to know the names of his ancestors, said Ilchev. “The Greek poet Cavafys has a magnificent poem in which he says: “To return to your Ithaca”. After long wanderings behind you, there must always be an Ithaca, in whose harbor you can anchor,” added the historian Ilchev.
Regarding the upcoming elections, he said - “In Bulgaria, voter turnout has never been particularly high, with the exception of the years of socialism. The question is not how many people vote, but for whom and how. There is a certain difference between a shepherd and a politician – behind the shepherd walks a small flock, behind the politician – big”.
As the former rector of SU “Kliment Ohridski” and project manager, he explained that in the former warehouses of the “Yajceto” books will be restored and conserved. They are University Library manuscripts. This is the “Egg” conference-research center, the historian explained.