Bulgaria: Government Courting Minorities
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Date: Tue, 19 Jan 1999 21:47:35 +0200 (EET)
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Subject: Bulgaria: Government Courting Minorities
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Bulgaria: Government Courting Minorities
Courting Minorities
("Transitions", December 1998)
by Maria Koinova
http://www.omri.cz/transitions/dec98/topcourt.html#author
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The Bulgarian government's new activism could signal a passing fancy
or a long-term trend
Sofia -- At two political forums held by the Union of Democratic
Forces (SDS) on 6 September, leaders of the top parliamentary party
launched an initiative on the integration of minorities into local and
district administration, police, army, and Bulgarian society as a
whole. The initiative would be the first step toward a national policy
on minority integration. Minorities would be judged by their
individual qualities - not according to quotas, "like it was done
during communism," says SDS deputy Plamen Ivanov.
According to Ivanov, during the forums and at SDS's National
Conference of 16-18 October, politicians discussed the creation of a
special apparatus within the party to work on minority integration
with the support of SDS's local structures and local nongovernmental
organizations. It is unclear which minorities the initiative would
address. But it is clear that minorities play an important role in
domestic and international politicking. Politicians are eyeing the
minorities in anticipation of next year's local elections, but a more
tangible impetus for action on minority issues could be parliament's
expected ratification later this year of the European Framework
Convention on the Protection of National Minorities, which calls for
cultural, media, language, and other freedoms, as well as reflecting
European Union minority rights principles.
According to the 1992 census, ethnic Turks are the biggest minority
(about 800,000 out of Bulgaria's population of 8.5 million). The next
largest group is the Roma, at about 313,000 - though human rights
activists claim the real number is closer to 800,000. The
third-largest are the Bulgarian Muslims (Pomaks), which number
250,000, according to unofficial estimates. The Bulgarian state views
them not as a minority but as Bulgarians who adhere to Islam, unlike
the Orthodox majority of the population.
After the September political seminars, "minority" became a buzzword
in the media and the fashion of the political season. The daily
newspaper 24 Chasa speculated that the initiative was announced prior
to the European convention's ratification to show that the government
initiative is part of the domestic political agenda, not something
imposed from abroad.
The government's courtship of the Roma and the ethnic Turks began at
the same time. The president and other leaders of the SDS-dominated
United Democratic Forces (ODS) government sent welcome messages to the
first nationwide Roma unification congress, Kupate (Together), on 16
September, organized by Roma leaders. Parliament chief Jordan Sokolov
attended the opening. The same day, the SDS replaced one of its
parliamentary deputies with Assen Christov, who become the sole Romani
representative in parliament. And on 3 October, during a meeting
launched by the Sofia-based Human Rights Project of government
representatives, Roma leaders, and members of nongovernmental
organizations, state officials pledged their support for a roundtable
discussion on the Romani question in February 1999.
But the main obstacle to their true integration is the overall
discrimination against Roma by Bulgarian society, says Savelina
Danova, Human Rights Project director - despite whatever good faith
the government shows toward Roma. The government also is discussing a
national program on Roma integration. However, Danova says this topic
has not been broached with most Roma leaders.
The SDS also seeks to reduce the political influence of the ethnic
Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS), which holds 15 seats -
out of a total 240 - in parliament. The SDS has become close to
reform-minded deputy Gyuner Tahir, who was elected on the Shortly
before the April 1997 elections, DPS abandoned the coalition and
formed the Union for National Salvation. Because Tahir and 24 of his
DPS colleagues opted to stay within the ODS, they were forced to leave
the DPS.
Since its creation in 1990, the DPS has remained strong. However,
economic stagnation in the regions inhabited by ethnic Turks has
created a gap between the minority and its traditional political
leadership. Emigration to Turkey was quite high - over 120,000 people
- from 1989 until 1993, when Turkey imposed a visa regime. The
economic discontent remains today, and ethnic Turks continue to leave
the country.
The government did take some steps prior to its new initiative. In
December 1997, as a successor to two ineffective councils on ethnic
issues within the executive, the National Council on Ethnic and
Demographic Issues was established. Members include representatives of
traditional minorities in Bulgaria - Roma, ethnic Turks, Jews, Vlachs,
Armenians, Karakatsans, and Tatars. Council Chairman Petar Atanasov
says Bulgarian Muslims are expected to join soon. The council would
implement the integration initiative after political and
administrative details were ironed out.
While it is too early to judge whether the integration initiative will
take root, the current government is the first one since 1989 to
profess serious ambitions to integrate minorities. Prime Minister Ivan
Kostov regularly expresses concern for them when speaking in public.
But the initiative still would have to be followed by concrete plans
and actions. Atanasov, of the National Council on Ethnic and
Demographic Issues, hesitates to venture a specific date for when
results may be apparent. Antonina Zhelyazkova, director of the
minorities studies center, says the initiative should be given grace
period of at least six months to a year; any criticism before then,
she says, would show partisan bias.
Maria Koinova is a Sofia-based freelance journalist.
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