RECOGNIZING THE GENOCIDE

Frontier Times
19 April 2008
Bulgaria

Another Bulgarian city adopted a declaration recognizing Turkish
genocide over Armenians and Bulgarians.

April 17, in Rousse, the Municipal Council approved with 36 in favour,
3 against and 6 abstained a special declaration wherein the town’s
governors recognize the genocide over Armenians and Bulgarians
carried out by the Turkish state and army. Between 1903 and 1913,
tens of thousands of Bulgarians were slaughtered by the Turkish in
the territories that remained out of the Bulgarian state, and between
1915 and 1918 of over 1.5 MILLION Armenians, having before that,
in 1895/6 butchered between 100,000 and 200,000 Armenians.

Besides the recognition of these acts of extreme violence in the
beginning of 20th century, the declaration calls for "the Republic of
Turkey assuming the responsibility and offer its apologies for the
five centuries of enslaving of Bulgarians, for the crimes committed
and mass murders perpetrated of all Bulgarians who, under the force
of the Berlin Treaty (of 1878), remained within the boundaries of
Turkey and to pay indemnities to the heirs of the refugees for their
suffering and for the robbing of their properties and possessions
that were left on its (Turkey’s) territory."

This declaration will be presented to the embassy of the Republic of
Armenia in Sofia and also delivered to the Human Rights Commission
in the EU Parliament. The declaration was initiated by ATAKA and VMRO
representatives and was earlier adopted in the city of Bourgas.

Meanwhile, the Turkish consul from Bourgas was reported to have arrived
in Rousse and attempted in discussions with the mayor to prevent the
adoption of such a declaration. After Bourgas approved the declaration,
the Turkish city of Edirne, in a harsh reaction to this, terminated all
common projects, and severed all connections between the two cities.

Bulgaria was enslaved by the Turkish between 1396 and 1878. In the
first century of slavery alone, the Bulgarian population was diminished
from about 2,000,000 to just over 200,000. Mass slaughter was carried
over Bulgarians most regularly, with some of the most brutal taking
place in 1876 as the April Uprising was crushed, leaving some hundred
thousand, including women and children, dead.

The modern Turkish state has continually refused to recognize the
terror performed over other peoples in its earlier history and has
demonstrated especially harsh attitude to the Armenian genocide
question.