УПРАВЛЕНИЕ И ОБРАЗОВАНИЕ MANAGEMENT AND EDUCATION TOM VI (4) 2010 VOL. VI (4) 2010

POST COLD WAR TURKISH-BULGARIAN RELATIONS

A. Baran Dural, Tayfun Taşkın, Emre Akcagündüz

БЪЛГАРО-ТУРСКИ ОТНОШЕНИЯ СЛЕД КРАЯ НА СТУДЕНАТА ВОЙНА

А. Баран Дурал, Тайфун Ташкън, Емре Акджагюндюз

ABSTRACT: It will not be wrong to say that the year 1989 has become the onset of a rather different period at the history of - relations. Various international, regional and territorial factors have been effective in the originality of this period. Bulgaria’s rapprochement towards Turkey must be evaluated as an extension of its integration policy to Western institutions. Bulgaria was aware of the fact that one of the basic conditions for its membership to the European institutions was that it had to settle the problems with its neighbours in particular with Turkey. Moreover, Turkey which has already been a member could lobby for the membership of Bulgaria to this institution. So indeed, with the development of bilateral relations, Turkey began to give a great support for the membership of Bulgaria to NATO. Improvement of the Turkish-Bulgarian relations blazes the trail for the relations that will be established be- tween Turkey and countries. Two countries which were at the opposite only a short time ago has cooperated in a wide range of fields from economy to culture and contributed considerably to the regional peace. Today, Muslim-Turkish minority is an effective political actor in Bulgaria thanks to its rights. In some elections of last 10-12 years, Turks took the chance to participate in the administration. They experienced many difficulties and succeeded indicating that they could also protect the interests of Bulgarian people in represen- tive offices and Ministries. All these positive developments ensured the Turkey-Bulgaria relations to reach a stable development level. Key words: Turkey, Bulgaria, Todor Jivkov, BSEC, EU, socialism.

Introduction: Following the Bipolar - Globalisation of such principles as democ- System racy, pluralism and market economy - Emergence of the need to interpret and It will not be wrong to say that the year 1989 regulate the nation-state relation again [1] has become the onset of a rather different period at the history of Turkey-Bulgaria relations. Vari- Turkish-Bulgarian Relations after the ous intenational, regional and territorial factors Jivkov Era have been effective in the originality of this pe- riod. First of all, the principal international Even though the Bulgarian Communist Party change having effected the Bulgaria-Turkey rela- continued to hold the power after Jivkov was tions after 1989 occurred with the collapse of the overthrown, new government whose prime min- bipolar system and it can be stated that it leaded istry was undertook by Mladenov strieved to to the following situations: remove the residues of the old regime. In De- - Termination of bloc relations cember 1989, Mladenov administration had de- - Formation of the multipolar system. clared that the state would respect the rights of - Participation of the states to the interna- the muslim minorities and Bulgaria’s previous tional system as respectively consul general in İstanbul had stated that all - independent actors or the state’s will to be- rights of the Turkish-speaking muslim minority come decisive would be given back. - Decrease of the decisiveness of ideological Even though Turkey was pleased that Bul- cliches garia abandoned its harsh and extremely nation- - International integration tendency to come alistic policies towards Turks, it has been cau- into prominence tious regarding its relations with Bulgaria. Tur- - Globalisaton of universal relations key preferred to wait in this uncertain environ-

66 ment, but always emphasized that the only im- In October, 1991 the Union of Democratic pedement for the improvement of bilateral rela- Forces which was established as a reaction to tions was Bulgaria’s policy towards Turks. Jivkov’s opressive policies and was in favour of Second-round negotiations conducted in Ku- Westernism won the early elections. This situa- wait between Mesut Yılmaz, the Turkish Minis- tion enabled Turkey to feel much trust in its rela- ter of Foreign Affairs and his Bulgarian counter- tions with Bulgaria. When the Union of Democ- part helped to the improvement of bilateral rela- ratic Forces came to the power, both the Presi- tions. Stating that “We wish to start a new era dency and the government were undertook by the between Turkey and Bulgaria” Bulgarian Minis- opposition for the first time after the collapse of ter Boiko Dimitrov suggested that the countries the communist regime in Bulgaria. publish a joint declaration regarding the human Elections in December, 1994 had brought rights. BSP to the power one more time. The new BSP Since 1990 Bulgarian government has given government appeared to take notice of the Tur- an impetus to its policies in respect to democrati- key’s senstivity regarding terrorism and assured sation. Upon the overthrow of Jivkov, Bulgaria that it would not permit the preparation of terror- tried to approach to Turkey with four purposes. ist activities against Turkey within its territories. The first one was ’s goal to integrate to the Both Bulgaria and Turkey frequently emphasized Western world following the end of the Cold that their good relations were not against any War. Setting the membership to NATO as one of other third country- here the country in question its foreign policy objectives at this new interna- is . President Demirel had pointed out this tional order, Bulgaria needed the support of Tur- fact in his visit to Sofia in July, 1995. On the key, a member to this international organisation other hand, , Jelev had em- since 1952. phasized that they were striving to build good Secondly, with the termination of ’s in- relations both with Turkey and Greece. tensive support, Bulgaria has perceived Turkey which has the second biggest military power Black Sea Economic Cooperation Project after the USA under NATO as a more important threat when compared with the previous period. One of the regions in which Turkey has been Thus, it tried to improve the bilateral relations trying to be active is the Black Sea where the with Turkey for its own security. number of the surrounding states has increased Thirdly, Turkish minority in Bulgaria has a following the Cold War. Establishment of new key role in the relations between the two coun- and independent states at the coast of the Black tries. Assimilation policies that intensified in Sea as a result of the powerful blocs’ collapse 1980s effected rather negatively not only Bul- has created alternative cooperation opportunities. garia’s relations with Turkey but also its rela- Turkey’s old connections with the region have tions with Western and Muslim countries. enabled Ankara to increase its bilateral relations The forth factor was that the immigration of and to a multilateral cooperation among the tens of thousands of Turks to Turkey would bear states of the region. Within this framework, Tur- bad consequences for the . key has put forward the Black Sea Cooperation The country was in need of foreign investors, Project not as an alternative to the EU but as a credits and the promotion of foreign rela- step facilitating the progress on the way to the tions for its economic development. Its geo- EU. graphical proximity and the liberalisation poli- It was considered that economic cooperation cies performed with success in 1980s rendered among the countries at the coast of the Black Sea Turkey an ideal trade partner for Bulgaria. would be beneficial as they constituted a market Bulgaria could not maintain political stability of 200 millions in total and manufactured prod- in the country until the early elections in April, ucts complementing one another although they 1997. Economic problems had aroused reactions were encountering great ecenomic problems and among the people and this had leaded to frequent they were not much advanced technologically. government changes. Kukonov government had As a consequence of the negotiations following resigned in November, 1990 as it could not re- the meetings held in the early 1990, leaders of solve the economic problems and then Dimiter Turkey, Bulgaria, Georgia, , Russia, Popov’s administration composed of technocrats Ukraine, Albania, , Greece and Moldova had taken the office. signed the establishment declaration of the BSEC on 25th June 1992.

67 Even though the president of Bulgaria, Jelev for the Eastern states when the Partner- stated that he attached great importance to the ship Agreement ratified by the EU Council of declaration establishing the BSEC, actually Ministers came into effect on 1st February 1995. Sofia’s attribute towards BSEC was not positive At the Luksembourg summit held at the end of as it was expected especially at the beginning. 1997, Bulgaria was included into the countries The government in Sofia gave support to the whose memberships would be adopted at the 2. cooperation in ecological and technological is- level. sues but did not consider the cooperation at the Bulgaria’s adoption process as a full member political level positively in fear that it would of the European institutions depended on the free harm its relations with EU. market economy, consistency with the human However, when EU declared that Bulgaria’s rights and freedoms and the political reforms full membership was not possible in a short term, towards the establishment of the democratic Bulgaria raised its expectations from the BSEC structure within the complementarity of the East- and started to perceive BSEC as a formation that ern European countries which was a prototype of would facilitate the membership to the European European security problem with its ethnical, institutions. At the abovementioned period when political and socio-economic dimensions. De- armed conflicts took place in Mountainous Kara- spite the active policy Bulgaria has followed bakh, Chechenia, Ukraine, Georgia and towards approximating, deepening and expand- Moldova, Turkey strived to develop cooperation ing its relations with WEU, CSCE, EU and the among the member states and to determine a European Council, the problem of lacking of the joint attribute but Bulgaria had been involuntary international institutional guarantees has contin- to participate in this cooperation. [2] ued. Although the structuring of the institutional guarantees depends on the international organisa- Integration to the tions and conditions, the fact that the security problem has not turn into a conflict has gained a After the collapse of the bipolar system, dimension thanks to the Bulgaria’s internal poli- European political, economic and defense or- tic-economic conjuncture mostly. Another factor ganisations have experienced changes succes- was its policies towards the ethnical minorities sively. These changes gave an impetus to the within the country together with its regional con- integration efforts of the EC, the expansion of flicts and alliances resulting from its geopolitical the European Council and the development of position. the new strategy concept which institutionalised It can be said that the ’s ethni- WEU’s relations with the Eastern and Central cal problem and conflicts are the principal threat Europe countries. These processes played a deci- factors for the Western Europe whose priorities sive and strengthening role in the transformation are the protection of the security and stability. efforts began in the Eastern Europe. Within this Within this framework, integration to the West- scope, Bulgaria’s policy of harmonisation to the ern Europe, solving the problems to protect the -Atlantic organisations and internal trans- acquisitions of the nation-state and maintenance formation has another dimension. It can be stated of the domestic peace have been discussed that this dimension including European Security firstly. At this point, the status of the Turkish and Cooperation units is composed of EU, minority has gained much more importance. CSCE, WEU and European Council. Improvements in this issue has made great con- Bulgaria’s first relations with EU in the pe- tributions to the solutions of Bulgaria’s problems riod following the sociologist regime had begun regarding the human-minority rights [3] with the Lukanov government. After that, EC Bulgaria’s approaches towards Turkey must included Bulgaria within the framework of be evaluated as an extension of its integration PHARE program of the Group 24, Brussels policy to Western institutions. Bulgaria was Trade and Economy Treaty was signed with IMF aware of the fact that one of the basic conditions and European Development Bank and these ef- for its membership to the European institutions forts continued with the negotiations conducted was that it had to settle the problems with its by the President J. Jelev and Minister of the For- neighbours in particular with Turkey. Moreover, eign Affairs Stoyan Ganev in November- Turkey which has already been a member could December 1991. In accordance with the Essen lobby for the membership of Bulgaria to this Decisions dated 19th December 1994, Bulgaria institution. So indeed, with the development of gained the partnership status adjusted by the EU bilateral relations, Turkey began to give a great

68 support for the membership of Bulgaria to Political and Economic Crisis in Bulgaria NATO. Bulgarian government presented its official Bulgaria went through a quite serious eco- application for the membership to NATO in nomic crisis in late 1996 and in early 1997. Prin- 1997. However, NATO accepted the member- cipal reasons of this crisis are; delaying the struc- ships of , and the Czech Repub- tural reforms, increase of the amount of the ex- lic at first and postponed the membership appli- ternal debt and inability to attract sufficient for- cations of other countries including Bulgaria to eign investors. Bulgarian constituency launched evaluate at a later date. [4] demonstrations throughout the country for the Relations between Turkey and Bulgaria have resignation of the ruling BSP government and for shown a fast development and they built military, the early elections. Opposition party, UDF had economic and cultural cooperation in a short also provided great support to these demonstra- time. In the military field, joint production tions. Due to the demonstrations lasting for agreements were signed, exercises were organ- weeks, the government had to resign in February ised and they cooperated against terrorism. As 1997. Then, the Prime Ministry was taken over the only country that strengthened its decision to temporarily by a government of technocrats es- accept Bulgaria’s entrance to NATO with a law, tablished by Stefan Sofiyanski, the popular Turkey was pleased to see that Bulgaria was Mayor of Sofia. invited to NATO in the summit held in Prague in Winning the Presidency elections of Novem- December, 2002. [5] ber 1996, reformist Peter Stoyanov took the of- fice as of January 1997. UDF also gained a vic- Economic Relations among Sofia-Ankara tory in the elections of 1997 and so a new period began in the Turkish-Bulgarian relations. Bulgaria’s efforts to switch to the economy have constituted the basis for the pro- Kostov Government and Turkish- Bulgar- motion of the economic cooperation between the ian Relations of the Recent Era two countries. Turkey whose transition to the free market economy gained an impetus and In the era of UDF government, Bulgaria’s re- commercial relations were liberalised has served lations with EU also improved significantly. as a model for Bulgaria. On the other hand, Tur- Unlike the previous governments, new admini- key’s dynamic private sector showed interest in stration did not regard EU as an organisation that the privatisation tenders in Bulgaria and Bulgaria provides economic aid but embarked to build the encouraged the foreign capital to come into the necessary conditions for the full membership. At country. Main factors that played a role in the the summit of EU, Bulgaria was promotion of the economic relations between the declared as a candidate country, then the Acces- two countries can be stated as following: sion Partnership Document was ratified and the a) The fact that two countries are national program for the implementation of the neighbours facilitates the transportation and acquis communataire was adopted in March, makes it cost-effective. 1998. b) Turkey’s economic reforms that were EU revaluated the status of Bulgaria thanks to started to be applied with decisions taken on 24th some factors. These are Bulgaria’s support to the January 1980 international community during the crisis of c) Feasibility of international and regional Kosovo, initiatives undertaken by Bulgaria to conditions. bring peace to the region, reforms realized to that d) Emergence of the opportunity to perform date and the establishment of the political stabil- joint businesses in the third countries ity environment. As a result, EU offered to Sofia In 1984, Bulgaria had made an exportation of to launch the negotiations of full membership 220 million leva to Turkey while importing and negotiations were launched in February, goods and services of 35 million leva from Tur- 2000. Bulgaria completed the negotiations by key. As a result, Bulgaria had trade surplus. But 2004 and was accepted as a full member in 2007. in 1989, the situation changed adversely. Bul- Without doubt, the key factor in Turkey’s re- garia exported 4 million dollars while importing lations with Bulgaria is the Turkish minority 27 million dollars. However, Turkey has started comprising about 10 % of the country’s popula- to show deficit in the foreign trade between the tion. On the one hand Turkey follows Bulgaria’s two countries since 1990 again. policy towards the Turkish minority; on the other

69 hand Bulgaria follows closely Turkey’s policy Conclusion: Setting a Model for Balkan within the Bulgarian borders. Geography Official visit of the Prime Minister Mesut Yılmaz to Bulgaria was the first visit paid to this Bulgaria is one of the countries to which Tur- country at the level of Prime Ministry after 18 key attaches importance mostly. Bulgaria is both years. Bulgarian Prime Minister Kostov paid a the country where more Turkish-origined people return visit to Turkey in November 1998 and the live than the other Balkan countries and is also two countries signed an agreement allowing the one of Ankara’s gates opening to Europe. [8] members of the Turkish minority that immi- Improvement of the Turkish-Bulgarian rela- grated to Tukey to receive their pensions in Tur- tions blazes the trail for the relations that will be key. By the way, Bulgaria became one of the established between Turkey and Balkan coun- first countries sending aid teams to Tukey after tries. Two countries which were at the opposite the earthquake that occurred on 17th August poles only a short time ago has cooperated in a 1999. These teams rescued at least 12 people wide range of fields from economy to culture and from the wreckage. A diplomatic crisis inconsis- contributed considerably to the regional peace. tent with the course of the relations of last 10 Today, Muslim-Turkish minority is an effective years arouse between Turkey and Bulgaria in political actor in Bulgaria thanks to its rights. In September 2000. Bulgaria asked Beyza Üntuna, some elections of last 10-12 years, Turks took Turkey’s consul general of Burgaz to abandon the chance to participate in the administration. the country. It was put forward that Üntuna They experienced many difficulties and suc- urged Turks who wished to unite with their fami- ceeded indicating that they could also protect the lies to dissuade from their decisions by threaten- interests of Bulgarian people in representative ing them and that intervened in Bulgaria’s do- offices and Ministries. All these positive devel- mestic policy by exploiting the Movement for opments ensured the Turkey-Bulgaria relations Rights and Freedoms (MRF). to reach a stable development level. Georgi Parvanov, the candidate of the Social- Within this framework, Turkish-Bulgarian re- ist Party won the Bulgarian Presidency elections lations can set a model for the other Balkan on 18th November 2001. Parvanov won the countries. These two countries have succeeded to Presidency elections that took place in Bulgaria overcome a lot of complex problems in many on 30th October 2006 one more time. Despite the areas. Ankara and Sofia is contributing to build anti-Turkey policy of Siderov who was a candi- the culture of living together in the region. Im- date of ATAKA party that based its election provement of Turkish-Bulgarian relations in such campaign on extreme nationalist discourse, a short time in Balkan geography which hosts a G.Pırvanov, the candidate of BSP which had a lot of hostility and ethnical conflicts must be close relation with the Turkish Republican Peo- evaluated as a considerable success. ple’s Party that is a member of the Socialist In- ternational has contributed to strengthen the rela- References tions between Turkey-Bulgaria. [6] (DİNÇER, 2006) Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer 1. Sönmezoğlu, Faruk (1998), Türk Dış paid a two-day visit to Bulgaria as the guest of Politikasının Analizi (Der, İstanbul) the Bulgarian President Parvanov. After the ne- 2. Coşkun, Birgül Demirtaş (2001), Bul- gotiation between the two presidents Sezer stated garistan’la Yeni Dönem Soğuk Savaş Sonrası that the cooperation between Turkey and Bul- Ankara-Sofya ilişkileri (ASAM, Ankara) garia in every field are at high level and deliv- 3. Sönmezoğlu, 372 ered an opinion as such “Relations between Tur- 4. Coşkun, 72 key and Bulgaria are going through their best 5. ------, (2006), “Günümüzde Bal- period”. As for Parvanov, pointing out that Tur- kan Ülkeleri ve Sorunlar”, Bilimsel Araştırma key and Bulgaria were two neighbouring coun- Vakfı, Erişim Tarihi: 12-04-2010, tries having key roles to establish peace and sta- http://www.bilimselarastırmavakfi.org/Turkiye_ bility in the region, he emphasized that he shared ve_Balkanlar/Turkiye_ve_Balkanlar_04.htm the same conviction regarding the integration of 28.11.2006 into EU and NATO. [7] 6. Dinçer, Ali (2006), “Bulgaristan’daki Seçimin Önemi”, Erişim Tarihi: 09-04-2010, http://www.radikal.com.tr/haber.php?haberno=2 04454,05.12.2006

70 7. ------, (2006), Erişim Tarihi: 14- e-mail: [email protected] 04-2010 http://arsiv.sabah.com.tr/2006/02/22/sy 97. html,05.12.2006 Tayfun TAŞKIN 8. Türbedar, Erhan (2003), Balkanlarda TC Trakya University. Müslüman Topluluklar ve Türkiye (ASAM, Ankara) Emre AKCAGÜNDÜZ Res. Assistant. TC Trakya University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative A. Baran DURAL Sciences, Department of Public Administration, Assoc. Prof. Dr. TC Trakya University, Gullapoglu Yerleskesi, IIBF. Merkez/Edirne Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sci- e-mail: [email protected] ences, Department of Public Administration, Gullapoglu Yerleskesi, IIBF. Merkez/Edirne

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