bg_turk
Deputy
Joined: 08 Oct 2005
Posts: 1316
Location: Bulgaria
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From 1945 to the present, the Cyprus question was brought up twice in Bulgarian politics. On the first occasion, the then head of state Zhivkov used it as a justification for the namechanging campaign directed at the Bulgarian Turks in 1984-1985. On the second,deputies in the 1991 Grand National Assembly used it as an argument for the specific
formulation of some parts of the present Bulgarian Constitution. |
While reading the paper I was quite shocked by the attitude displayed by Greece towards the repressive measures taken by the Bulgarian communist government against my community.
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On the international scene, the US and the UK supported Turkey’s claims. Germany, France, Italy and other EC members recommended that handling the matter in the CSCE, rather than bilaterally with Bulgaria. Greece was the only EC member-state that openly supported Bulgaria. Consequently, Greek-Bulgarian relations improved to such an extent that in September 1986 the two countries signed a declaration of friendship, good-neighbourly relations and co-operation, including provision for bilateral consultations should a threat to the security of either party arise. In Turkey some argued that this was not compatible with the obligations of Greece as a NATO member (Lütem 1999: 7). |
I condemn all acts of support by the Greek government to dictatorships and oppressive regimes in the Balkans. Greece supported the Yugoslavian regime in the Bosnian and Kosovo wars, and the communist regime in Bulgaria, and closed its eyes to the horrendous crimes comiited against the the muslims in the Balkans. What is that Greece has against muslims?
If you want to learn about the darkest chapter in the history of bulgarian turks feel free to read this:
http://www.ethnopolitics.org/archive/volume_I/issue_4/petkova.pdf
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The Situation of Bulgarian Turks, 1968-1984
The ‘warming’ in Bulgarian-Turkish relations in 1968-1984 coincided with a period in which the rights of the Bulgarian Muslims were restricted. The Zhivkov Constitution adopted in 1971 dropped all references to minorities. In 1974, Turkish-language lessons became optional and the students were ‘discouraged’ from attending. (Lütem 1999: 5) In the early 1970s the authorities launched an action for changing the Turkish-Arabic names of the Bulgarian-speaking Muslims to Bulgarian equivalents. Unlike the subsequent renaming of the Bulgarian Turks that was about to follow in 1980s, this campaign produced no policy response from Turkey. By contrast, the name-changing campaign of 1984-1985, this time affecting the Bulgarian Turks, drew the attention of both the Turkish and the international press. The formal procedure consisted of requiring people to fill out an application for changing their own names. State ‘incentives’ included measures ranging from economic sanctions to
overt violence. Thousands of people who resisted were sent to prison or labour camps.
This ‘program’, carried out in secrecy was completed in several months. Consequently, it was forbidden to employ traditional Turkish or Muslim dress and rituals, and even Turkish folk music, were banned. This policy went as far as destroying Muslim graveyards and changing the names of dead people in the municipal registries. (Zhelyazkova 1997: 4) The state succeeded in curbing all resistance very quickly, as nobody was allowed to visit banks, hospitals etc. without an identity card bearing a
Bulgarian name. (Lütem 1999: 6) The propaganda accompanying the campaign aimed to portray Turkey as an imminent threat to the territorial integrity of the Bulgarian state. The terminology used by the press while describing the Turkish minority included terms such as ‘the fifth column of an enemy state’, ‘terrorists’, ‘separatists’. Distrust and fear from Turkey and its ‘aggressive plans’ were instilled. (Zhelyazkova 1997: 4) |
The name of my grandfather was changed postmortum, because he was an outspoken communist, and the regime did not want to have a famous communist activist with a turkish name. |
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