For years, Bulgaria and North Macedonia have been at loggerheads on a number of issues relating to history, language and identity. 

Now, it would appear that this tension has spilled over into Albania. Macedonians have been officially recognized as a minority in Albania since 1945; Bulgarians since 2017. 

Some in a municipality in southeastern Albania now claim Bulgaria intervened in Albania's census process last year in an attempt to persuade ethnic Macedonians to self-declare as ethnic Bulgarians on the census form. Both the local authorities and Bulgaria have denied the claim.