Bulgarian PM: Crimes against Turks remain unpunished

SOFIA - Anadolu Agency

Borissov, who came to power in November 2014, said that “the biggest crime was the attempt to erase evidence.” AFP Photo

People who committed oppression and persecution against Bulgaria’s Turks and Muslims during the pre-1990 communist regime remain unpunished, even a quarter of a century on, according to Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov.In a Facebook post on Dec. 29, Borissov published a report titled, “To overcome the inhuman treatment and the applied oppression against Turks and Muslims,” in which he slammed the handling of the aftermath of the end of the assimilation practices of the late 1980s.Borissov, who came to power in November 2014, said that “the biggest crime was the attempt to erase evidence.”The premier said Turks were given freedom, but in exchange they were requested not to call on those responsible for the crimes to be held accountable.He hinted without giving names that the country’s main Turkish party, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (HÖH), also approved of the situation by turning a blind eye.Borissov asserted that there would be no political amnesty for the crimes, and that even if it were late, justice must be sought.The biggest guarantee that these crimes would not be repeated was real democracy, he said.Bulgarian communist leader Todor Zhivkov’s assimilation campaign against the Turkish minority in the Balkan country resulted in more than 300,000 people migrating to Turkey in the late 1980s.Bulgarian Turks are the descendants of Turks in the Balkan region which was ruled by the Ottoman Empire for nearly five centuries.The Bulgarian communists’ assimilation policy has been viewed as an attempt by the party’s ailing leadership to use nationalism to create a homogenous country.It is estimated that Turks constitute about 9 percent of Bulgaria’s more than 7-million population.