UNITED NATIONS

Generat AoecmblY Dt str. (@ GENERAI, A/4O/904t 26 Noeember I98 5

ORIGINAL: ENGI.ISE

Fortieth sesslon Agenda iten 39

CO!,I!,IEI,IORATION OF TAE FOR?I ETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE UNITED NATIONS

Le-tte,r dqteq.lS.t{oyerpPer 1,995 from t.he permanent Representatiee of Turkey to the United Nations

t{ith reference to the letter dated g Novenber lg85 fron the pernanent Representa!lee of Burqaria to the unlted Nations addressed to rour Excelrency (A/40/5691 and upon lnstrrrctlons from ny Governnent, you I have the honour to resuesr to have the enclosed text and its appendices concerntng ehe oppressive pol.ici.es of the Governnent of Bulgaria aqainst Che Turklsh ninority in that country clrculated as an officiar. docunent of the General Assenrbly under agenda item 39.

(gigg) r lter TURKMEN Ambasaador Pernanent Repr esentat ive

Relssued for technical reasons.

85-34508 1787i (Er English^/40/9o4 Page 2

ANI{EX

His Excellency Mr. Turgut Ozal, Prine Minister of Turkey, ln his atatenent to the ceneral Assembly on 22 October 1985, conitenned the pollcies of oppression of ninoritiea in certain countries in vlolatl.on of thelr specific inCernational obligations. He stated: nsuch is the cas€ of the Turkiah rninority in Bulgaria ehere the rights of that minorlty are being persisgently tranPled upon. includtng freedom of rellglon and conacience, and lhe rigbt to Preaerve its cultural identityn.

The leCter addressed to the Secr etary-cener at by the Permanent Repreeentative of Bulgaria on I November 1985, thich in egsence reProduces the press release by che Bulgarian Permanent Mission to the united Nations on 22 October 1985, is in fact an admission of guilt. Indeed' ttte main algunent used against point8 maale by the Prime Miniater of Turkey is that there ia no Muslin Turkigh minority in Bulgaria and that I l,/2 rnillion rurks lb this country are racially Bulgarians. To pretend that an ethnlc aroup ls of a different racial origin' despite its or.tn national, cultural and religious consciousness, can only be gualifled as pure racisn. In the light of the early history of Bu1garia, such an approach wouLd also raise the gueation of the ortginal raclal identity of the Bulgars thenselves.

The letter of the Permanent Representative itself refers to the national consciousness of the Ituslin Turks ln Bulgaria. Indeed, ghe Turkish Musllm mlnority in Bulgaria speaks Turkish, ia proud of its culturaL heritage and atlached to the lslanic faith. No subterfuge or dslagoguery can alter this reality. If Bulgarians eanl !o prove the opposlte, they can very easily do so by openlng their country to the representatives of the sorld prese. The Bulgarian tetter also alleges that tbe Turki6h Governrnent is crying co provoke Islanic States against Bulgaria. There is no need for bhat. The Islanic countries have spontaneously condemned the oppressive Bulgarian policies and expressed concern and sympathy for the Turkish Muslin ninority' The letEer repeats severaL irrelevanC allegations. Bulgaria cannot obscure its orrn responslbility by a series of falsificatlons and accusations wlthoul foundation. r{hat is at issue is the tragedy suffered eoday by I l/2 mlllion nen, women and children to$ards nhorn BuLgaf,ia bas specific treaty obligations. Turkey is. for her part' fulfilling all her treaty obllgatlons lowards ninorities in Turkey and expects Bulgaria to do the same. The letter repeats the aLlegations of Arrnenian terrorists. The Turki€h position on this blatant distortion of history is nell kno$n, but, the lecter, by espousing the views of the terrorists. calls attention again !o the grotting concern about reports of the Eulgarian connection with international terrorl-sm. There ie an identifiable effort in the Bulgarian letter to find alibi8 in order to cover up its policies of oppression againse tshe Turkish ninority. For instance, rnuch enphasls is placed on an article of Mithad Pasha, but this enphasls is on the ryrong side. As the Bulgarian letter mentions' this arClcle was written shortly after Bulgarian lndependence. This eas a time qhen Bulgaria was engaged in another carnpaign of terror against. the Mustilfl population of the country. /... A/40/9O4 Eng lish Page 3

The article by Mithad pasha only docurnents that Bulgaria has through her history purgud policies of oppression and annihilation of one kind or another against ber minorities. rn recent tines, the "dlsappearancer of the Macedonian minority of nearly 200,000 according to the 1965 Burgarian census is a reveallng exanple.

Since th€ letter of lhe pernanent Representative of BuLgaria contains a very distorted descriptlon of the history of Bulgaria, which has apparently been revised ln tbe course of tbe recent Bulgarian campaign, it night be sorehehile to recall sone facts.

Burgaria cane under ottoman sovereignty in 1393. Turks settled in Bulgaria as of that date and bave llved lbere uni.nter ruptedly for nearly 500 years, Before the arrival' of the ottoman Turks, Burgaria had iived under the polltical domination of Byzantium which opened the tday to heav!, oppression fEon the Byzantlne Church. As Burgarian historians therRserves have stress€d, during the Byzantine doml.nation the Bulgarian population, deprived of all, fr eedons and of an independent church, faced Che dange! of losing its racial existence. In fact, Bulgarla practically disappeared from the scene of history during the 350 years of Byzantlne donination and oppression. The Bulgarian communi.ty was absorbed in tbe Byzantine church which brought it to the point of losing its native tongue as well. In sharp contrast to this state of affairs, there is another fact recognized by all historians. During the Ottonan period, Bulgarians enjoyed egual status with tbe Turks as part of a multinational and nultireligious Slate. The Bulgarian Church gained its personallty during thls period and the Bulgarian connunity enjoyed autonomy ln its affairs, The Bulgarian populalion was endowed Hlth the neans to recover its identitg.

Bulgaria, which today so vehemenlly accuses the Ottoman Enpire, oues its very existence to the Ottomans and bheir policy of rellgious, cultural- and cornmunal tolerance and autonony with regard to the conmunities that forned the Ottoman aociety. The present Bulgarian cover nment. evidenuy prefers to have this facts conueniently forgotten. But one strlking point shoulal not escape even the BuLgarian Government! if the Ottomans had tleated the Bulgarians as the Bulgarians are treating at present the Turkish mlnority in their counEry, thefe would not have been a single Bulgarlan left today. Por anyone reading the Bulgarian claims, it is imposslble not to get lhe inpression that these are presented aa if Burgaria had acbieved its independence a few years ago, Bulgarta, after nore than 100 years, does not seem to have groen accustoned to independence and the respons ibi l ilies it €nbails. Bulgarian authoritles clain that lhe ottonans att.empted to Turkify and rslanize tbe Bulgarian population, but that they did not succeed due to lhe miraculous Gtrength of national conaciousness of the Bulgarian people. rf a poli.cy of assinilation had indeed been pursued against a communily that was part of the Ottornan Enpire for nearly 500 years, it {ould have been inpossible for the Bulgarian coftnunlty to resist such aaslnilation. During these five hundred years, a comrnun ity subjected to a policy of assirnilation for 30 !o 35 consecutive generatlons would have been totaLl,y transformed and neith€r Bulgarians, nor Bulgaria wourd have exlsted today. The nere fact that this is no! the case beLies Bulgarian clains of Turkification and Islaniz at ion. /.,. v40/eo4 Engli sh Page 4

Ttle Bulgari.an letter contrlees a very somber description of the soclo-€conomic and human rights sltuation In Turkey. If this were a fact the Turkiah uuslittt ninorlty rrould not bave desperately deslred to enlgrate to Turkey and the Bulgarlan covernment eould not have cornered itself lnto an absurd and ridlculou6 situation by denylng them the right to Leave the heaven Bulgaria is supposed to be accordlng to Bulgarian propaganda.

The Bulgarian letter does not contain any referenc€ to the offer of Turkey Uo negotlate at a high level the problen of the Turklsh mlnorlty ln Bulgaria, ehich tb€ covernnent of Bulgaria contlnuously rejecta. In the context of the Bulgarizalion canpaign, Bulgarlan authoritiea clain that there are no Turks ln Bulgarla, but only Mualins. The notive behind that absurd assertion i.s eeident. The Bulgarian authorlties are tryi.ng, de6pite the cont.ractual situation, to discard Turkey fron being an lnterested party to this grave humanitarian problem. Unell. recently, horwever. Bulgarlan statesmen and Bulgari.an docunenta spoke of the Turklsh rnlnor lty i,n Bulgatia. Bilateral Tur kish-Bu lgar ian agreements explici.tly refer to the Turklsh ninority in Bulgaria. The recent Bulgarian claims that the Treaty of turk lsh-Bulgar ian Frlendship of 18 october 1925 nentlons not the Turks ln Bulgaria, but only the Mu€lin ninority are also i.rrelevani. Indeed, article 2, paragraph 1, of the Turk idh-Bulgar lan Convention on Establishnent, concluded in Ankara on lhe sane date, is as follows: nBotb contracting parties have agre€d not to obatruct in any ray optlonal emigrat.ion of Turka i,n Bulgarla and Bulgarlans in lurkey.' Therefore, contrary to Bulgarian clains, it rras established through this Convention concluded the sane day that the Muslin ninority ln Bulgaria conaists in fact of Turks. Moreover, Bulgaria undertook to agree to the enigratlon of theae people to Turkey if they so vished. It is evident that Bulgasla ls violating her conlractual obligatlons in bad falth and makes a nockery of the principle pacta sun! aervanda, a fundanentaL prlnciple of internatlonal lae and order.

Bulgaria asserts that the fr eedor0 of conacience anat religion haue been guaranteed under the Bulgarian Constltutlon. This iE true only on paper. It has been established by various sources including Che world press (see appendix I) that those who resisted the brutal canpalgn of Bulgarlzation and rho wiEhed to preserve th€ir religious and national consciouEness hal'e eltber been kllled or inprlsoned or deportett by the Bulgarian security forces. A11 neang of intinidatlon and coerclon have been used against the Turkish ninoritt. The practice of lglarnlc rituals, customs and traditions have been banned in Bulgaria. The uae of the Turkish language has becone a punishable offence. Turkish-IElanic nanea have been forcibly changed to Bulgarian nanea. There is anple evidence of the abhorrent neans used by the Bulgarian authorities to guppress the naeional and rellgi.oua identity of the Turkish rninor ity. At Che rrAsenova (repost Factoryn in the lorrn of Asenorgrad an execuCive order dated 16 January 1985 by the Director of the factory reads as follords: A/40/9O4 English Page 5

iI order you !

"1 - As of January 1995, work will be conducted to re-establish Bulgar ian nanes in accordance rrith forn 76.

"2 - Tbe sane principle rill apply for traeel carda, doctor vislts and other documents for adninistrative services.

"3 - The use of the Turkish Language in places of work and in public places will be discontlnu€d.

"4 - No persons lrho have Alabic nanes wlII be aalmitt.ed to places of eork unl-es6 he/she produces documents containing necessary information concerning tbe bearerrs change of nane ...n. (See appendix III for the original Bulgarian text. ) (Shunen) trOld In Sunnu the l,bsgue", a historlcal shrtne 5OO years old, has been denolished and netr buildings have been constructed on lts site. This bas been reported ln the Bulgarian press lrlth phoeographs. Ilere is a guotation ffon an article on fasting, pobllsheal in the daily Nova Svetlina on 13 ilune 1985: rToday ne are buirding a developed soci.arrst society in our Motherrand and none of us needs religious customs, rltuals, and traditions. The sociaList indivitlual does not need any Ramadans and roruchr (fastinq).' The sane paper had the following to say, on g Decenber 19g4, on an Islarnic relic in the Kaaba t iAl-ltadjar "As you can see, AI-Asuad I is neither a sacred stone, nor is it suspended in the air. The founders of the Moslen religion have cunnlngly exploited the lgnorance of the people.n

It. is posstble to Lncrease the examples of the anti-Islamic canpaign deliberately and persistently pursued by the guiated Bulgarian press. The First Secrebary of the Bulgarian Communist party, ttr. Seol,an Scoyanov, in a statement on 2l June 1985, has joined in this canpaign and characterized Islan as an ,,anachronlc religion closed to progre's and preventing the areveLoprent of inatividuars and soci.etlesr.

Therefore, it is clear that another aim of the Bulgarian campaign against the Turkish ninority is to eradicate, step by step, the Islanic faith in Bulgar ia. It should be reiterated lhat all the rights of the Turkish t'tuslin mlnority in Bulgaria are violated in an abhorrent manner:

(a) Al.l the members of the ?urki6h minority have been physically forced to adopt Bulgarian nanest

(b) AII use of lhe Turkl.sh language bas been banned t A/40 /904 Eng L istt Page 6

(c) A continuous tlefamatory canpaign has been saged against al-I Islamic practices' traditions and beliefs t (d) AII those who have resisted those policies have been subjected to physical violence and tlePorted to other locations ir Bulgaria, including the ioncentration camp on the Belene istand in the Danube. There are also contlnuous reports of Eorture resulting in deathst (e) The Turkish rninority has been Prohiblteal from enii'grating, although Turkey has declared that it is r eady to receive as many of its nembers r'tho would rdish co enigraEe !o Turkey t (f) A!-I areas of Bulgaria populateil by the Turkish ninorlty have been sealed o€f fron the wor Id.

The vtorld communi !y has not falled to judge severely the oppressive policies of the Bulgarian rqrime, who€e preslige ln the eorld had alr eadly suffered extensively from widespread reports of Bulgarian active involvenent in international terrorism, tlrug trafgicking and arne snuggling' The afflrmation by Bulgaria of a desire to pronote understanding ln the Balkan peninsula can only provoke irony anong the Balkan countries which have praclically all, one Hay or the ttrrer, comp:.ainetl bittserLy of Bulgsrian pollcie6. If, desPite its disrepute in the rdorld and in the region' the Bulgarian Government can find consolacion ln its election as a nember of the security Council to replace ghe Ukrainian soviet Soclalist Republic, Chls can be appreciated as a renarkable p€rfornance in alelusion and self-indu lgence. The truth renains that as Long as Bulgaria fails to reversle its policies against the Turkish Muslln rnlnority or aIIory the rrorld press to see for themselves Che real situati.on in the country, it ltill continue to be loked upon as a covernnent pursuing racist and oppressive policles in vlotaEion of tbe unlted Nations charter, internacional instruments on hunan righcs and bilateral treatieg' A/10/904 English Page 7

APPENDIX I

Associated Press (l7 January 1985)

"Ethnic Turks, resi6ting official pressure to take Bulgarlan names have batlled authorities ln the southeastern pare of the country, and dozens of deaths been rumored, foreign diplonats in sofia saial. No confirmed casuaLty figures rrere available ... "One analyst said he had heafd reporta of at least 40 aleaths in recenr weeks ...

"Itrs difficult to pin down because i.n a closed society, runors tend to feed on lhemselves. So they are atl unconfirmed. But there deflnitely is a problen, he said ,,. rMost of the fighbinq has been ln the Ilaskovo region, about 70 kiloneters north of the Greek and Turkish borders, according to the reports in Sofia. The area his honne to a Iarge part of the Turkish ninority.' The New York Times (17 January 1985) rr... official att.ernpts to get minority ethnic Turks to assume Bulgarian first. names have led to violent dist.urbances in this country, diplonats saltl today .

"Tbe Connunisb authorities denied that such disturbances had occurred, saying the reports $ere invented. But accounts fron diptonats say there have been casualtles, including deatbs, among Turks resisting police demands that they adopt Bulgarlan nanes ,.,"

The Washington Times (18 January 1985)

'Ethnic Turks, resist.ing officiat pressure to take Bulgarian names, have battled authorities in the southeastern part of the count.ry and there afe runors of dozens of deaths, foreign diplonats in Sofia sald.

"No confirmed casualty figures were availabLe, although lhere seens to be a heavily increased militia presence in the region, one source said.,'

The Guardian (18 January 1985)

"One source rrith direct access to predonlnantly Turkish areas said soldiers and poli.ce were surrounding vlllages at night, then going door to door passing out forrns for residents to chanqe Cheir Turkish nanes to Bulgarian ones, A/ 40 /90 4 English Page 8

"If they do this, the problen ls solved, I he said.. rlf they refuse, they are threatened and beatenr...'

ReuCers (23 January 1985)

"Bulgarla has indeflnttely banned Turklsh tourists fron enterlng the country because of Turkiah press coverage whlch the Bulgatlans descrlbed as hostlle ... nThe decision was announced b'y BuLgarian Eourist authoritles in a telegran to Istanbul caavel agencies, bla[l.ng prega reports rhostile to Bulgaria,....

Newsday (23 January 1985)

'... GovernnenC forcea haee cordoned off a soo-square-mlle aeath of border terrltory, rbere ethnic Turks physlcally fought the name-change canpaign. Repor ts flltering out of tbe area set the nunber of deaths from 40 to l-50 - the figures cannot b€ offtclally confirned. 'The situation confronts Bulgartars rigial comunist rfulne with lts first. active resistance in decade€.

"Thia eeek militiaiten refueed enbry at teo roaalblocks on oppoelte edg es of the mountainous sone to the flrst western reporbera to reach the area slnce violence broke oot ln Decenber. "A Foreign Mlnistry spokesnan, Lyubonir Shopoy, called reports of forceable nane changing a 'Eheer fabrlcatloni. tn a statenent released last night, he said Bulgariars I broadly denocratic larsr treat all citizens equaUy and guaranbee each a right rCo chsse for blnself a nane, anal to change it if he so nishes | .

rAs to the roailblochs, Shopoy Eaid seasonal conditiona nake then I sonething nornal ln rinter.'

"One young residen! of the lsolated sector told reporters bhat police converged there las! faII and began forcing slavic nanes on ethnic Turks. "rThere is no rFre ?urkishr he said. tlt is finished.r 'Reporeers aeeking to reach the area were turned back by police. But the journalists encountered one Bulgarian Turk fron inaide the area eho agreed to talk about eventg there on condltion that ialentifying detalls be withheld. "The man, a resldent of Kardaali province in hig earty 2Os, sald police came to his home stthin the last noneh. demanded his ldentity card, then gave him a slip of paper l'lth his new Bulgarlan nane. ^/40/904English Page 9

'He pulled the paper fron his pocket anal shook it in the alr. The ner name iras handwritEen in ink, along elth the date and the inprint of an official rubber stanp. nHe said the pollce fiued out a change-of-nane p€titlon for hin, to be filetl nlth local authoricies. When he balked ac signing lt' he said' a polic eman grabbeil hlrR by Ehe back of the neck antt demandeal bls signature. "His parents have been renamed, as have lb8t ethnic Turks there, he said. lanent.ing thaE the Turkish identity is flniahed. "'You take ny nane and I an atead, he said.'.."

The Sunalay Tines (17 FebrDary 1985) "... In a recenE bloody incident rhich came to tight Iaet reek, tanks invaaled the toun of Yoblonovo aC the eastern end of the Balkan nbuntain range in the early hours of January l?. The town waE Lhen scaled off by government nilitia ...

iThe 18OO TurkiBh tonnsfolk had met before the raid and deciated to resist tbe name changing operaEion, $hich has been rpunted to ninlnige the gtte of tbe ?urkish nlnority 1n BuLgarian census resulls later this year. tlben asked to sign docurnents to take on Bulgarian namea' the people refused. "Accordtng to a reliable eye-nltness, sone 30 Tuf,ks oere nachlne-gunned. After the sbootlng, the troops brought in bulldoaerE and explosives and levelled the houEes of those who refused to co-operate, some of the hones with lheir residents still lnside then ...

"The Yoblonovo incldent i6 only one of many reporeE of vlolence recelved by western dipl.onats rrho believe the death eoll bas reached 500 . " 'DiPlornatB ln sofia belleve that the authoritiee may have been spurred lnto the latest drastlc actlon by deep concern at the Turklsb populationrs rate of increaEe. !,tany Turkish schools have been closed and Turkish language courses have been ended. tslanlc holiatays and tradigional cerenonles are banned. Mosgues have been closed and only those of histsoric interest haee survived denolition. separate nuslim ceneteries have been closed '.." Edgg tzr February 1985) rReports on the unrests in the Rhodope and border regions of Bulgaria, i.e. on the sesistance of the Turkish minority there. have noE come as a surpr 1se. n?his i6 eritten in the lat€st issue of the Yugoslav Revle$ of Intelnational Affairg, which notes tha! rtbe invislble war' as former Buld;fan MlniEter of the Interior Anton Jugov described relations between the Bulgarlan government and Turkish nlnority, starled back ln the first months of the fatherland front t s governnent. A/40/904 Eng Ii6h Page l0

"That r{ar i.ncluded emigrat.ion, assinilatlon (official recognj.tion of Bulgarian personal naneg alone), the closing doern of nKrsques (atl 1320 of them, except the one in Sofia) and bloody unreats. "In splte of a well organlzed rall of sllence, reports leaked out that, for exanple. a larger nurnber of Turks were killed in unrests back in L971. The IasC larger unrests took place in 1981 trhen, according to an official atatenent, 7 'Turkish banditsr were killed ... "The &evi e+r of fnternaEional Affairg nrites that the Bulgarian Encyclopedia, an edition of the Bu!.gaEian Acadeny of Sciences, cites that the rnajorlty of population ln Bulgaria rare free fron religious and s lni lar fallac i es | .

"At the last Bulqarian Comtunlst party Central Committee pLenurn a decision l'as taken to racceLerabe the process of formaEion of honogenous Socialist Bulgarian nation. I

"In lhe explanaCion of the need for 'acceleratingt chis new wave of assi.milation of the Turkish (and !,tac edon ian ) ninority, the Central Commietee sai.d tbat natonality, as an element of the transcended bourgeois society, is a residue of the past. "Thls re6idue wiLl, through the purificat.ion and hologenization of the populaeion, completely disappear and develop into a united Bulgarian Socialtst nation, says the Central Connittee. "Those well acquainted with the situation in Bulgaria say that the latest unrests surprised the Bulgarlan leadership nho acCually \,ranted only to imPlenent rei.thout delayr the mentioned decisions of the Bulgarian ConnunisC Party Central Conmittee plenun, nrites the Revieu of Inbernational Affairs.,'

Tine (26 February 1985)

"At about 3 a.n., villagers flrgt heard rumbling of Bulgarian army halftracks. By daybreak, all roads leadlng to the tiny ethnic Turkish settlement. of Yablonovo in northeas! Bu!.gar ia were effectively cut off. Then the terror began. l'{ilitianen burst into hones as frightened villagers stood by helpLessly. "Accordinq to reports that filtered out later, the intruders singled out each head of household, tbruat a photocopy forn into his hands and ordered him to change his name and those of his fanily to nake then Inore Bulgarian. I

"The form included a line for each husband and wi.fe to write their oLd Islanic nanesi on another, tbey were to rrlte their new Bulgarian nanes. Below were spaces for lhe net, narleg of up to five children. Men who refused to sign the paper uere reportedly slapped across the facel some lrere forced to ltalch as nilitiamen nade advances toward their wives and teenage daughters. The rromen vrere sonetimes conpelled to ttlErobe completely, and several were A/40/9O4 Engli sh Page Il

sald to have been raped in front of their fanilies. If these taclics were not effective, said travellera who Later talked to residents. the soldiers held pistols to their captivesr heads and repeated the dernand, tsign the form.' Most of tbe villagers 1800 ethnlc Turks €ventually complied. nThe earLy-mornlng raid on Yablonovo, r{hich took place on January 12r was apparently part of an official Bulgariao campaign to force the assinllation of the countryrs 900,000 ethnlc Turks, who make up t0 per cent of Ehe population ... 'rHistoricalLy, Bulgarla has dealt barshly rith its ninorilies, including lhe Turks ...

nFolloring Che Conmunist takeoeer ln 1944, Bulgaria adopted a made prorri€ea groups. however constitution that to al1 its ninority By L947, ' Tur k iah-speaking schools we!e forced to merge with their Bulgarian counterparts. In 1974 the Turkish language as a course of study l'as ellminated altogether. In nodern day Bulgaria, ethnic Turks are noE lnducted lnto the Bulgarian army but serve i,nstead in a naEional conatructlon corps. The apparent reason: Bulgalian officers do nob trust Turks with guns ,.. "officially' the Bulgarian governrnent refuseg to admit that the ethnic Turks are being forced to cbange their narnes ...

"one of tbe feu exceptlone co the name change campaign is welght-lifting prodigy Nain Suliemanov, I7, who apparently ChreaEened never agaln to conpete in sporting events for Bulgaria if be was made to change his nane. l,lany Bulgarians who have heard of the violence in Yablonovo and other toerns seem undisturbed by tbe treatment of the Turks. Said one Sofia residentt rIf lhey want to live in Bulgaria, let thetn take Bulgarian namesr...,'

Arabia (March 1985 )

"Bloody clashes have broken out recently and hundreats of Turkish Muslins kiLled resisting a brutal canpaign of forced Bulgarisatlon of lhe ethnic minority. The Bulgarian governnent unLeashed the brutality on the grounds that the Turklsh people must asaune Bulgarian nanea co reflect an allegedly uniforn Bulgarian Slav nation. There have been alarmlng reporCs lateLy that up to 800 Turkish opponents of this forced assinilation r.ter e killed by Bul,gar ian secur ity forces. "with the avenue via Turkey sealed, Bulgarian Muslims' only contacts r,rith the outside world, Sofia was boping to put a halt to the flow of further information on the disturbances. In fact, the deterioralion in the condition of Muslim people initially came to attenlion only rrhen iC was discovered Chat the nunber of illegal enlgrants coning fron Bulgaria to Turkey bad suddenly gone up. The rerir0e further gave notice of this intention of clanping dorn own information $hen it expelled three Turkish journalists r.rho eere trying to investigat.e reports of bhe plight of the Turks and other Bulgarian Muslins. Al40 /9O4 English Page 12

[At the end of last year, as part of its ftve-year campaign ending in 1985, Bulgarianlslng all passports and identit? carda, the governnen! announced that it had successfuUy completed Ehe process in Che urban areas. The governnent then trled to extend their canpalgn lnto the Khaskoro and Uomocbilgraal areas in South Dobrudja, But the Turkish people resisted Operation Bulgarisation. They refusd to sign voluntary Bulgarisation papers and instantly cbange name from, say, Ahmet to Petur, so denying their culture and their future generations by a so called nane change.

'Conseguently, the peopl.e were subjected to variou6 forna of haraasrnenE and nany flere put into prison caftps. when they still refused to bow, nilitaly reinforcenents were brought in. A fofner Bulgarian secret police officer' Rahin liluninot, eho recently obtained political- asylum in Turkey said, rIn October 1984, the former mayor of Sinolen, Itr. Cemll, ras puehed to change his name but he refused. The next day he rras run over by a lruckr. In the sarne toen four Dluslln Pomaks connitted guicide in protest against the inrposirion of a rBulgarlan' nane and being banneil fron practiclng their reLigion.

"In addition, early this year, ten rKrsgues were destroyed by dynanite in sinoLen because the authorities r'antd to build hotela and car parks. Countl-ess people have been forced Co accept Slavic narles and neH docunents have been isaued to them. Even llugLlm cemeteries itere destroyed and the tomb stones Ehat had Arabic inecriptions broken. "Turkish people, hos€ver, have a long hlsbory in Bulgaria. The early Bulgars were thernselveE a Turkiah race - neseern Chavush - and indeed the nanoe neans mixed people. Conseguently, rDst l,tusl ins in Bulgaria are of Turkish origln, These, along with Pomaks (ethnic Bulgarlans) and Muslins gypsies, constitute, according to Bulgarian l,luslim sources, some 25 per cenC of lhe country's population of about eight nillion. 'The assinilation of the Mustims was often engineered by relocaEion of rrhole populations. Thus, for exartple, in July 1948, 50 wagonloads of l,lusllms from the Rodop region rere forcefully sent to Dobruca, ln October L949t 28 wagonloads of lt{uslims famllles from ltlestanli, Koaukavak and Daridere were sent to tshe North, in Septerober 1950 another 63 eagonloads of lilusl irns fanilies nere taken from Kosukavak and moved to Troyan, Razgrad and Sunnu areas. This lransfer vas effected in the name of work, development and inprovernent. Young people were separaled from their fanilies and environs and scattered among Bulgarilan groups. They were taken fron the Rodop and Del-iorman region, where nost Muslims lived, and sent to cities like Sofia, Burgaz and Dilnitovgrad (Kayacik), ehere there t,as auoost no uuslim population. Tbere are fanilies which even today nho do not kno$ nhere their children have been relocaled." fhe wall Street Journal (4 Marcb 1985) "Hoe countries treaC Chelr nlnority groups ls a leading teat of tbeir level of civilization. Bulgaria is the current Souiet Bloc nodel for hott gruesomely uncivllized toealiCarian regimes can get. Vfill Western bumanrights groups take any notice? A/40/9o4 English Page 13

nReports have gradually leaked of horrors committed by the Bulgarlans against the countryrs rninori.ty Turkish popuLatlon. At least 200 ethnic Turka llving in Bulgaria have been klu"ed ln fighcinq SofiarE 'Bulgarization' program. The Connunist reglne etants this group of one rnilllon Moslens, a tenth of the Bulgarian poPulation, to change tlreir names and forsake their religion. The method of aasinilation is to roll tanks into rEstly Tur k ish-populated f,arminq villages and force people at gunPoint to change their names from Burkish/Moslem !o slavic,/Agnostlc. Isrnsil ls lvan, one four-year-old Kenan Evren, narned for the Turkiah Presialent, ls noY' Kamen Angelog Karabashev.

"witnesses report that areas scheduled for renaming are sealed off before the storn troops arrive. Three journalists from Turkey were expelled fron Bulgaria $hen they tried go invesbigate' and a Reuters correspondent r'aE alao turned away. I{onen are sfriPped in public, and men are beaten. Even I'n areaa not yet chosen for thi€ treatment, the Bulgars outlar the furkish I'anguage, destroy nctsques and force Practiclng lloslens fron their jobs. "But l'hy the special concern ltith nanes? lihy Euch elolence? This may be punishnent for anti-gov€rnment bombs thia sunmer in Plovdiv, center of a Turkiah nlnority area. Another explanation is that Bulgarian dlctator Todor zhivkov $ants good Bulgar results fron a cenaus hers called for laler chis year, the first since 1965, uosletns reproduce at a faster rate tban Slavs, but Mr, zhivkov does noC want to be the one to break this news to the Russians. After all, the Krenlin has a bigger trloslern problen to deal with in the Soviet unton and Afghanistan, uhere demographics nay gomeday cranp godless rule.

"The Turki.sh Governnent has knottn about thls oppression glnce last year. Until recently, houever Prlne Mi.nistel Turgut Ozal said that there eag nothlng hls country could' do. For one thing' lhe Sovlet natural-gas PlPeUne to Turkey goea through Bulgaria, giving the Cot runisEs crucial leverage. But Ankara has recalled it6 Ambassador to Sofi.a and demanded that a group of par li.amentar iang be allotred to. make on-slte inspections in Turkish vlllages in Bulgaria. Turkey has offered repatriation, but Sofia must first agree to let ite peoPle go. So far, no word from Sofia. Groups like Annesty Internalional, guick to lnspect Turkish prisons, ghould noc take a look at Butgarian villages.

'rThe Turks are not alone in worrying about what haPPens to minorities in Connunist countrles. Ilungary, whose socialism allovts gone limiled bunan rights, recently lssued neu domestic guidel-ines that pledge equal rights for minorilies. They also 'consider 1! a natural demand that in neighborlng countries citizens of l,l,agyar nationality be able to speak their nalive language and develop their natural culture'. Hungarian authorities are rorried by anti-ttlagyar edicts in Romania and CzechosLovak ia. rThis nost recent outrage from Bulgaria perfectly fits the pabtern of the Pope-plot.ting, drug-running Bulgar3. Itrs no 6urprise that totalitarians who tlisdaln the righEs of individluals also bani.sh the rights of groups'o A/4O/904 Eng l ish Page 14

The Chicaqo Sun Tlqeg (3 April 1985) rThe State Department put lt this way: tThe goeernnent of Bulgaria appears deterrnined to denationalize ethnic and cultural distinctions of the one-Rl I I ion-str ong Turkish-speakinq populat ion eithin its borders. l rln plain language, tbat neans the Bulqarians are klLling, $ounding and uprooting nenbers of the Turkish ninority, even trylng to force then Eo give up their ident.ity and to adopt Slavic nanes ... 'It is, in ahort, another damnable demonstratlon of hunan suppresaion by terror and bullet, at the hands of Sovi et-doninated ideological puppets ..

The nashlnqton Ti8e-s (3 April 1985) Icornnunist Bulgaria appears bent on assinilating at gunpoint the huqe Turki6h minority eithin it8 borders, the State Departnent said ... "Accordinc to State Departnent spokesnan Bernard Kalb, all Bulqarian gover rent-supported Turkish language radio broadcasts have ceased and Turkish language ne*spapers have been shut dorrn ..,,1 A;9-g (sPain) (3 APrir 1985) "... Nonadays, ee are facing tno cases.. that ot south Africa, there rrhlte repression agains! the black majority has been recently denounced to the ehole world, and that of lhe Turkish ninorlCy in Bulgaria, about tdhich almost nobody has raised its voice, because of the fact that Bulgaria is a communist country and also that the Turks are not blacks. i?herefore, only brief infornation has reached us, accotding to tthich alnosC a nillion of Turks living in Bulqaria (wlth a population of 9 million inhabitantsi the Turkish minority represents 8,5 per cent) are being subjected to a Bulgarization process in a coercive eay by curtailing their political, econonic and cult.uraL EighCs in the form of Chreats, beatinqs, fine6, blockage of bank accounts, refuaal of enploynent, etci or in other word3, a ehole repertoire of discrininatory pract ices. " Iglflg (3 April 198s) "'A visi.t by Turkish par I iamentar i ans to Sofia uould be inappropr iate at the nomentr said the Bulgarian Narodno Sobranie (National Assembly) in a reply ' to a Turkish parliarnentarians, proposal to vislt Sofia and settle the problens Hhich have arisen in relations betrreen the trro countries. "Thus Bulcaria again rejecteal. Chis tirne indirectly, a dialoque $ith Turkey on the position of the Turkish ninority j.n Bulqaria. In other words, Bulqaria xishes to continue the process of assinilation unlil the auturnn census. Obaervers consider lhat thi.s also had sone influence on the contents of the Bulgarian Sobraniers repty.r A/40/904 Eng lish Page 15

Reuters (3 April 1985) 'tHot' btould you explain to your ll-year-old daughter that she had to change her nane?r the embittered father asked.

"Mehmet, a 3s-year-old Bulgarian ethnic Turk, described hote three montha ago he was stopped blr pollce as he left hi6 hme in northern Bulgarla. They handed hin copies of an officlal appllcation for him to chanqe hls nane.

" rThere eas one of thern in front and one behind. They gave rne three days to choose Bulqarian nanes for me and my fanily. There eas no choice involved. They haee the guns and I have a family to suPport he told Reuters. " "The tale recounted by Mehnet' a construction eorker ltke many of his kinsmen' totd of anguish, despair and dilenma after Bulgaria's connunist authorities launched a progranne early thi.s year Co force the 800,ooo-strong Turkish cotnnunity to drop the nanes of their anceators and adopt Slav ones.

iDiplomatic sources say resistance by scfire ethnic Turks led to nany deaths in clashes in the Tur k ish-populated south. The authoriEies deny there has been any coercion or casualties and say ethnic ?urks changed their naftes of their ol,n free 0iII. "Diplonats say the progranhe iE part of longer term Plans to forge a united Bu19ar ian nation. "Bulgarian officials now appear !o reject the orthodox historical viei,, that ethnic Turks are direct descendancs of Ottonan rule. They not.' describe then as 'Turkefied Bulgariansr r,ho haue returned to the Bulgarlan fanily.

"Mehmet, Iike thousands of oEhers, eeighed up the realities and finally took the line of least resistance, adopting a Slav first nane, Patronynlc and fani ly trane.

"He is noyr ca1led l4ikhail although to friends and family he renalns !4ebnet. He is bltter, still confused' but resigned' "According to his account given to Reuters earlier this Peek' the to$nrs authorilies announced tbe nove at an assenbly of local leaders in late January. Police went fron house to house through Ehe Turkish quarters handing out aPPlication forms. "By then reporls had begun to l,eak out of casualties anong ethnic Turks in the south - eomething, Metlmet adnitted, that neighed heanily in his fjnal dec ison.

"He called a fami-ly neeting of his elderly parents, his nife and bis ll-year-old daughter to discuss lhe options. "rlt was everyebere the sane. Nobody Pent to trork for five days. Tbey stayed lnside, t|rangled, argued and wePt and lhought of nays to get out of it.. But rre finally gave in,'he said. A/40/904 English Page 16

"!4ehmet kner of no clashes ln hls region althougb he eas guick to recount rumurs of, casualtieg elsephere in the country.

" rThe first to fllL in the forns and take then to the council otficea $ere the (comtuniae) party nenber6. Then most PeoPIe alecided to do the sane. There sas no choice. r nHis dauqhter ras a special problen. It uaa difflcult exPlaining to her ehy she had to change her nane. I just told her the truth. She nade me pronise Ird keep on calling her (Ayshe).1 "A ls-Vear-old youth noe called Andrei - but still Ahned to hls school friends and the silk-trousered Turkieh nooen of his neighbourhood - tola! a sinilar tale. rrtly father called us and ue taLked it over. Motlter cried al.l ttre tlne. Finally, ue chose nanes and father took the forns Eo the torn council,r he said. "'At gcbool rre have to use our neg nanes ehen the head teacher is around. But eeeryone stitl calls ttre Ahmed. The teachers explaln lt'by telling us rde sere once Bulgarian and not Turkish and that ee have becone Bulgarlan agaln! rr

Associated Press (16 April 1985)

"The Kuealti parlianent condemned rhat it called a crackdorrn on lloslens in Bulgaria, urginq all tloslens in the rorld to check alleged attenPts to force Bulgari.an lloslena to foresake their faith. "rKureaitrs National Asaenbly (Par li.anent) has been {atching elth extrene sorros and deep pain the escalating crackdopn on HoBlems in the Republic of Bulgarla, phere illeqal pressure ls being practiced on these l4osle[F to compel them to abandon their religion. I parlianent complaineal in a statenent. 'IC alao clalned that Bulgarian auttroritiea haee been putting pressure on their uoslen citizens to convert to other religlons.

"These Bulgarian Moslems, the statement claimed, were being rforced to cbange their nanes, often sending thea to jail and inpeating tbeir bids to earn their llvelihood, which sme rrere forced to }eave the country. I I'tflhiIe condenninq this persecution, the Kuwaiti National Assembly urqes all uosten and non-Moslen peoples t{ith free consci,ences throuqhout the world to act positively and put an end to these (Bulgarian) practices, I the statement added, 'Kueaiti nalntains good ties eith the Bulgarian governnent. Ku$ait is the only conservative Arab country of the oil-rlch Gutt region to ttave diplffiat ic relations eith the Soviet Union, Bulgaria and other countries of the Eastern Bloc. ' A/40/901 EngllBh Page l7

The Los Anqeles Tines (21 Aprfl l9g5) i... Bulgaria is one of the few East Bloc countries that does not recognize the existence of national. ninorlties. For Gorernnent the last decade, the haa pronoted the idea that the countryr€! ethnlc Turks ahould 'Eulgarlzer their nales in the lntere8ts of national unitv. "The progranne. launched arranacically three nonths ago, no," seer's to have lreen concluded, reports of vioLent clashes beteeen reslsting Turks pollce haoe subsided. and

"But taestern diplcnats say the venture, in the short tern at least, haa accentuated divlsion betpeen the Turkish citieens. nlnority and their SIav fellott policy 'rlf ttte eaa neant to create a uniforn Bulgarian iaienttty, then it has baal ly backfired,r said one diptonat. rrt has alienated the Turka even nore and heightened suspicion of then by tbe Bulgarians., party "co0nuniat officials ftatntain that ethnlc Turks eho changeal their nanes recently did eo voluntarily.

"But withln the aurkish connunity, the sullen resentnent of those eho relihquished the Muelln nanes of thelr torefathers is obvious. nrThey have the guns. ne donit," sald teen-ager Ahned, noe officially knoun as Andrei, in a typically blt.Ler comment.

"Tbe nane-changing programne bas been a staqgering bureaucratic undertakinq. Thousande of nee ineernal passporCs, alriving licences, savings books and other official documents haue Leen'reiasued. iDiplomats say the operation uas clearly planned the9 nonths in advance. But say Bulqarian authorities probably rniscarculaterr on ho, much thelt would resistance neet and did not foresee the anxieties tt eoutd stoke anong Bulgarians and Turks alike ... trIn a toeal population of lO million, Bulgarrans outnumber Turks try nine to one. But they have ahrays felt uneasy at the minorityrs alien tituslin customs and high hirth rjite. rt{e "One Bulqarian rroman said: bad to do sonetbing. There are so nany of them. But, of course, I donrt agree t|ith violence. l "Official allence on lhe issue, punctuated by taDtalizing reterences in speechea that offer only fragnents of the overall picture, have batfled Bulgarians and ethnic Turks allke. "One particularLy barbed comnent cane from connunist party politburo member Stanko Todorov in a little publicized speech last mooth. A/40 /904 English Page 18

ltho erant dance to the music of Ankarars propaganda and its "'Those to bave nationalist ag€nts --. and sant to enigrate shou!'d knord that lnstructions been given to the couPetent organs for then to be assured of rapid emiqration within three or four hoursrr he said' of "He atlded: rgut they wlll not go to Turkey' but to other.regions Bulgaria where they wilL tive nore quieely and find happiness"

t'It was a warning of, at best, internal exile or' a! worst' prison "'n

The Nen York Tlnes (31 UaY 1985) .Bulgaria has been getbing a bad presg, tdhat l{ieh tbe Ronan Erial charging lnvolvernent in ihe atternpted assasslnation of the PoPe' the forcible of, the large Tulkish ninority' and murky accounts of druqs and assimilation of an arna trafficking. It his maale officlals ettgy, au the nore so because intense nationaligt carnpaign in recent years that is still gaining nomenturn'

"Infact,maklngthecountrytsethnlcTurkschangetheunanestotypicalthistoricaL Bulgarian ones has been officlally presenled as a and revolutionary actr to prove that iufgaria ls a 'one nationality state" the "There are an estinated one mlllion peoPle of Turklsh origin anong nine nilLion Bulgarlans. several hundred have rePortedly dled in clashes provoked by the compuLsory bane change, although it is imPossible to obtain reliable figure6. itre ofiici.at stand is that rthere are no Turks in and the people ineolved are descendants of 'pure' Bulqarians Bulgariarr ehat rliberatedr and who had been converted under ogtoman ru1e. Iihey are now being i.nvited to share rBulgarian nationat consciousness' ' ' ' than the resc' 'rEthnic Turks, rbetly rural, have a much higher btrcttrate The naEional dream needs ihernr ernlgration ls ruled out' rt is strangely blinit, after their ot'n experlence of stubborn cuLturaL survival' that the Bulgarians inagine thelr can change nentallties by changlng names "' i'Dirty tricks are dirty trlcks. They happen "' l'lost of all now' Buloaria is concerned with its inage." A/40/9o1 EngIl ah Page 19

APPEIIDIX II

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1.Ia ce saBe;te npuctcrEflero na la6ora no Sopxa 76 aa 1.I.1985 no.q,. c ErcTatr oBeltltr e 6s{ralrcxt }ore[a. 2.Crltrre uunexaanna J(a c€ n leAa!flr rrpu n3.IaBaneto. Ha r ai-.? rn sa natyB{ure } 6 oJt?rattn$ nr{c!cEe !r .q,!:ytn ,lor1nrexra 3a arlrt{Bal cr1rgrnEHo odcrlmsa$e. 3.Ia ee trpeycsanoall rrot3ynaaeto Ra r:l':]ciin e3tfr Ha I att ot- ii:.ie l: oGrecr.sertg hecra. . 4.Bct.riK$ Jtttqa rioceq!: apadexu M.!c'{p.,I(orto ::e ttpeAcgagrtl ri c oe xc,Itjrr !'r e Aoxy et:'rH 3a npegMellysa|Ie .qa Ee ce Aonyqa! ttF' Fe{iorr.. SanoueA'ra Aa 6sAe .qoBe,qega .qo gra$reto lta acgqrtt: EorelteltFt: 3a cDe,qetfue I| I{3[Itlfiel|ge. Itompo.n uo neliuoro s3n$Jtueuge ats.la?ara xe qe:coartr€ ptxoBo.4ctBa no uecaa. /*t S.Eacaaraxorr/

"ORDERsN OP TEE BULGARTAN AUTEORITTSA T CA''IY. T rEE IURTTSH ETNORTTI (ItansiTation given in t,|e terat) A/40/904 EngLish Page 22

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Tranalated fron Bulcar ian conmunal Councll of the Stanbolovo vlllage croup village HalI of cledka order No. 5 village of cledka, Dated 3.8.1984

In confornlty wlth ordinance No. I of the comnune @uncil and the order of the Conmune Councll Presitlen! concernlng the eearing of shalvars by Ehe Turkish populatton and the use of the Turkish language, f prohlblt the irearlng of shalvars ln the streets, officea and public instltutions at any hour of tbe day. At comrercial prenlses, perBons reaElng shalvars and speaklng Turkish shall noC be served. Everyone Bhall speak only Bulgarlan in klndergartens. Appropriate measures shall be tahen againse those nho violate this order.

(-sf gnature) MaY or