SOFIA – The Bulgarian town of Pazardzhik has banned the wearing of full-face veils or burqas in public, becoming the first Balkan country to take such move. “I am tired to hear that Pazardzhik is the town of the burqas. We want to say aloud that we are not that, but a town of responsible people and we will be associated with other achievements,” Mayor Todor Popov told the national radio. According to the government, the ban was imposed to prevent tension among communities and boost security. The ban was backed from politicians across the political spectrum in the town of some 70,000 people, where wearing full-face veils had become common among some Muslim Roma women.

Muslims make up about 12 percent of Bulgaria’s 7.2 million population and most belong to a centuries-old community, largely ethnic Turks, among whom full-face veils are not common.

Popov said fine would be imposed on anyone who defies the ban, which police said was needed because the veils – which cover all but the eyes – hampered quick identification. Earlier this month, the nationalist Patriotic Front coalition, which backs the government, proposed a nation-wide ban on full-face veils, arguing that such clothing was not typical for Bulgarian Muslims. The nationalists claimed that veils presented a national security risk and the issue had grown in importance in the wake of the violent Islamist attacks in Paris and Brussels. Islam sees hijab as an obligatory code of dress, not a religious symbol displaying one’s affiliations. A niqab (burqa) is a veil which covers part or most of the wearer’s face, leaving the eyes visible. Yet, Muslim scholars believe that a woman is not obliged to cover her face or hands. Scholars, however, believe that it is up to women to decide whether to take on the veil.