Bulgaria Moves to Restore Rights of Long-Harassed Ethnic Turks

The Bulgarian government is moving to redress the grievances of thousands of ethnic Turks harassed for years by the old Communist regime, according to leaders of a parliamentary group pressing for restoration of rights for 1.5 million Turkish-speaking Bulgarians.

Members of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, after meeting Wednesday with President Zhelyu Zhelev, said the government has agreed to the restoration of Turkish language instruction in schools. Teaching Turkish has been banned since the early 1980s.

Ahmed Dogan, the group’s leader, said the government has also agreed to permit a Turkish-language newspaper and radio station and is considering legislation to ease the return of tens of thousands of Bulgarian Turks who were effectively forced to leave Bulgaria in 1989, the final year in power of ousted Communist Party boss Todor Zhivkov.

The expulsion of about 310,000 ethnic Turks, mostly from southeastern Bulgaria near the Turkish border, caused a worldwide outcry among human rights activists and brought a major disruption in the Bulgarian economy. As workers fled to Turkey, factories were idled.

Since last December, when a new government took over following Zhivkov’s removal by Communist Party reformers, about 90,000 Turkish-speaking Bulgarians have returned but, according to Dogan, they face difficult problems resettling.

The most acute problems, Dogan and other activists say, are a shortage of housing and jobs. Many were forced to sell their homes on unfavorable terms. Nearly 1,000 houses in the Bulgarian town of Haskovo were demolished.

“There are hundreds of our people sleeping on the ground,” Dogan said. “We have to do something for these people and for the people who lost their real estate because of the government’s action.”

He said a parliamentary delegation visited the area recently and has called on mayors in the region to testify before Parliament, “because those responsible must be punished.”

Dogan said he met Wednesday with Prime Minister-designate Andrei Lukanov and that Lukanov promised government funds to assist in finding housing for the returning Turks.

Yuli Bahnev, spokesman for the parliamentary group, said it is preparing legislation to help the Turks recover their property and their jobs, many of which have been filled.

Under the Communists, the government denied for years that it had a problem with the Turkish minority. It preferred to call them “Muslim Bulgarians.” Speaking Turkish on the streets was forbidden.

Dogan, who was imprisoned for his human rights activities from 1986 until last December, was elated at the outcome of his negotiations with the government.

“It is really an important day,” he said in an interview.