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Chronology for Turks in Bulgaria
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| Date(s) |
Item |
| Jun 1 - Dec 31, 1989 |
About 50,000 of the 300,000 Turks who fled Bulgaria in mid-1989 had returned. |
| Nov 10, 1989 |
Communist chief Todor Zhivkov resigned. |
| Dec 3, 1989 |
In their first protest not broken up by police, about 150 Turks demonstrated in Sofia's south park demanding an end to what they said had been years of cultural oppression by the authorities who forbade them to use their Turkish names and practice Islam. |
| Dec 7, 1989 |
Eco-Glasnost and other former dissident parties formed the opposition umbrella party, the Union of Democratic Forces (UDF). |
| Dec 10, 1989 |
Five thousand Turks attended a rally demanding the mass resignations of Communist party officials. The Turks also demanded the restoration of their religious rights. |
| Dec 16, 1989 |
About 6,000 Turks and Pomacs (non-Turkish Bulgarian Moslems) demonstrated for democracy and religious rights. |
| Dec 29, 1989 |
The Bulgarian government abolished key aspects of its official policy of assimilating Muslims which it admits was a "grave political error." Muslims no longer had to assume Bulgarian names and the rights to practice Islam and speak in Turkish were granted. |
| Dec 31, 1989 |
Local Communist authorities in the town of Kardzhali defied party orders to restore full civil rights to Bulgaria's Turkish minority. |
| Jan 1990 |
The Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) was founded to represent the country's ethnic Turkish minority. |
| Jan 2 - 7, 1990 |
Strikes and mass protests by Bulgarians opposed to religious freedom for the country's Moslem population paralyzed towns and cities across Bulgaria. Hardline Communists were accused of fueling the ethnic tensions in order to divert the country from democratic reforms. |
| Jan 12, 1990 |
Bulgarian nationalists, Moslems and government and opposition representatives reached an agreement aimed at diffusing the country's ethnic tensions. The agreement gave all Bulgarians the right to choose their own names and practice any religion. The agreement was also intended to allay fears in some provinces that ethnic Turks would seek autonomy. |
| Jan 15, 1990 |
Bulgaria removed the Communist monopoly of power in the country. |
| Jan 24, 1990 |
Moslem leaders urged the government to give them a theological school, restore crumbling mosques and allow them to publish their own magazine. (Later this year, the first Turkish-language paper began publication.) |
| Feb 1, 1990 |
Bulgaria's government resigned. |
| Mar 5, 1990 |
Parliament unanimously voted that Turks and other Moslems may use their own names. |
| Apr 19, 1990 |
About 8,000 Bulgarians in Kardzhali demonstrated against minority rights for Turks while a group of 11 Turks held a hunger strike in a local Mosque. |
| Jun 1 - Dec 31, 1990 |
About 120,000 of the 300,000 Bulgarian Turks who fled the country in mid-1989 had returned. |
| Jun 17, 1990 |
After the 2nd round of Parliamentary elections, the former Communist party, now called the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), won 211 out of 400 seats in the national assembly. The Movement for Rights and Freedom (MRF), which was a predominantly Turkish party, won 23 seats. |
| Jul 10, 1990 |
Nationalists staged wildcat strikes and blockades across areas of Bulgaria populated by Turks in protest against the MRF taking its seats in Parliament. The leaders of the MRF were not invited to address Parliament's ceremonial opening despite the fact that they are the third largest party in Parliament. |
| Jul 13, 1990 |
About 1,200 ethnic Turks staged a hunger strike in Kardshali to protest against what they say is pressure from other ethnic Turks to change their Bulgarian names to Turkish ones. |
| Jul 17, 1990 |
About 150 nationalists protested outside Parliament against the MRF. |
| Jul 21, 1990 |
A 5-day strike by nationalists in predominantly Turkish regions ended after Parliament agreed to investigate their grievances. The strikers had been protesting what they claim was discrimination against Bulgarians in regions with a Turkish majority. They also have been protesting against the MRF's presence in Parliament. |
| Oct 1, 1990 |
The first institute for the study of Islam in Bulgaria opened. |
| Oct 25, 1990 |
A bomb blast destroyed a MRF office. |
| Nov 16, 1990 |
Parliament voted to allow ethnic Turks to use their original Turkish names. |
| Nov 21, 1990 |
More than 1,000 Bulgarian students staged an anti-Turkish protest march in Kardzhali. |
| Feb 6, 1991 |
About 20,000 schoolchildren went on strike for the right to learn Turkish. |
| Feb 14, 1991 |
The Bulgarian government said that it will allow ethnic Turkish students to learn Turkish in school as an optional extra. |
| Feb 19 - Mar 16, 1991 |
Protests and hunger strikes by Bulgarian nationalists opposed to special Turkish language classes for Turkish children intermittently shut down schools in Kardzhali. |
| Feb 26, 1991 |
About 35,000 Turkish schoolchildren boycotted school all over Bulgaria in protest against a delay in beginning Turkish language classes. Also, Bulgarian nationalists were stopping those pupils who were trying to go to school. |
| Mar 16, 1991 |
More than 10,000 ethnic Turks protested in Kardzhali against a delay in beginning Turkish language courses until the next school year. The protest was organized by the MRF. It wants Turkish to be mandatory rather than optional. |
| Sep 15 - Oct 31, 1991 |
Turkish language classes were banned by the BSP, but BSP attempts to ban the MRF on the grounds that it is a national party rather than a political one were rejected by Bulgaria's Supreme Court. |
| Sep 17, 1991 |
Hundreds of Turkish schoolchildren boycotted school to demand that the Turkish language be offered as a formal part of the school curriculum rather than as an option. |
| Oct 13, 1991 |
The BSP lost power in general elections gaining 106 seats in the new 240 seat Parliament. The Union of Democratic Forces (UDF) won 110 seats and the MRF won 24. The other 35 parties did not overcome the 4% threshold necessary to gain seats in Parliament. However, the BSP did gain enough seats to block any constitutional changes. |
| Nov 8, 1991 |
Bulgaria overturned the ban on Turkish language classes in an attempt to end a 2-month boycott of schools by hundreds of thousands of ethnic Turkish schoolchildren. |
| Nov 9, 1991 |
The UDF and the MRF combined to elect Bulgaria's first non-Communist government in 47 years. |
| Jan 6, 1992 |
It was announced that 200,000 Bulgarian Turks now living in Turkey would be able to vote in the upcoming presidential elections. |
| Jan 19, 1992 |
UDF candidate Zhelyu Zhelon won Bulgaria's first presidential election after a strong challenge by former Communists who ran an anti-Turkish campaign. |
| Feb 4, 1992 |
Thousands of children of nationalists boycotted classes claiming that the introduction of Turkish into Bulgarian schools was a betrayal of the national interest. |
| Feb 5, 1992 |
About 25 Bulgarian Moslems launched a hunger strike to support calls for the resignation of their spiritual leader after allegations that he had once been a Communist spy. |
| Jun 27, 1992 |
Bulgaria's former Communist dictator Todor Zhivkov was charged with discrimination against ethnic Turks. |
| Aug 3, 1992 |
Government officials announced that over 100,000 ethnic Turks had left Bulgaria in the last 18 months and a total of 140,000 had left since 1990 due primarily to economic hardship. |
| Sep 24, 1992 |
The first non-communist chairman of Parliament in four decades stepped down after ethnic Turks and Socialists combine to demand his resignation. The MRF demanded his resignation last week when accusing him of presiding over Parliament in an intolerant fashion. |
| Sep 29, 1992 |
Turkey imposed travel restrictions on visitors from Bulgaria in an attempt to stop a mass influx of Bulgarian ethnic Turks. |
| Oct 20, 1992 |
The Bulgarian government resigned after losing a confidence vote. |
| Dec 30, 1992 |
Bulgaria elected a new government. After both the UDF and the ex-Communist Socialists failed to form a government, the MRF nominated Lyuben Berou, a non-Turk with no party affiliation, to form a non-party government and along with the Socialists form a government. The UDF refuses to take part in the new government. A non-Turkish MRF member is made Deputy Prime Minister. |
| Apr 5, 1993 |
According to the Bulgarian National Statistics Institute, Bulgaria's Turkish population amounts to 829,000 or 9,8% of the country's 8.5 million population. More than one million people are registered as practicing Moslems. They also note that 200,000 of the Turks who fled Bulgaria in mid-1989 have returned. |
| Sep 1993 |
The government annuls census results in two towns in the southwest due to charges that the Turks there were forcing Moslems to declare themselves as ethnic Turks and take Turkish names. Independent observers found community peer pressure but no evidence of forcible Turkification. |
| May 30, 1994 |
Extreme nationalists, who have been keeping a low profile, are stepping up their activities with small rallies and low-level threats against Bulgaria's Gypsy and ethnic Turkish populations. |
| Jun 17, 1994 |
The Secretary General of the Arab League says that he is satisfyied that the Moslems in Bulgaria have won equal rights since the collapse of communism. Reuters reported that thousands of Moslems in Bulgaria were converting to Christianity. |
| Dec 19, 1994 |
In parliamentary elections the MRF won 15 out of 240 seats and 6.25% of the vote. |
| Jan 25, 1995 |
The MRF protested the inclusion of Ilcho Dimitrov in the new cabinet as education minister. He had links with the Bulgarian Communist government's campaign of forced assimilation during the 1980s. |
| Sep 14, 1995 |
Hundreds of Moslems protested in Sofia over what they called the government's interference in their religious affairs. The major issue was the government's sponsorship of a candidate for the office of Mufti (Islamic religious leader). |
| Oct 29, 1995 |
The MRF won about 9% of the vote in local elections. |
| Nov 13, 1995 |
Municipal elections held in two rounds on 29 October and 12 November. The Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) representing the Turkish minority wins 26 towns. The MRF wins in the southeastern town of Karjali, although MRF candidate Rasim Musa, an ethnic Turk, is only 658 votes ahead of his nationalist opponent. Reports on the state-run radio say, the socialists in Karjali are accusing the Turkish party of irregularities. It says, the election could be declared invalid.(Deutsche Presse Agentur) |
| Nov 22, 1995 |
A Bulgarian nationalist group, the Nationwide Committee for the Defense of National Interests says in a declaration that the elections in Kurdzhali (southern Bulgaria) cannot be considered fair and free and should be voided by the Central Electoral Commission and the judiciary. The second ballot of the mayoral election in Kurdzhali was won by a margin of about 600 votes by the candidate of the ethnic Turks' Movement for Rights and Freedoms. The structures of the Bulgarian Socialist Party, which supported an independent candidate, contested the Kurdzhali election results in court.(BBC) |
| Dec 1, 1995 |
The MRF's leader Akhmed Dogan (the Bulgarian abbreviation for the MRF is DPS) protests before the President of Bulgaria Zhelyu Zhelev against the regional governor of Kurdzhali "who deliberately delayed the session" of the newly elected municipal council. The MRF won the runoff mayoral election in the city, and a majority of the seats on the municipal council. Dogan says, by delaying the session of the municipal council the regional governor breaks the law. President Zhelev commits himself to invite Prime Minister Jean Videnov to a meeting to discuss "the Kurdzhali problem". (BBC) |
| Jan 7, 1996 |
Bulgaria embarks on a new wave of privatization with the sale of vouchers for shares in 1,063 firms valued officially at 80,439 billion leva (1.15 billion dollars). The Turkish minority Movement for Rights and Freedoms, the Jewish organisation and the anti-communist Union of Democratic Forces (UDF) announce their plans to form their own investment funds..(Agence France Presse) |
| Jan 10, 1996 |
Quoting the Bulgarian Muslim spiritual leader Nedim Gendzhev several dailies report that a private Turkish secondary school is to open in Deliorman, a region in northeastern Bulgaria with a large ethnic Turkish population. The right of all ethnic groups to study their mother tongue is enshrined in the constitution of 1991. Since the autumn of 1991 the children of Bulgarian Turks have had the opportunity to study Turkish as an optional subject in primary school. (BBC) |
| Jan 25, 1996 |
Yunal Lyutfi, MP of the ethnic Turks' Movement for Rights and Freedoms [DPS], says before the Parliamentary Assembly to the Council of Europe, that the delay in ratifying the Council of Europe's documents Acreates legal prerequisites for violating the rights of minorities in some of the newly-admitted member countries". Lyutfi cites as a Bulgarian example " the bills on the use and protection of the Bulgarian language and on radio, television and the Bulgarian News Agency, drafted by MPs of the parliamentary faction of the Democratic Left" . Elena Poptodorova an MP from the Bulgarian Socialist Party says, that the Bulgarian National Assembly's Chairman Blagovest Sendov has sent a letter requesting expert assistance from the Council of Europe for drafting a law on electronic media in Bulgaria.(BBC) |
| Feb 16, 1996 |
Leaders of the ethnic Turks' Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) familiarize diplomats from embassies of Lebanon, Morocco, Turkey, Kuwait, Egypt and Libya with their estimate of the elections in the Kurdzhali municipality, which were annulled on 5th February. The legitimacy of the elections was contested by the local structures of six political forces over law violations. The DPS leaders call on the invited diplomats not to drop Bulgaria from the agenda of the Organization of the Islamic Conference where Bulgaria was put at the time of the coercive change of ethnic Turks' names in 1994.(BBC) |
| Feb 17, 1996 |
National radio reports that around 6,000 Bulgarians of Turkish descent demonstrate at the southern town of Kardjali against the annulment of local elections that a pro-Turkish movement was declared to have won. The regional court has motivated its decision to annul the elections by saying that the MRF candidate, Rasim Musa, has received votes from 1,271 electors who came from Turkey or from other regions of Bulgaria. The MRF parliamentary group boycotted the proceedings in the National Assembly in protest at the decision. (Agence France Presse) |
| Feb 23, 1996 |
Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) Georgi Purvanov says, the proposal that the government appoints the mayors in mixed ethnic areas is not acceptable. Mr Purvanov says, he understands the motives of the Bulgarians in Kurdzhali who promoted the idea, but he believes these areas should receive democratic and lawful treatment on equal terms with the other areas in the country.(BBC) |
| Mar 4, 1996 |
Liliya Dimova, a sociologist comments on the results of the representative national survey on National and Ethnic Identity conducted in December 1995. Dimova says, the survey showed categorically that ethnic groups in Bulgaria are tolerant to each other's culture and traditions. Half of the respondents believe ethnic minorities should have the right to form organizations to preserve their cultural identity. Ethnic differences are less of a worry than unemployment, inflation and crime. Issues, such as access to power and political representation, however, tend to heighten ethnic tension. While eighty-seven per cent of respondents in the Kurdzhali region are convinced that minorities should be represented in local government, fifty nine per cent oppose ethnically based parties. (BBC) |
| Mar 8, 1996 |
The leaders of the parliamentary opposition forces, the Union of Democratic Forces (SDS), the People's Union and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, agree to select a single presidential candidate through primary elections. The agreement and rules of the primary elections will be signed after the top leadership of the three opposition forces take a decision to this effect. (BBC) |
| Apr 25, 1996 |
Bulgaria's Supreme court confirms the election of an ethnic Turk as mayor of the southeastern city of Kardzhali in local polls in late 1995. State-run radio says, the Supreme court revoked a lower court ruling that his election was invalid on the grounds of irregularities.(Deutsche Presse Agentur) |
| Jul 22, 1996 |
After his tour to the villages of Kurdzhali, Mohammed Redjeb, DPS coordinator for southeastern Bulgaria, submits a report to the DPS central executive bureau in which he says, that the Movement for Rights and Freedoms should take control of the anti-government revolts that are expected in the Rhodope Mountains. In view of the worsening economic situation Akhmed Dogan has recently predicted that attacks on the cabinet would be launched following the presidential elections. Redjeb claims however, that in the villages discontent is growing and can no longer be restrained. .(BBC) |
| Aug 8, 1996 |
Elderly and middle-aged Bulgarian Turks face difficulties in obtaining entry visas for Turkey. The Bulgarian Daily >24 Chasa' comments that the new Turkish government led by Necmettin Erbakan is tolerating the migration of young people from Bulgaria. (BBC) |
| Oct 28, 1996 |
A report for a violation of the electoral law coming from the city of Bourgas says that activists of the ethnic Turk's Movement for Rights and Freedoms distribute to the local residents of the villages of Trunak, Snyagovo, Planinitsa, Ruen and Freedoms, ballots papers of the presidential candidate of the united opposition forces the day before the election. The team of the district electoral commission is inquiring into the cases in the five villages. (BBC) |
| Nov 8, 1996 |
Peter Stoyanov, the candidate of the united democratic forces - the SDS [Union of Democratic Forces], the People's Union comprising the BZNS [Bulgarian Agrarian National Union] and the Democratic Party, and the DPS [ethnic Turks' Movement for Rights and Freedoms] is elected as president with 2,503,517 votes cast in the presidential elections held on 3 November 1996. (BBC) |
| Nov 9, 1996 |
The political council of the United Democratic Forces decides to initiate actions aimed at provoking early parliamentary elections. The United Democratic Forces were set up in the spring of 1996 when the parliamentary Union of Democratic Forces, the People's Union, the ethnic Turks' Movement for Rights and Freedoms and several extra-parliamentary formations agreed on nominating a single candidate for the presidential elections. (BBC) |
| Dec 16, 1996 |
The United Democratic Forces (the opposition Union of Democratic Forces, the People's Union and the ethnic Turks' Movement for Rights and Freedoms) state in a declaration to the National Assembly that their immediate political goals are, the replacement of the governing board of the National Bank of Bulgaria (BNB, the central bank), the formation of a parliamentary group to hold the negotiations with the World Bank and the IMF, and the holding of early parliamentary elections.(BBC) |
| Feb 25, 1997 |
The central council of the ethnic Turks' Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) authorizes its leaders to negotiate with its partners of the opposition United Democratic Forces for single lists in the upcoming general elections. (The United Democratic Forces is a coalition of the DPS, the SDS and the People's Union) (BBC) |
| Mar 1, 1997 |
National Defence Minister of Turkey Turhan Tayan says, that the Council of Ministers has postponed the directive to send back the Bulgarian refugees who do not have residence permits. In a statement at the Balkan Refugees' Cultural and Solidarity Association in Bursa, Tayan says that residence permits would be given to the kinsmen who have arrived with tourist visas or illegally. He also says that certain measures would be adopted to ensure that the ethnic Turks who remain in Bulgaria are not harmed by the economic crisis in that country. Interior Minister Meral Aksener points that emigration weakens the Turkish party in Bulgaria, and asks those kinsmen who have migrated to Turkey but who still hold Bulgarian identity cards to go back to Bulgaria and vote in the general elections. (BBC) |
| Mar 7, 1997 |
The Turkish press reports that the former Prime Minister of Bulgaria, Jean Videnov, has said that Bulgaria must not sign the International Minority Rights agreement. Stating that Bulgaria was a united state, Videnov has said that Turks and other nationalities living in Bulgaria mustn't be given the status of being a minority. Videnov has said, that the Movement for Rights and Freedom wanted the rights' agreement signed and would continue pushing for it by appeal to the Constitutional Court and to whichever party comes to power in the April 9 elections. (East News Items) |
| Mar 19, 1997 |
DPS, the Green Party, the Nikola Petkov Bulgarian National Agrarian Union, the Kingdom of Bulgaria Federation and the Democratic Center Party, reach an agreement for setting up of an electoral coalition called, the Alliance for the Salvation of Bulgaria (ONS). (BBC) |
| Mar 28, 1997 |
Less than a month before the early general elections, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms is torn by infighting. Disputes flared up over a decision of the DPS's top leadership to form an election coalition with monarchists, agrarians and liberals. In a last-minute move the DPS backed out of talks with the Union of Democratic Forces (SDS) and the Popular Union on forming a coalition which was to present a single platform. A coalition of the three political forces - the United Democratic Forces (ODS) - won the 1996 presidential elections. However, the DPS now says, they could not accept the proposed conditions which, they argue, would lead to inequality, and set out to form the Alliance for National Salvation. (BBC) |
| Apr 22, 1997 |
ONS, which member is the Movement for Rights and Freedoms states that it supports the Euro-Atlantic orientaion of Bulgaria but believes that the decision on Bulgaria's membership in NATO should be made through a referendum. The ONS position on the republic-or-monarchy problem is that it too, should be resolved by holding a referendum. The Leader of the Movement for Rights and Freedom says that as much as ONS's foreign political orientation is concerned, the coalition would adhere to the principle of balanced relations with all neighboring countries. (BBC) |
| Apr 23, 1997 |
Bulgaria's anti-communists won 52.26 per cent of the vote in the April 19 general elections, according to the official final result released by the central election commission in Sofia. Three smaller groups in parliament are the Union for the Salvation of Bulgaria, a coalition between the Turkish minority and the monarchists, who polled 7.60 per cent and will get 19 seats; the Euroleft - a breakaway faction of Socialists who won 5.60 per cent (14 deputies); and the party of business people who won 4.93 per cent (12 deputies).(Deutsche Presse Agentur) |
| Dec 8, 1998 |
Prime Minister Ivan Kostov says, that the political representation in the area of Kardzhali does not match people's socioeconomic interests, which is why the Eastern Rhodopes face the United Democratic Forces with the strongest challenge in the upcoming elections. Kostov says, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms is misgoverning the area. Kostov sees DPS's nine-year political collaboration with BSP (the Party of the Bulgarian Socialists) as a reason for the emigration of both Bulgarians and Turks from this part of the country. (BBC) |
| Dec 18, 1998 |
The Chairman of the newly-established National Movement for Rights and Freedoms (NMRF), Gjuner Tahir says, that the movement will win the local elections in the Fall at least in half of the 26 municipalities where the mayors are currently from Ahmed Dogan's Movement for Rights and Freedoms. (BBC) |
| Jan 14, 1999 |
Sevtin Redzheb and Tair Myumyun, leaders of the Union of Democratic Forces, accuse the Movement for Rights and Freedoms for having taken DM 150,000 from a leftist Muslim organization during the 1997 parliamentary elections. Redzheb and Myumyun also accuse Remzi Osman, the DPS chairman in Kardzhali, for instigating the citizens against the government on the ground that the latter supports Kurdish terrorist organizations that are active in Bulgaria. (BBC) |
| Jan 25, 1999 |
Ahmed Dogan, leader of the ethnic Turks' Movement for Rights and Freedom has said that the Razgrad branch (northeast Bulgaria) of the movement should form a coalition with the party that would guarantee its success in the forthcoming local elections. Coalitions with the UDF or the Socialists are equally possible. Dogan predicted that political struggle for the mayoral seats would be most fierce in the northeast.(BBC) |
| Feb 3, 1999 |
According to the Turkish daily Hurriyet (Feb 2), a second Turkish party in Bulgaria, the National Rights and Freedoms Movement, is in the process of its formation. The party has already established branches in 22 of the 28 provinces in Bulgaria. The Chairman of the party, Guner Tahir, has said that they aim to join the two Turkish parties before the parliamentary elections in 2001. (Middle East News Items) |
| Feb 18, 1999 |
Bulgaria’s parliament ratified a resolution for the protection of minorities, while also adopting another document stating that the ratification "by no means sanctions activities harming the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the unified Bulgarian state, its internal and international security," indicating that Bulgaria would not accept any degree of separatism. Premier Ivan Kostov claimed that acceptance of the bill put an end to communism, nationalism, and ethnic and religious extremism, while promoting democracy. The Socialists (the former communists) were the only party to oppose ratification (Associated Press Worldstream, February 18, 1999). |
| Mar 22 - 23, 1999 |
On March 22, Turkish President Suleyman Demirel released a statement in which he claimed, "the Bulgarian citizens of Turkish origin are loyal citizens of Bulgaria and we (Turkey) are pleased with the attitude of Bulgaria's government to that minority." He also said that Turkey and Bulgaria should work together to gain accession to the European Union (Associated Press Worldstream, March 22, 1999). On the following day, Demirel encouraged roughly 1500 Turks in Plovdiv, Bulgaria’s second largest city, to remain in their "motherland" of Bulgaria and strive to make it a better place. He claimed that Turkey would rather increase investment in southeast and northeast Bulgaria, where most of the country's ethnic Turks live, than lessen the tight visa regime for these Turks that was put into place due to their migration that resulted from poverty and unemployment. Rasim Musa, mayor of Kardzhali (aka Kardjali) (containing 60,000 Bulgarian Turks), "urged Demirel to speed up a joint project with Bulgaria to build a system of hydroelectric stations in the region that is expected to create new jobs." Bulgaria had agreed to repay Turkish investment with electricity exports (Associated Press Worldstream, March 23, 1999). |
| Sep 3, 1999 |
The United States handed a draft resolution to Bulgarian President Stoyanov supporting Bulgaria’s desire to join NATO, indicating US respect of Bulgaria’s territorial integrity, and praising both Bulgaria’s treatment of its ethnic Turk minority and its attempt to privatize its economy. This document marked a turn in US policy toward Bulgaria, formerly the closest all of the USSR. The US House of Representatives would debate and vote on the resolution later in the month (Associated Press Worldstream, September 3, 1999). |
| Oct 16, 1999 |
Bulgaria held a first round of municipal elections that, according to a spokesman for the electoral commission, had a turnout rate of 45 percent, the lowest turnout rate since Bulgaria’s first democratic elections in 1990. These elections were the "first electoral test for the UDF's (United Democratic Forces’) pro-western reforms" (Agence France Presse, October 16, 1999). On October 21, the official electoral commission announced that the ruling UDF won 28.47 percent of the vote, the Socialist Party (PSB) won 25.59 percent, and the Turkish minority Movement for Rights and Freedoms party (aka the Democratic Party of Justice, or the DPJ; aka the Movement for Rights and Liberties, or the MRL) won 8.22 percent (Agence France Presse, October 21, 1999). The UDF had also formed alliances with smaller parties on a seat-by-seat basis, accounting for 23.34 percent of the vote (Agence France Presse, October 23, 1999). The UDF won four major cities, including Sofia and Plovkiv, while the PSB won six (Agence France Presse, October 22, 1999). Before the elections, the PSB controlled all but the three main cities in Bulgaria (Sofia, Plovdiv, and Varna), holding two-thirds of the mayoral posts and half of the 262 local councils (Agence France Presse, October 16, 1999). The UDF did lose a key post in Varna, the third largest city in Bulgaria (Associated Press Worldstream, October 24, 1999). All 262 municipal councils were elected in the first round as well, using a proportional system (Agence France Presse, October 21, 1999). During the first round of elections, Rumen Dimitrov, an independent economist backed by a nine-party coalition headed by the UDF (Associated Press Worldstream, October 29, 1999), defeated incumbent Rasim Musa, an ethnic Turk, in the Kardzhali mayoral race. Kardzhali (pop. 65,000 (Associated Press Worldstream, October 29, 1999)) had been the only provincial center where the Movement for Rights and Freedoms controlled the local government, having been led by Turkish mayors for nine years. Local party officials called for an expert commission to review roughly 3000 ballots that were voided (Agence France Presse, October 22, 1999). Despite his election, Dimitrov did lack a clear majority in the council (Associated Press Worldstream, October 28, 1999). The MRF won 18 of 37 seats in Kardzhali. The MRF did acknowledge that "some Turks switched support to Bulgarian parties because the movement failed to tackle poverty and unemployment in the area it has run since communism fell in 1989" (Associated Press Worldstream). In accordance with Bulgarian election laws, only 62 towns and 721 villages elected mayors in the first round. On October 23, a second round of mayoral elections were held in the remaining 200 towns and 974 villages (Agence France Presse, October 22, 1999). According to Associated Press Worldstream, the UDF "failed to secure its power base in local governments in the second round" (October 24, 1999) of elections. |
| Oct 29, 1999 |
On October 28, mayor Rumen Dimitrov’s suggestion that ethnic Turks in Kardzhali join the effort of other parties in creating a broad coalition to "address issues such as the 10 percent unemployment in the town and up to 35 percent in the surrounding areas, the poor state of agriculture, decaying infrastructure, a cash-strapped local hospital, and unpaid salaries to teachers and doctors." He also invited defeated incumbent Rasim Musa to chair the assembly that began the following day, but local Turkish leaders rejected both of these offers (Associated Press Worldstream, October 28, 1999). As promised, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) boycotted the opening session of local parliament in Kardzhali, and claimed that they would not attend sessions of the municipal council until November 8, the day that a court was scheduled to rule on the MRF appeal to invalidate the October 16 local election because 3000 ballots were wrongly considered void and parliament members were hence illegally elected (Associated Press Worldstream, October 29, 1999). |
| Dec 7, 1999 |
At the end of a regular monitoring mission in Bulgaria, Council of Europe members said that Bulgaria was making progress on democratic issues but that it needed to limit corruption, replace jail terms for libel and defamation crimes with fines, and extend the rights of ethnic Turks. David Atkinson, a British conservative member of parliament, said that ethnic Turks have "very real concerns regarding the lack of rights concerning their language, their education, their access to television (and)...they feel insufficiently represented in police and other public bodies." Atkinson said that a "Turkish ethnic party" was also demanding more educational opportunities, the delivery of radio and TV broadcasts in Turkish, and more access to state institutions (Associated Press Worldstream, December 8, 1999). |
| Dec 10, 1999 |
The European Union began a summit, and Finnish Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen (host of the summit) announced that Bulgaria, Romania, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Malta were now formal candidates for membership (The Associated Press, December 10, 1999). |
| Dec 16, 1999 |
The Bulgarian education ministry said that Bulgarian schools would begin offering courses on Islam next year in areas where Muslims form a strong minority. Optional classes in Turkish were already being offered in areas of northeastern and southern Bulgaria where Turks are concentrated (Agence France Presse, December 16, 1999). |
| Jan 30, 2000 |
Ahmed Dogan was reelected leader of the MRF. Taking issues with the Bulgarian constitution’s definition of the country as a "mono-national state," Dogan said that Turks would seek to change this part of the constitution so that it recognizes Turks (Associated Press Worldstream, January 30, 2000). A week earlier, Dogan told state radio that all national minorities should be explicitly mentioned in the constitution, while adding that ethnic Turks would not engage in separatist activity (Associated Press Worldstream, January 24, 2000). After being reelected as leader of the MRF, Dogan said that the Bulgarian government should "invest both cash and effort in Turk-populated areas, saying that such action would encourage stability and tolerance." He also asked "all political parties to endorse a national program on minorities that would endure any change of government." Furthermore, Dogan promised to increase the role of the MRF in Bulgaria’s attempts to join the European Union and NATO, adding that engaging "the minority issue would be a critical part of Bulgaria's accession negotiations with the EU." Finally, Dogan claimed that the MRF would not allow a splinter group back into its ranks and that it would attempt to dispel "a crisis of trust" with the UDF. Associated Press Worldstream also mentioned that UDF officials had recently "voiced a willingness to mend relations with the Turks" (January 30, 2000). |
| Mar 20, 2000 |
State radio reported that the Bulgarian government introduced Islamic religion classes as an elective for elementary school children in 22 southern and eastern cities that are predominantly Turkish. The classes were to be taught in Bulgarian, and no figures were released stating how many children would participate in said classes (Associated Press Worldstream, March 20, 2000). |
| Mar 30, 2000 |
Bulgarian deputies approved a law backed by the UDF and a minority Turkish party that declared as illegitimate Bulgaria’s communist-era regime and abolished laws that placed a statute of limitation on the time between a crime and a charge. With the approval of this law, former communist leaders who committed crimes could now be prosecuted (Agence France Presse, March 30, 2000). |
| May 6 - 7, 2000 |
During the Bulgarian Socialist Party’s congress, Georgi Parvanov was re-elected as the party leader (Associated Press Worldstream, May 7, 2000). In addition to proposing a reversal in his party’s anti-NATO stance and urging greater pragmatism over ideology, Parvanov "called for a new model of government based on a broad social-liberal coalition" (Associated Press Worldstream, May 6, 2000), listing the MRF as a potential partner for the 2001 general elections. Parvanov said that the Socialists and the MRF had a "different political culture," but that they shared "a common social basis" of supporting Bulgaria’s economically disadvantaged (Associated Press Worldstream, May 7, 2000). MRF leader Ahmed Dogan addressed the congress and also suggested the possibility of a future coalition between the two parties. According to Associated Press Worldstream, the MRF was "a traditional political foe" of the Socialist Party (May 6, 2000). |
| May 23, 2000 |
According to the Bulgarian government press office, Chief Mufti Mustafa Hadji, the spiritual leader of Bulgarian Muslims, asked Prime Minister Ivan Kostov "to speed up restitution of property belonging to his religious community before being nationalized by the communists after World War II," claiming that "government-appointed regional governors delay restitution procedures." Hadji said that authorities in the town of Sliven had restored only one of eight pieces of real estate claimed by Muslims, and he listed five other towns where Muslims encountered a similar situation. Associated Press Worldstream stated that an overwhelming majority of Hadji’s followers were ethnic Turks, and that various other religious groups (including Jews) had complained about sluggish governmental action regarding restitution claims, despite the existence of legislation allowing for such restitution (Associated Press Worldstream, May 23, 2000). |
| Oct 2, 2000 |
Bulgaria’s state TV began broadcasting in Turkish, and a news-feature and entertainment program in Turkish were to be launched in three months. Bulgaria’s law on radio and TV "envisions" broadcasts in minorities’ native languages (Associated Press Worldstream, October 1, 2000). |
| Nov 2000 |
State BTA news reported that "anti-Turkish and racist slogans" were painted on mosques in Pleven (Associated Press Worldstream, November 11, 2000) and Silistra (November 22, 2000). In the Pleven incident, one slogan read "No to news in Turkish," referring to the daily newscasts in Turkish that had begun in October on Bulgarian state television (Associated Press Worldstream, November 11, 2000). |
| Nov 11, 2000 |
Thousands of people rallied and marched in Sofia in a protest called by the Socialist Party and supported by three smaller leftist groups and members of the MRF. According to Associated Press Worldstream, the protestors demanded that the Bulgarian government "improve dismal living standards and end corruption." AP Worldstream reported that the average monthly salary in Bulgaria is $103, that roughly 17.78 percent (680,000 people) of the population is unemployed, that a series of corruption investigations against two former ministers and three deputy ministers (all UDF members) had been launched, and that IMF-backed economic reforms implemented by the Kostov regime had caused economic woes (Associated Press Worldstream, November 11, 2000). |
| Nov 24, 2000 |
In the Trud publication, The Bulgarian Socialist Party called on Interior Minister Emanuil Yordanov "to resign over charges that intelligence services had been bugging politicians and journalists," including MRF leader Ahmed Dogan and his deputy Osman Oktai, Trud editor Tosho Toshev, and Boiko Rashkov, the head of Bulgaria’s judicial investigation service. Yordanov denied these charges (Agence France Presse, November 24, 2000). |
| Feb 15, 2001 |
Hundreds of Kurds across Europe took part in demonstrations two years to the day after the Turkey-based PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan was arrested by Turkish agents. In Sofia, Bulgaria, fifteen protestors began a three-day hunger strike, and wreaths were laid at embassies. Sofia contains roughly 1000 Kurdish refugees of Turkish, Iraqi, Iranian and Syrian origin (Agence France Presse, February 15, 2001). |
| Feb 16, 2001 |
The Bulgarian parliament rejected a vote of no confidence brought against the ruling UDF by the Socialist Party and the Turkish Freedom and Rights Movement (MDL). These opposition parties accused the UDF of being unable to deal with a wave of killings that Bulgarian police believed were a result of clashes between rival criminal gangs involved in illegal oil trading (Agence France Presse, February 16, 2001). |
| Apr 2001 |
On April 6, Bulgaria’s former King Simeon II, who had lived in exile for over 50 years, announced that he would front "a national movement" in the upcoming June elections (Agence France Presse, April 6, 2001). In February 2000, Simeon claimed that he would re-enter politics in some form despite a constitutional court ruling that barred him from becoming a presidential candidate (Associated Press Worldstream, March 15, 2001). After Simeon appealed (Agence France Presse, April 24, 2001) an April 23 Sofia court ruling that prevented him from registering his National Movement in the June 17 elections (Agence France Presse, April 23, 2001), Bulgaria’s supreme court upheld this ruling on April 28 (Agence France Presse, April 28, 2001). In response, Simeon decided to run his candidates on the electoral tickets of two legally registered but obscure political parties – the Party of Bulgarian Women and the Movement for National Rebirth. Along with these two parties and the Turkish MRF (Agence France Presse, April 29, 2001), seven dissenters from Prime Minister Ivan Kostov's UDF, one from the Popular Union (the UDF’s junior ally), one from the Turkish ethnic party dominated oppositional Alliance for National Salvation, and one independent lawmaker split from Kostov’s parliamentary faction and supported Simeon (Associated Press Worldstream, March 15, 2001). On May 3, the Central Election Commission announced that it had registered Simeon’s newly formed political party for the June 17 elections (Deutsche Presse-Agentur, May 3, 2001). |
| Apr 4, 2001 |
Emel Etem, vice-president of the MRF, told the newspaper 24 Chassa that the Bulgarian government should provide more funds and power to the country’s Muslim community in order to ensure long-term ethnic peace. Etem said that the conflict ignited by ethnic Albanians in neighboring Macedonia could spread to Bulgaria if Muslims continued to be excluded from the economy and positions of political power. According to the MRF, unemployment in Muslim areas was as high as 60-70 percent in some areas, compared to the national average of 20 percent, and she blamed the government for "not having assured investment in our regions" (the northeast, south, and southeast). The MRF had 12 MPs at this time (Agence France Presse, April 4, 2001). |
| May 21, 2001 |
Under the provision of a new law providing public access to Bulgaria’s communist-era secret police files, a parliamentary commission exposed 52 people as former secret police agents, including six candidates in the upcoming June legislative elections. MRF leader Ahmed Dogan and three off his top aides made the list. Dogan responded that this revelation was a "manipulation," and he told the Daik radio station that he would not withdraw from the upcoming elections. No action would be taken against those on the list except making their communist-era activities and identities known (Associated Press Online, May 21, 2001). |
| Jun 10, 2001 |
Agence France Presse reported that several parties had purged themselves of "old collaborators with the communist-era secret police," ahead of the following week’s legislative elections. Simeon II’s National Movement (MNS II), the Socialist Party, and the MRF were among those parties who excluded a number of their members, while the UDF did not. The MRF let go of seven party members (Agence France Presse, June 10, 2001). |
| Jun 17, 2001 |
Parliamentary elections were held in Bulgaria, and the Central Election Commission announced the final results on June 20. The National Movement for Simeon II won 42.74 percent of the vote and 120 out of 240 parliamentary seats, narrowly missing an absolute majority. The ruling center-right UDF won only 18.18 percent of the vote and 51 seats, the opposition Socialists won 17.15 percent and 48 seats, and the MRF won 7.45 percent and was predicted to receive 21 seats (Deutsche Presse-Agentur, June 20, 2001). Voter turnout was just under 70 percent, a four percent increase from the last election four years ago (Deutsche Presse-Agentur, June 18, 2001). On the day of the elections, Simeon said that he was willing to form a coalition government with any parties that shared his main political aims (Agence France Presse, June 17, 2001), and Ahmed Dogan said that the MRF would join the coalition if invited (United Press International, June 18, 2001). Simeon also reiterated that his key foreign policy goals were joining the European Union and NATO (Agence France Presse, June 17, 2001), and he asked the Bulgarian government to freeze all privatization projects in an attempt "to stop any last-minute money from passing under the table before the change in power" (Associated Press Worldstream, June 20, 2001). European Union diplomats and officials welcomed Simeon’s pledge to "speed up reforms" (Agence France Presse, June 20, 2001), but Bulgaria’s chief negotiator with the EU would resign within 3 weeks (on July 4), "voicing concerns that membership talks might slow down" after Simeon’s party’s June 17 victory (Associated Press Worldstream, July 4, 2001). |
| Jul 4, 2001 |
Representatives of the National Movement of Simeon II) and the MRF announced that they would form a coalition the day before Bulgaria’s new parliament convened its inaugural session (Agence France Presse, July 5, 2001). However, it wasn’t until July 9 that MRF (aka DPS, aka DPJ) leader Ahmed Dogan formally announced that the MRF had agreed to join this coalition after talks with National Movement leaders. Deutsche Presse-Agentur noted that this would be the "first ethnic Turkish participation in a Bulgarian government since World War II" (Deutsche Presse-Agentur, July 9, 2001), and "the first time since the downfall of communism in Bulgaria in 1989 that ethnic Turkish ministers (would) become part of the cabinet" (Deutsche Presse-Agentur, July 20, 2001). The agreement was signed on July 20 (see below). On July 6, parliament accepted the formal resignation of the UDF government (Agence France Presse, July 5, 2001). |
| Jul 12, 2001 |
Plamen Panayotov, the National Movement’s floor leader in parliament, named ex-king Simeon to be Bulgaria’s next prime minister, and Simeon accepted this proposal (Associated Press Worldstream, July 12, 2001). |
| Jul 16, 2001 |
The National Movement failed to form a coalition with the UDF. UDF leader Ekaterina Mihailova cited the National Movement’s attempt to also form an alliance with the MRF as the reason for the failed coalition attempt between the UDF and the NMS II (Associated Press Worldstream, July 16, 2001). |
| Jul 20, 2001 |
Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg signed a coalition accord with the MRF. The National Movement would be the senior party in the coalition, and the MRF received two ministerial positions and five vice-ministers. The initial offer entailed the MRF receiving only one minister and three vice-ministers (Agence France Presse, July 20, 2001), but MRF leader Ahmed Dogan noted that there was "discontent in its (the MRF’s) ranks" two days prior to the coalition being signed regarding the departments to which MRF ministers would be assigned (Agence France Presse, July 18, 2001). Thus, the final arrangement was re-negotiated. Agence France Presse did note, however, that the MRF had also desired both a deputy prime minister position and the post of Kardjali provincial administrator, but it received neither of these appointments (Agence France Presse, July 20, 2001). |
| Jul 24, 2001 |
The Bulgarian parliament formally elected Simeon II (Saxe-Coburg) as Prime Minister and approved his coalition cabinet (Deutsche Presse-Agentur, July 24, 2001), which includes ethnic Turkish MRF (aka DPJ) members Mehmed Dikme (Minister of Agriculture) and Nedjeb Mollov (Minister of Disaster Prevention) (Deutsche Presse-Agentur, July 22, 2001). |
| Aug 19, 2001 |
Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg announced his first plans to improve the economic situation of and living standards in Bulgaria. Simeon pledged to pursue a radical tax reform and transparent privatization, improve the customs service, enact cuts in state administration by 10 percent, raise public-sector minimum wages by 17 percent, and create a $9.5 million national guarantee fund to "distribute individual interest-free loans in municipalities with the highest unemployment" (Associated Press Worldstream, August 19, 2001). Ethnic Turk-dominated areas possess some of the largest unemployment figures in the country. |
| Sep 8, 2001 |
Selim Mehmed, spiritual leader of Bulgarian Muslims, praised Bulgaria for its "peaceful ethnic and religious tolerance amid the simmering Balkans" (Associated Press Worldstream, September 8, 2001). |
| Oct 2, 2001 |
While Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg stated that the National Movement endorsed the re-election bid of its rival and current President Petar Stoyanov in the upcoming November 11 presidential elections, Ahmed Dogan, leader of the National Movement’s coalition partner – the MRF – did not endorse Stoyanov and said that Bulgaria needed a new president (Deutsche Presse-Agentur, October 3, 2001). |
| Oct 10, 2001 |
Bulgarian President Petar Stoyanov and Muslim spiritual leader Selim Mehmed spoke out against "isolated cases of intolerance against the nation's (Bulgaria’s) Muslim community" following the incidents of September 11 in the United States (Agence France Presse, October 10, 2001). |
| Nov 14, 2001 |
After receiving a poor report on its European Union preparedness by the EU itself, Bulgaria "set it sights" on joining the EU in 2006, two years later than its initial plan." Among other thing, the report mentioned "the plight of the gypsies in Bulgaria and inadequate efforts to integrate the Turkic minority living in poor regions" (Agence France Presse, November 14, 2001). |
| Nov 18, 2001 |
In accordance with Bulgarian electoral laws, a runoff presidential election was held because turnout was below 50 percent and because incumbent president and UDF candidate Petar Stoyanov and Socialist Party leader Georgui Parvanov each failed to receive 50 percent of the votes cast in the original election on November 11 (Agence France Presse, November 12, 2001). On November 19, Stoyanov conceded defeat to Parvanov, who pledged to continue efforts to get EU and NATO membership for Bulgaria (Associated Press Worldstream, November 19, 2001). The Central Election Commission released the final election results on November 20, and these results indicated that turnout was 55 percent, and that Parvanov garnered 54.13 percent of the vote, while Stoyanov received 45.87 percent (Associated Press Worldstream, November 20, 2001). Associated Press Worldstream reported that backers of Parvanov included "a party representing Bulgaria’s…ethnic Turks as well as…several Gypsy organizations and retirees’ unions" (Associated Press Worldstream, November 19, 2001). According to the Sova-Harris and Mediana polling institutes, turnout during the first round was only 39.2 percent (2.68 million out of 6.83 million voters), "the lowest figure in a national vote since the fall of communism in Bulgaria in 1989, and considerably down on the 62.73 percent for legislative elections held in June" (Agence France Presse, November 12, 2001). Parvanov would take office on January 22, 2002 (Agence France Presse, January 22, 2002). |
| Dec 18, 2001 |
During a roundtable discussion on "Bulgaria’s ethnic model," MRF leader Ahmed Dogan asked the European Union and the United States to "invest" in stabilizing the Balkan region. He said that the state of poverty (unemployment runs between 50 and 80 percent) in the southern and northeastern areas where Bulgarian Turks reside was a "risk" to stability and ethnic peace. President-elect Parvanov and Dogan both said that "minorities should have a role in commanding the army, top positions in the interior ministry and special services, in the foreign ministry and in the judiciary." Unal Lufty, vice-president of the MRF, stressed the ethnic Turk minority’s Bulgarian patriotism, while Dogan stated that the MRF was "not looking for ethnic division" (Agence France Presse, December 20, 2001). |
| Jan 31, 2002 |
Mufti Selim Mehmet, spiritual leader of Bulgarian Muslims, met with Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit and raised the issue of Muslim property that was confiscated by the Bulgarian government during communist rule. Muslim leaders estimate the value of the unreturned real estate at $750 million and claiming that the restitution of this propert was "crucial" in limiting the "possible influence of financially powerful fundamentalists" (Deutsche Presse-Agentur, January 31, 2002). |
| Feb 13, 2002 |
Saxe-Coburg’s government won its first no-confidence motion in parliament. The motion was proposed by the conservative UDF opposition, which claimed that the Simeon government had created "social tension" and "seriously undermined social stability" in Bulgaria by increasing sales tax on medicines by 20 percent, according to UDF leader Nadejda Mikhailova (Agence France Presse, February 13, 2002). |
| Mar 8, 2002 |
Five Bulgarian deputies quit the NMS II and declared themselves independent, claiming that the government possessed a lack of "transparency" and calling for "clarity in the changing relationship with Russia." Five other NMS II deputies together with the five who quit published a letter in the Bulgarian press asking for new measures to encourage small business, a simpler credit granting process, the "immediate" pension boosts promised during last year’s elections, and promised pay hikes for teachers and police officers. With the resignation of these five deputies, Agence France Presse noted that the NMS II was now "dependent on a minority coalition partner," the MRF. A recent Gallup poll published by the MBMD institute showed that 61 percent of voters did not trust the relatively unknown NMS II deputies, 59 percent were disappointed in the government and the young bankers who were running the economy, and 46 percent continued to support Simeon Saxe-Coburg (Agence France Presse, March 8, 2002). |
| Mar 20, 2002 |
Mimicking actions of the Romanian government, Bulgaria refused to allow a group of 200 Kurds on a Turkish Kurd PKK party-organized protest march from Western Europe to march through Bulgarian territory and hold demonstrations on the Turkish border, citing a 1992 friendship treaty with Turkey. Bulgarian Kurds said that they would have joined the protest at the border (Deutsche Presse-Agentur, March 20, 2002). |
| Mar 22, 2002 |
Several thousand Bulgarians (15,000 according to the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria; 3000 according to the police) rallied in Sofia, "demanding that the government either improve its economic and social policy or step down." Associated Press Worldstream reported that since last June, Bulgarians had to face increased taxes and price hikes on heating and electricity, while unemployment had reached nearly 20 percent and the average monthly salary was $115 (Associated Press Worldstream, March 22, 2002). |
| Apr 4, 2002 |
A World Bank report on Bulgaria noted that Bulgarians were twice as poor as they were in 1995, but not as bad as they were following the economic crisis of 1997. The report highlighted the fact that ethnic minorities and rural communities were facing the highest degree of poverty, with Roma being ten times more likely to be poor and ethnic Turks being four times more likely (Agence France Presse, April 4, 2002). |
| Apr 18, 2002 |
Turkey and Bulgaria signed a bilateral security cooperation deal, and Turkish Interior Minister Rustu Kazim Yucelen gave Bulgarian Interior Minister Georgi Petkanov information about alleged illegal activities by a Kurdish center in Bulgaria that involved providing aid to the armed, Turkey-based PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party). Petkanov said he would assess the information and take legal action against the center if wrongdoings were discovered, but also that no illegal acts had so far been detected at the cultural center for 1000 Kurds in Bulgaria (Agence France Presse, April 18, 2002). |
| Apr 27, 2002 |
Roughly 5000 Bulgarians demonstrated in Sofia after parliament adopted a law suspending public access to communist-era secret police files. Protestors called for the resignation of Simeon Saxe-Coburg's government. UDF leader Nadejda Mikhailova asked President Parvanov to veto this law (Agence France Presse, April 27, 2002). |
| Jun 12, 2002 |
Responding to a statement on June 10 by Deputy Speaker of the Turkish parliament Ali Iliksoy that "institution-level obstacles make it impossible for some Muslim places of worship to function" in Bulgaria, spiritual leader Chief Mufti Selim Mekhmed said that "Muslims in Bulgaria are not obstructed in any way" in practicing their religion (BBC Monitoring International Reports, June 12, 2002). |
| Jul 4, 2002 |
The Bulgarian parliament adopted two religious faith bills proposed by NMS II’s Borislav Tsekov, Kiril Milchev, and Rupen Krikorian, as well as a religious rights and association bill proposed by MRF’s Lyutvi Mestan and Ahmed Yusein. The bills "regulate the social, health care and educational activity of religious faiths," while suggesting "that religious faiths need court registration, and that it should be expressly stated that the state can not intervene in their autonomy." The bills do not provide for re-registration of religious faiths (BBC Monitoring International Reports, July 4, 2002). |
| Jul 7, 2002 |
At a summit of the 10 NATO aspirant countries (the Vilnius Group), Bulgarian Foreign Minister and NMS II member Solomon Pasi was confronted about recent statements by the MRF that it had not been consulted on the recent replacement of two regional governors. Pasi said that the NMS II maintained "excellent relations" with the MRF and that the replacement issue should not be discussed via the media (BBC Monitoring International Reports, July 7, 2002). |
| Jul 6, 2004 |
Upon hearing that a Communist era prosecutor involved in the forced assimilation of Turks in Bulgaria was to be given the same award as Dogan, leader of the ethnic Turk Movement for Rights and Freedoms, he gave back the award in protest. (BBC Monitoring International Reports, 07/06/2004, “Bulgarian Turk Leader Returns Medal in Protest over Ex-Prosecutor”)
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| Apr 13, 2005 |
German authorities arrest 31 members of a sex trafficking ring. Ethnic Turks from Bulgaria were trafficked to Germany, France, Belgium and the Netherlands and in some cases were forced into prostitution. (Morning Star, 04/15/2005, “World - Germany smashes sex slavery ring”)
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| Jun 25, 2005 |
Movement for Rights and Freedom takes 11% of the vote in Parliamentary elections and holds 34 seats. (United Press International, 06/26/2005, “Socialists win Bulgaria election”)
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| Apr 2, 2006 |
Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS or MRF) held its Sixth National Conference, during which it elected its new Central Council. (BBC Monitoring International Reports, 04/02/2006, “Bulgarian Ethnic Turks Conference Elects Party's Central Council, Sets Out Goals”)
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