On 11 and 12 September Bulgaria sent a medical team from Sofia to Pustec. Not in a van. In a military transport plane. The Bulgarian ministries of foreign affairs, health and defence were all involved in the operation, and Bulgarian MPs from different political parties arrived alongside the medical teams.

The question the Macedonian Alliance for European Integration is asking is perfectly simple: why do medical check-ups in one village require a military transport plane, MPs and a state delegation from Sofia?

The answer to that question, MAEI says, was given by the Bulgarian MPs themselves in their own statements. They declared publicly that when it comes to those they call "the Bulgarians" in Albania, Bulgaria's political parties are united.

A medical service is no basis for changing an identity

MAEI condemns the conduct of the Bulgarian representatives who publicly deny the Macedonians in Pustec and declare them Bulgarians. The message in their statement is direct: "No medical service can be a justification for denying the identity of the Macedonian community. People's health must not be an instrument of assimilation and political propaganda."

The description of the visit itself is more concrete than any declaration. According to MAEI, Pustec looked like a military zone - with an increased police presence, with Bulgarian emissaries moving demonstratively through the municipality, and with Bulgarian flags set up inside the medical centre.

One country's flag inside another country's health facility, placed next to people waiting for a check-up. That is not a logistical detail.

The medical staff who did not want to admit them

The most telling fact in the whole statement is buried in a single sentence. The medical staff in Pustec initially did not want to admit the Bulgarian representatives, but under pressure from the Regional Medical Centre in Korça were forced to hand over the premises.

So the people on the ground - those who work with these patients every day - recognised the character of the visit and tried to refuse it. The decision came from above.

MAEI also criticises the conduct of the Municipality of Pustec, which provided logistical support and welcomed the guests with girls in national costume, bread and salt - even though that state's institutions publicly claim its citizens are Bulgarians.

Pustec is in Albania

MAEI's point is put without a shred of ambiguity: "Pustec is not Bulgaria. Pustec is in the Republic of Albania, and its residents are Macedonians."

The alliance recalls that for every need of its residents - from investment and infrastructure to health and social services - the local authority should turn first to the Government of the Republic of Albania. "We are loyal citizens of Albania, we respect its laws and we pay taxes in this state. That is why we do not accept Pustec being turned into a testing ground for carrying out somebody else's national policies."

Humanitarian aid, when it is genuine, does not require a military plane and an escort of MPs. When it does require them, the check-up is the justification, not the purpose.