TURKS FROM BULGARIA: RECENT DEVELOPMENTS
Haykaram Nahapetyan
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04 March 2010
On November 11 in front of the entrance of Bulgarian National
Television the leader of "The Party of Bulgarian Men" Rozen Markov set
himself on fire to protest against broadcasting news in Turkish on
that channel. Markov’s act attracted the attention of international
press, different media agencies, newspapers, TV channels (including
Armenian). This act once more put on the agenda the issue of the
Bulgarian Turks. The community which made a good progress and, being
isolated at some extend in the Soviet period, activated fast during
"perestroika" and since 1990 has taken a strong and stable place in
the political system of Bulgaria. The party "Movement for Rights and
Freedoms" established by Bulgarian Turks had been a part of coalition
government in 2002-2009. The number of Bulgarian Turks in Bulgaria
(which population is 8 million) is about 800 thousand. Despite the 10%
index, the party of Bulgarian Turks depending on the results of the
elections has 30-38 of 240 mandates of the Bulgarian parliament. I.e.
in the proportional correlation the Turkish presence in the legislative
body is bigger that on its territory. This unprecedented success
of the Turkish party is conditioned by two key factors: firstly,
the votes of the whole Turkish population of country go to one party,
meanwhile the votes of the Bulgarians and many other ethnic groups are
divided between dozens of parties, and in a consequence the Turkish
party secures comparatively higher result. The second reason is the
behind-the-scenes support of the state. Particularly, during the
parliamentary elections in 2005 Turks who have double citizenship
were brought by buses from Turkey to Bulgaria. They took part in the
elections at their polling stations thus trying to secure the victory
of the "Movement for Rights and Freedoms" party candidates. Ankara
also initiated such an attempt during the parliamentary elections on
5 June, 2009, but when the bus column going to Bulgaria from Turkey
approached the frontier post "Capitan Andreno" it was met by about
200 Bulgarian demonstrators. The participants of that demonstration,
which was arranged on the initiative of Bulgarian nationalist "Ataka"
party, demonstrated against the interference of Ankara, which was
becoming traditional, into the parliamentary elections in Bulgaria. The
demonstrators chanted "Turks go back to Anatolia", "Turks, get out",
"We don’t need janissaries here" and others. When the activists of
"Ataka" tried to pelt the "Turkish special mission" with bottles and
other things the police interfered and the encounter took place. The
leader of "Ataka" Volen Siderov stated that "Turkish state sponsors
the dispatch of Turks (citizens of Bulgaria) from Turkey to Bulgaria".
By the way on this incident’s example one can sum up all the
developments regarding Turkish community in Bulgaria for recent years:
while political and social activity of the Turkish side continues,
gradually the inner tension becomes more vivid. The most politically
active power resisting the movement is the aforementioned "Ataka". The
name of the party in Bulgarian, just like in Russian, means "attack",
and has distinct anti-Turkish orientation. The name of the party
symbolizes "the attack against Turkish expansion". At the parliamentary
elections "Ataka" usually wins about 20 mandates thus taking 3rd-4th
places. "Ataka" run in parliamentary elections with a number of sharp
anti-Turkish" slogans, one of which was "There is no place for Turkey
in the EU". "If we just seat and do not act the way the Bulgarian
patriots have to, then one fine day they will, undoubtedly, occupy
our country", – said Volen Siderov during the electoral campaign.
The following indicator also speaks about the activity of Bulgarian
Turks and the resistance being formed in the country: according to
Reuters Agency for the recent 19 years 323 mosques have been built in
Bulgaria and the means for a part of those mosques were raised through
the donations by privates (Turks) or different Turkish structures.
Generally, the number of mosques in Bulgaria approaches to 2000. At the
same time for recent years the attacks on the mosques have become more
frequent: for the recent 3 years there have been about 100 attacks on
the Turkish mosques in Bulgaria. In 2008 it was banned to wear hijab
in the universities. The Reuters quotes the Turkish public figure
Mustafa Yumer saying that "the anxiety is growing inside the Turkish
community" as connected with, as he said "the activity of the radical
right parties".
Let us mention that the activity of the Turkish party and resistance
movement in Bulgaria influences also the issue of the recognition of
the Armenian Genocide in Bulgaria. The legislative body of Bulgaria
has already twice put forward and rejected the decision condemning the
Armenian Genocide – in May 2006 and in January 2008. This, in fact,
is the unique case when the document connected with the Armenian
Genocide is rejected. For the last 10 years there has been no such
a case when the document condemning the Armenian Genocide has been
put forward and rejected by voting. The initiator of the recognition
of the Armenian Genocide in the parliament was "Ataka" party. At the
same time when on 25 April, 2007 the deputy of the parliament from "The
National Movement Simeon II" Ruben Krikoryan offered to hold a moment
of silence for the victims of the Armenian Genocide all the members
of Turkish party walked out in protest. By the way, at that time the
Turkish party formed a political coalition with Socialist Party and
"The National Movement Simeon II". Speaking about that incident the
leader of "Ataka" said: "In the ruling coalition there is party which
protects the interests of Turkey. The representatives of that party do
not respect the memory of 1.5 million Armenians". And the deputy from
"Bulgarian National Union" Boyko Vatev stated that it was time for
Bulgaria to recognize the Armenian Genocide and to consider the mass
killings of the Bulgarians by the Ottoman army in 1903 in Bulgarian
Ilinden settlement as the genocide.
Summarizing the theme of the Turkish political activity in Bulgaria
it can be concluded that different events directed to restrict the
activity of Turkish party and to restrain the attempts of Ankara to
control the Bulgarian Turks and this, of course, will be accompanied
by the growing anxiety and protest of Turkish party. It is not
excluded that the Turkish activists may turn to the European Court or
international court instances to protect their rights. The Armenian
issue will also play its role in this process. By the joint efforts of
the Armenian community and supporting parties, particularly "Ataka",
for the recent 3 years the process of the recognition of the Armenian
Genocide on local levels has been initiated. The Armenian Genocide
has already been recognized in more than 10 Bulgarian cities: Varna,
Stara Zagora, Ruse, Batak, Silistra, Vidin, Plovdiv and others.