PRIME MINISTER PROMISES POSTS IN STATE ADMINISTRATION TO MINORITIES

Integration of Minorities in Bulgaria

AIM Sofia, 8 July, 1998

In the foreseeable future, members of minorities in Bulgaria will be given the opportunity to work in state administration. This is the decision of the leadership of the currently ruling political force in the country - right central anti-communist Union of Democratic Forces (SDS) the leader of which is prime minister Ivan Kostov. Kostov himself has declared that minority communities must be integrated in the structure of central authorities, in regional and municipal administrations, as well as in party structures. The police, the customs and tax services which were so far believed to be "terra incognita" will also open their doors to members of minorities.

For this purpose, in its headquarters, the Union of Democratic Forces is establishing a specialized agency which will be concerned with this and offer ideas on integrating minority communities in the society. The ruling political force proposes that other parties be also involved in resolution of minority problems. According to prime minister Kostov, it is necessary to re-introduce the practice of specialized scholarships and stimulation of young members of ethnic minorities in Bulgaria to be educated at the university. Specific activities are also planned, but in the SDS they believe that foundations have already been laid for integration of minorities in social structures and state administration.

The manifested concern of the authorities for the minorities in Bulgaria has resulted from the visit of the delegation of the Council of Europe, as president of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee Krasimir Kanev says, adding that he would be happy if problems the Bulgarian society is encountering in relations with its minorities were not just named, but also that state institutions be nominated which should resolve them. According to Kanev, politicians show concern for minorities only on the eve of elections, because in some places in Bulgaria, votes of members of some ethnic groups are decisive. Many civil servants are nowadays hindering aid to minorities, Krasimir Kanev says. One thing should be understood - that they do not need aid in the form of food for the poor, what they need is a program which would enable people to earn their own living, head of Bulgarian Helsinki Committee stresses.

Majority of experts and politicians in Bulgaria welcome the intention of the ruling SDS and prime minister Kostov to start dealing with the problem of the most delicate fields of state administration and minorities. Since in the past eight years after the fall of the totalitarian regime of Todor Zhivkov nothing has been done in this sphere except certain isolated symbolic undertakings, the authorities are now trying to clear their name after the so-called "rennaisance process" implemented by former communists. In the period 1985-1989, thousands of ethnic Turks who lived in Bulgaria were forced to change their names into Bulgarian ones, while historians and politicians close to the regime were trying to prove their Bulgarian ethnic origin. Young democracy in Bulgaria inherited the problem of respect of civil and human rights of Bulgarian Muslims, as well as other minority groups and religious communities. This inheritance proved to be a "gold mine" for the political game of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (former Communists), but also for political extremists and xenophobes such as Zhorzh Ganchev or Georgi Gelemenov from Plovdiv called the "small fuhrer" because of his anti-Romany and anti-minority threats and actions. Some believe that registration of a party founded on ethnic basis - the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) which gathered mostly Bulgarian Muslims, is part of this political game and indifference of democratic forces in Bulgaria. The DPS in fact preserved problems of Bulgarian Muslims and opposed them to the rest of the society, experts nowadays think.

Something similar happened in the sphere of minorities listed under the common denominator "sects". As a result of total religious ignorance during the long years of tatalitarian rule, a true "witch hunt" was organized in the interior of the country. Not only followers of really dubious cults or simply religious quacks were attacked, but even institutionalized Evangelical religious communities which are present on the territory of Bulgaria ever since the time of Turkish sultans.

That is how in just a few years, unprecedented and untypical disintegrative processes developed in Bulgaria. Bulgarian Turks continued to flee to Turkey, nowadays from the total economic crisis, and not the totalitarian regime. The Romany minority, at the mercy of its destiny, turned into the main source of criminals and at the same time of the greatest victims of violence. Fascists symbols and slogans appeared on Bulgarian streets, demanding that the dark-tanned part of the Bulgarian nation be used for making detergent and soap.

Minorities lay the blame for such a situation mostly on the "old" and numerous new political parties. In conditions of democracy in Bulgaria, elections were organized four times

• in 1990, 1991, 1994 and last year, but not a single civic party which participated in them included representatives of ethnic Turks in its lists of candidates. They all went in the DPS which was marked as the "agent of Ankara" by the Left and accused of being the "hornet's nest of agents of former political police" by the Right. The Bulgarian democratic parliamenmt has since 1989 had only two deputies from Romany minority - Manus Romanov who was elected by the "blue" ballot, and the "red" Petar Georgiev.

The ruling Sociali Democratic Union of prime minister Kostov does not conceal its hope that from now other politicval parties will give out membership cards to an increasing number of Romanies, Turks and similar. "I look upon this decision of the SDS with hope", declared Antonina Zhelyaskova, head of the International Centre for questions of minorities and cultural permeation. According to her, Turks - presidents of some municipalities, work well, Romanies in the police - wherever there are any, also excellently carry out their tasks. Ms. Zhelyaskova believes that, when representatives of minorities become part of state structures and the administration, they will see for themselves that there is not enough money for social welfare and they will become more useful and constructive. She recommends to the authorities to read once more the general Convention on Rights of Minorities which Bulgaria has signed, and that it be ratified as soon as possible.

A democratic society is based on the principle of political equality - equal rights, equal responsibilities. That is the reason why experts warn that the new attitude of the SDS to the minorities should not be a repetition of the "Socialist model" which used to be founded on privileges of ones at the expenses of others. The social factor is increasingly replacing the ethnic in a democratic state. That is why nowadays, a nation is formed of people who have decided to live and work together, and not of people who speak the same language or profess the same religion.

AIM Sofia

GEORGI FILIPOV