Re: Kosovars on NATO

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From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Date: Wed, 14 Apr 1999 09:06:13 +0300 (EET DST)
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Subject: Re: Kosovars on NATO

From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>

Original sender: Vassil Karloukovski <[email protected]>

Re: Kosovars on NATO


Panayote Elias Dimitras <[email protected]> wrote:

> ..
> *** Bulgaria Supports NATO Strikes Against Yugoslavia
> ** Government Threatens with Witch Hunts
> 
> AIM Sofia, 2 April, 1999
> 
> Minister of internal affairs of Bulgaria Bogomil Bonev threatened 
> that court proceedings would be instigated against journalists and
> politicians who were spreading rumours which could stir up negative
> disposition against Bulgaria in war-stricken Yugoslavia. The 
> specific person this was addressed to was the leader of the 
> Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) Georgi Prvanov who put the 
> question in the parliament whether Bulgaria had approved flights 
> of NATO air-planes in the air-corridor of Bulgaria.
> ..
> What has made the minister so angry to openly threaten the leader 
> of the political party which ranks second in size in the 
> parliament? Prvanov accused the government that it had approved 
> flights of NATO air-planes in the air-corridor of Bulgaria without 
> agreement of the parliament which is the only one that was entitled 
> to do it. In answer to this prime minister Kostov declared that 
> Bulgaria had never put its air space at the disposal of NATO and 
> accused the leader of the Socialists that he could become the 
> originator of deterioration of relations with Yugoslavia. The 
> scandal broke out after the statement of TANJUG (Yugoslav state 
> press agency) that NATO air-planes had attacked Serbia from the 
> direction of Bulgaria.
 
Indeed, in the first days of the attacks NATO air planes made de-tours
(along the Macedonian border towards Bulgaria) and attacked Yugoslavia
from the east taking the Serb defences by surprise, but it doesn't
mean Bulgaria was involved in any way. The fact of the Bulgarian
non-involvement was confirmed by the vice premier as well as by the
very General staff of the Yugoslav army.
 
Thus, the Bulgarian government was probably right in saying that the
speculations of Parvanov and the Yugoslav embassy in Sofia could
provoke negative feelings against Bulgaria or against the Bulgarian
minority in Yugoslavia. Indeed, a disproportionately high percentage
of Bulgarians were recently mobilized in the Yugoslav army, including
Marko Shukarev, the leader of the Democratic Union of the Bulgarians
in Yugoslavia, and Nebojsha Ivanov and two other leaders of the
Bulgarian Cultural centre in Dimitrovgrad. In fact, the NATO attacks
were used a pretext to strip the whole minority of its leadership. The
speaker of the Bulgarian Foreign ministry Radko Vlajkov protested also
against the Miloshevic's policy of forcing the members of one minority
to suppress another minority (in Kosovo).
 
Having in mind all this as well as the officially reiterated position
that Bulgaria would not serve as a launch pad for an aggression
against a neighbouring country, I cannot understand why this fixation
in the previous post on Parvanov? Yes, Parvanov is the leader of the
second largest party, that of the former communists, with their record
of the persecutions against the Bulgarian Turks in the 80's as well as
their recent obstructions against introducing a protective legislation
for the minorities. What he and the detailed treatment of his domestic
policies have to do with human rights and MINELRES-L?
 
Sincerely,
 
Vassil Karloukovski
 
*************
Ph.D. student in geophysics
School of Environmental Sciences
University of East Anglia
Norwich NR4 7TJ, U.K.
e-mail: [email protected]
http://members.tripod.com/~Groznijat

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