Bulgaria condemns Turkish assimilation

The Bulgarian Parliament adopted yesterday a special declaration condemning the forcible assimilation of the country's Muslim and Turkish population under communism in mid 1980s. The declaration is important in the sense that it is the first document adopting the assimilation campaign conducted against Turks by the Bulgarian state. The declaration which has been prepared by former Bulgarian Prime Minister Ivan Kostov was supported by 112 out of 115 Parliament members, whereas the remaining three abstained from a vote. The declaration also calls for the lawsuit which has been suspended for 20 years to be conducted again and those responsible for these policies to be brought to justice and punished. Speaking on the issue, Kostov reiterated that the assimilation campaign which has killed hundreds of Bulgarian Turks and Muslims was defined as the "revival process," saying that the document should be supported by all political powers involved in Parliament. "More than 360,000 Bulgarian citizens with Turkish origin have been forced to migrate in the campaign conducted by communists. We strongly condemn this act which is considered as an attempt at ethnic cleansing. We have to reread and close an important page of our recent history," Kostov said.