Blagoevgrad Province is one of the 28 provinces in Bulgaria. The
administrative center is the city of the same name, Blagoevgrad.
The postal codes of the settlements in the Blagoevgrad region
are from 2700 (for Blagoevgrad) to 2999. Its vehicle code is E.
The region is located in the southwestern part of Bulgaria and
practically coincides with the geographical region of Pirin
Macedonia. With an area of 6,449.5 km², it is the third largest
in Bulgaria and has a population of 292,227 people according to
the 2021 census. To the north, the district is bordered by
Kyustendil District and Sofia District, to the east by
Pazardzhik District and Smolyan District, to the south by Greece
and to the west with North Macedonia.
The Blagoevgrad
region is home to all or parts of the Pirin, Rila, Rhodopi,
Vlahina, Maleshevska, Ograzhden, Belasitsa, Slavyanka and
Stergach mountains, two of the three national parks in Bulgaria
and 40% of the flow of mineral springs in Bulgaria. The district
is also second in terms of forest areas.
The mountains
and numerous forest massifs, the absence of industrial
pollutants, as well as the warm mineral springs and the rich
cultural and historical heritage make this area one of the most
suitable in Bulgaria for the development of various types of
tourism.
The region is located in the southwest of the country. It borders on
the Kyustendil region and the Sofia region in the north, on the
Pazardzhik region and the Smolyan region in the east, in the south it
adjoins the Greek regions of Central Macedonia and Eastern Macedonia and
Thrace, in the west - to the territory of North Macedonia.
The
region lies in the valley of the Struma River. A significant area is
located in the mountains.
It borders Greece, Macedonia and the districts of Kyustendil, Pazardzhik, Smolyan and Sofia. Administratively, the district includes 14 municipalities - Bansko, Belitsa, Blagoevgrad, Gotse Delchev, Garmen, Kresna, Petrich, Razlog, Sandanski, Satovcha, Simitli, Strumliani, Hadjidimov and Yakoruda.
The climate in Blagoevgrad region is extremely favorable. Winter is
characterized by higher temperatures compared to other areas of Bulgaria
- with the average January temperature being around -1o to -0.8oC, and
in the areas influenced by the Mediterranean - Blagoevgrad, Kresna,
Sandanski, Gotse Delchev, etc. in the valleys of the Struma River and
the Mesta River – up to 1˚C- 2˚C, and it can reach up to 20˚C. The snow
cover hardly persists except in the higher altitude areas.
The summer
is warm, with the average monthly temperature in July 24 ˚С, and in the
areas along the rivers Mesta and Struma the summer is hot, and a snow
cover in the winter forms once every few years. In autumn and winter,
there are numerous precipitations in the district, and in summer
droughts are characteristic.
The region is home to the warmest city
in Bulgaria - the city of Sandanski.
In the region are the
mountains and parts of them such as Rila, Pirin, Ograzhden, Vlahinska,
Rodopi and Belasitsa. The rivers Struma and Mesta concentrate the
population of the district around their valleys.
The area is
characterized by its beauty and greenery and the wonderful conditions
for mountain tourism. National parks and reserves favor the diversity of
flora and fauna.
The self-designation of the Bulgarian population of Macedonia,
especially the Bulgarian part of this region is Macedonian Bulgarians
(Bulgarian македонски българи; Macedonians for short; Bulgarian
Македонци). These Bulgarians identify with the historical region of
Macedonia beyond their Bulgarian identity. On closer examination of the
historical development and the current political situation in the
Balkans, this term proves to be highly problematic and politically
controversial, as it is interpreted differently by different sides.
The abbreviation "Macedonian" (Bulgarian македонец/makedonez), which
is common in Bulgaria, can be misleading in the German translation, as
it can lead to confusion with the people of North Macedonia or with the
Slavic majority there, who also call themselves Makedonzi (Македонци;
transl. Makedonci, see Macedonians (Slavic ethnicity)). In the
German-language literature, the vague term "Bulgarian-Macedonian
population" is also used.
The Macedonian Bulgarians are not a
separate ethnic group of Bulgarians, but a regional identity shared by
many people in this region who have different national self-identities
and speak different languages.
However, the term “Macedonian
Bulgarians” is also a category of Bulgarian ethnography. The national
Bulgarian view is that the ancestors of today's Macedonians have
undoubtedly always been Bulgarians. Today's Macedonians were forcibly
made out of Bulgarians by the Macedonian communists.
"The
interpretation of the ethnogenesis and formation of the South Slavs in
the region of Macedonia from prehistoric times to the present day, by
propagandists of history and by learned historians in Athens, Belgrade,
Sofia, Thessaloniki and elsewhere, differ so widely as to be utterly
incompatible are."
Accordingly, the existence of this ethnic
group, which is claimed by the Bulgarian side, is denied by the Serbian,
North Macedonian and Greek side. However, the term "Macedonian
Bulgarians" is rarely used in international literature.
For
years, Bulgaria has been taking massive action against the Macedonian
minority in the Blagoevgrad district, who claim to be Macedonians by
nationality. The Bulgarian officials deny the existence of these “ethnic
Macedonians” in Bulgaria and apply the term “Macedonians” only to the
majority Bulgarian population of Blagoevgrad Oblast.
"Macedonian
Bulgarians" in the narrower sense also refer to the Bulgarian refugees
from the areas of Macedonia's countryside who, during the turmoil of the
last 150 years, emigrated from what is now Greece and what is now North
Macedonia towards Bulgaria - voluntarily or forced. In a broader sense,
the Bulgarian population of "Pirin Macedonia" is referred to as
"Macedonian Bulgarians". The part of the Macedonian movement that
defines itself ethno-nationally as Bulgarian also describes itself as
“Macedonian Bulgarians”.
There are overlaps and contradicting
statements and claims with the Slavic ethnic group Macedonians, who are
the people that we know today as Macedonians and that until the 20th
century from the outside, but partly also in the self-definition for
Bulgarians (or also Serbs) was held.
“Influenced by the
Enlightenment and Philhellenism, the ancient terms were used again in
Western Europe at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries to describe
the geographical conditions of European Turkey. This also resulted in
the reuse of the historical landscape name Macedonia. ... Both for the
generation strongly influenced by Pan-Slavic feelings, which fought
against the dominant Greek cultural influence in the mid-19th century,
and for the generation of national revolutionaries of the "Inner
Macedonian Revolutionary Organization" (VMRO) founded in 1892, the
Macedonians were a regional group of the Bulgarian nation. In this sense
Macedonian is still needed in Bulgaria today.”
On the one hand there are residents of Bulgaria, the political
Bulgarian part of geographical Macedonia, who even today consider
themselves members of a regional-cultural subgroup of the Bulgarian
nation. In this sense, as a regional identity, the term "Macedonian
Bulgarians" can also be used in relation to the present.
However,
this population group today should not be confused, mixed up or even
subordinated to the national identities of the Slavic-speaking
population of geographical Macedonia as a whole, since the development
of Macedonians in the 20th century in the Bulgarian, Serbian or
Yugoslavian and Greek parts of Macedonia was significantly different .
The term "Macedonian Bulgarians" as it was used in the 19th and
early 20th centuries to refer to the Slavic-speaking population of
geographical Macedonia as a whole is to be distinguished from the
similarly sounding term "Macedonian Bulgarians", which refers to a
population group in present-day Bulgaria. They are two different things,
even if the identity construct of the latter draws on the traditions of
the former. But so does the identity construct of today's Macedonian
nation. Since these two interpretations are incompatible, disagreements
arise among historians, politicians and nationalists who try to assert
one of the two as the only correct one.
In Blagoevgrad Oblast, the Bulgarian part of Macedonia Region, an
indefinite proportion of the population consider themselves a
“Macedonian minority”. They speak the Macedonian language, according to
others only a special Bulgarian dialect. This different view is
particularly expressed by the Bulgarian side, which also largely denies
the Macedonian language the status of a separate language and instead
only recognizes it as a dialect of the Bulgarian language, since the
Bulgarian language and the Macedonian language do not differ very much
from each other as South Slavic languages .
The Bulgarian side is
trying not to let these Macedonians appear politically, otherwise they
would have to be officially recognized as a minority with all the
associated rights.
In its 2002 annual report, Amnesty
International reports on people who were prosecuted in Blagoevgrad
because they had published leaflets "urging the residents of the region
to identify themselves as Macedonians in the census". On the other hand,
the Bulgarian side argues that these people (Bulgarian ОМО
Илинден-Пирин) are a tiny group of 360 people, which makes up only 0.01%
of the population in Blagoevgrad district and in the whole Bulgaria
represent only 0.0048% of the population.
Amnesty International's
2007 annual report on Bulgaria also contained complaints about how the
Macedonian minority in Bulgaria was treated.
"The authorities and
the judiciary continued to deny the existence of a Macedonian minority
in Bulgaria and insisted that there was no legal obligation to protect
them. This policy was supported by all parties represented in
Parliament. In October the Sofia City Court refused official
registration to the political party OMO Ilinden PIRIN, which represents
part of Bulgaria's Macedonian minority, despite the fact that the
European Court of Human Rights ruled in October 2005 that the existing
ban on the party constituted a violation of the rights to freedom of
assembly and association. In November, the European Parliament's
rapporteur on Bulgaria and the European Commissioner responsible for EU
enlargement urged the government to give official authorization to OMO
Ilinden PIRIN.”
The Bulgarian side counters that the number of
500 signatures required by law to found a party was not found. In
addition, the aim of this party violates the Bulgarian Constitution
(Article 11., Clause 4), which stipulates: "No political parties may be
founded on an ethnic, racial or religious basis, and no parties aiming
at the violent seizure of state power to have set a goal.”
Blagoevgrad district is characterized by a favorable transport and geographical situation. The international transport corridor number 4 Germany - Czech Republic - Slovakia - Hungary - Romania - Bulgaria - Greece/Turkey passes through it. In the long term, the construction of the "Struma" highway is expected, which will connect Sofia with the Kulata border crossing on the Bulgarian-Greek border. There are 3 checkpoints in the district, two of which are on the border with Macedonia. Of international importance is the railway line that runs through the area.
The region is characterized by a multi-sectoral economic structure.
The food and processing industry is the main branch of the local
industry. Local companies specialize in the processing of animal
products, fruits, vegetables, as well as the production of alcoholic
products. Foreign investment is helping to develop numerous garment
manufacturing companies.
Easy access to local resources provides
the woodworking and furniture industries with prospects for development.
For now, there are mostly small companies in the industry. The interest
of foreign investors has increased. Over the past decade, the volume and
intensity of metalworking and machinery manufacturing has declined. The
companies mainly specialize in the production of metal structures and
details. Radio and other electronic communication components are
manufactured.
Regarding building materials - terrain features
contribute to mining for various minerals. Marble is mined in the
municipalities of Sandanski, Koprivlen, Petrich and Strumyani. Other
industries of interest in the area - tourism, pharmaceuticals, plastics,
shoe industry, paper and printing.
The well-developed educational network in the area is a great
advantage. The number of schools in the district is 182. Annually,
Blagoevgrad attracts about 10,000 students from the country and abroad.
The Southwest University "Neofit Rilski" and the American University in
Bulgaria are located there.
Health care in Blagoevgrad region is
also at the level. There are 14 medical institutions in the district,
including 4 large hospitals.
The region's rich history predetermines its numerous attractions and
rich culture. In the regional center there is a theater, a library and
an opera house.
Art galleries exist in Bansko, Blagoevgrad and
Sandanski. A large number of community centers are scattered throughout
the district. State Ensemble "Pirin" is one of the cultural prides of
the Blagoevgrad region - one of the most famous folklore, music and
dance ensembles in Bulgaria.
On the northwestern slopes of Rila mountain, 35 km. from Blagoevgrad is the oldest park-reserve with coniferous vegetation, Parangalitsa. 16 km. to the northwest is the village of Stob, famous for the Stob pyramids - extremely beautiful earth formations ending in rounded rock blocks.
Blagoevgrad has a large stadium, swimming pools, a sports complex with dormitories, baseball and tennis courts. The sports infrastructure in the district is relatively well developed. One of the leading ski resorts in Bulgaria - Bansko - is located within the Blagoevgrad region. In addition to its modern tracks and hotels, the city is also known as an ethnographic center that has preserved its authentic appearance over the years. Bansko offers all the amenities for year-round tourism and vacation.