Bulgaria

[Joseph]

Turkey Blocks EU Funds over Bulgaria's Burgas Recognition of Armenian Genocide

10 March 2008, Monday



Turkey's government declined to sign a EU-funded cooperation agreement with Bulgaria because of the decision of the city council in the Black Sea city of Burgas to recognize the genocide of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in 1915-1922.

The funds blocked by Turkey under the PHARE Trans-border Cooperation Program amount to EUR 32 M, the Bulgarian private TV channel BTV reported. EUR 12 M of these are for the 2007-2009 period.

The agreement was supposed to be signed on March 6 by the district governors of the Bulgarian Burgas District, and the Turkish Edirne District but the meeting was canceled by the Turkish side.

"It is not within the authority of the Burgas City Council to take decisions on political matters, especially with regard to this issue as there is no consensus between Turkey and Armenia over it, and the interference by a third party will not be of any help", declared Turkey's General Consul in the city of Burgas on Sunday, March 9.

The Burgas Mayor Dimitar Nikolov also received Saturday a letter from the Edirne District Governor regarding Burgas City Council's decision to recognize the Armenian genocide stating: "This decision is offensive and we denounce it. Until it is canceled we will discontinue all social, cultural, and economic contracts with your district."

Mayor Nikolov, who is from the Sofia Mayor Boyko Borisov's GERB party, expressed his surprise over Turkey's sharp reaction. He said the City Council was going to discuss the matter during its next session.

The Burgas City Council is dominated by members of the extreme right Ataka Party, and of the GERB party. On February 28 it voted to recognize the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire, and declared April 24 Day of Remembrance.

Last week members of the rightist Democrats for Strong Bulgaria party of the former PM Ivan Kostov tabled a proposal for recognizing the Armenian Genocide to the city council in Bulgaria's capital Sofia.

Bulgaria's parliament has rejected similar motions by the rightist opposition several times, allegedly because of the ethnic Turkish part Movement for Rights and Freedoms, which is a junior partner in the governing three-way coalition.

[Joseph]

http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=92341

Bulgaria's Ruse Recognizes Ottoman Genocide over Bulgarians and Armenians

17 April 2008, Thursday


The Bulgarian city of Ruse recognized officially the Ottoman genocide over Bulgarians and Armenians on Thursday. Photo by vwt.d2g.com:8081/
The Municipal Council of the northern Bulgarian city of Ruse approved Thursday a declaration denouncing the genocide carried out by the Ottoman Empire and later its Young Turks' government against its Armenian and Bulgarian population.

"With the adoption of this declaration, the city counselors proved their responsibility and their compassion to the universal human values, and demonstrated their civic consciousness and morals", announced the representatives of the nationalist Ataka party, which initiated the voting of the declaration.

Ataka expressed its hope that similar declarations would be adopted by the city and town councils around the country. These declarations should be treated as a kind of referendum, with whose decisions the Bulgarian government and parliament would have to comply.

The city of Burgas already approved a declaration recognizing the Armenian genocide at the end of February. This lead to a harsh reaction on part of the Turkish city of Edirne, which terminated all common projects, and severed all connections between the two cities.

[Joseph]

http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=92556

Bulgaria Capital Sofia Recognizes Armenian Genocide on Remembrance Day

24 April 2008, Thursday

The City Council of the Bulgarian capital Sofia adopted a declaration on Thursday, the international day for remembering the Armenian Genocide, expressing its sympathy with the tragedy of the Armenian people during the repression carried out against it in the Ottoman Empire.

The declaration states that the murder of 1,5 million Armenians and the mass expulsion of millions of others from their homes by the Ottomans was a proven historical fact.

The city council spent a minute of silence remembering the victims of the Armenian Genocide.

Thus, Sofia became the fourth Bulgarian city recognizing the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire. The northeastern city of Silistra did so on April 17, and the city of Ruse accepted the same day a declaration condemning the genocide against both Armenians and Bulgarians by the Ottoman Turks. The city of Burgas was the first to recognize the Armenian Genocide in February.

[Joseph]

http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=92690

Bulgaria's Dobrich Recognizes Armenian Genocide

29 April 2008, Tuesday


The city of Dobrich became Tuesday the tenth Bulgarian municipality to have recognized the Armenian Genocide. Photo by bgpinternational.com
The Municipal Council of the northeast Bulgarian city of Dobrich adopted Tuesday a declaration recognizing the genocide over the Armenian people in the Ottoman Empire in 1915-1922.

Twenty-five of the total of 32 municipal counselors voted in favor of the declaration, one voted against, and five abstained, the Bulgarian private Darik Radio.

Before the voting, the regional leader of the ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms Denis Noman suggested that the issue be removed from the agenda because it was a matter of interstate relations, not of local government.

The motion of the Municipal Council was approved by Armenian community in Dobrich whose representatives were present during the voting.

They did not fail to point out that Bulgaria was the first country to offer asylum to the Armenian families, who were chased away by the Ottoman authorities.

Over 40 000 presently live in Bulgaria but only about 200 live in the city of Dobrich.

With Tuesday's declaration Dobrich becomes the tenth Bulgarian municipality, which has recognized the Armenian genocide, including the cities of Burgas, Ruse, and Silistra.

On April 24, the international Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day, the Sofia City Council honored the memory of the genocide victims. A similar declaration was read there but the Council failed to vote on it as it was taken off the agenda with the motive that the issue was not within its competence.

[imported_crusader1492]

Bulgaria is like the USA. The vast majority of cities/states acknowlege the Armenian Genocide, but official recognition at a national level is still elusive.
The situation is moving in a positive direction though.

[Joseph]

Bulgaria is like the USA. The vast majority of cities/states acknowlege the Armenian Genocide, but official recognition at a national level is still elusive.
The situation is moving in a positive direction though.

Very true and I think the movement for recognition is constantly making progress though slowly...or at least for us as we are impatient. I believe in the US there are only about 7 or 8 states that have yet to give the Armenian Genocide official recognition. Even though it is a gradual process and needlessly tedious it is becoming apparent that when national governments refuse to recognize what all other cities, regions, states, etc recognition it becomes so obvious that there position is weak and they have no legs to stand on. This happened in Switzerland if I recall.

[Joseph]

http://www.sofiaecho.com/article/varna-condemns-armenian-genocide/id_29451/catid_66

VARNA CONDEMNS ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
12:02 Thu 22 May 2008 - Petar Kostadinov

The municipal council in the city of Varna on the Black Sea adopted a declaration on May 21 2008, which condemned Armenian genocide in 1915, local Cherno More daily said.

Twenty-four councilors supported the declaration. Councilors also decided to declare May 24 as the day of commemorating the victims of the genocide, which happened in the times when Ottoman empire still existed.

Councilors hoped that their decision would prompt a similar reaction from other cities in the country and would lead to a similar decision made on a nation level, Cherno More said.

The issue on recognising the 1915 events as a genocide against Armenian people has been raised several times in Parliament by the opposition, but there has never been a decision on it, with the ruling majority refusing to put on the agenda.

The last time this happened on January 17 2008, when the ruling majority refused to review three draft declarations that aimed at recognising the Armenian genocide.

They were tabled by ultra-nationalist Ataka party's leader Volen Siderov, the leader of nationalist party Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organisation Krassimir Karakachanov and the United Democratic Forces coalition.

Alexander Radoslavov from the ruling Bulgarian Socialist Party said back then that he voted against the declarations because there was too much “hatred” in them, which “was not what a national Parliament should preach”.

He also said that “historical facts are one, but the political reality was something else”. This remark referred to Bulgaria's neighbour Turkey, the successor of the Ottoman empire, who denies the events from 1915/1922 as a genocide.

A declaration adopted by Bulgarian Parliament on the topic would beyond doubt have consequences on bilateral relations. Such a position is strongly defended by the ruling coalition partner the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF), which represented mainly Muslim Bulgarians of Turkish decent.

When the issue was raised in Parliament in April 2007, MRF MPs left the hall as a sign of protest against the discussion on whether the death of nearly 1.5 million Armenians was a genocide or not. MRF MPs were also against Parliament holding a minute of silence in memory of the victims.

MRF deputy-chairman Lyutvi Mestan said that the MRF had distanced itself from historical events that have not been properly evaluated yet and had been used for political purposes.

The May 21 vote in Varna put the town on the list with Bulgarian cities that have already recognised the events as a genocide. Plovdiv, Rousse and Bourgas have adopted similar declarations, with MRF challenging the vote in Rousse in court. Unfortunately, Sofia is not on the list.

Earlier this April, Sofia was one step closer to adopt a declaration, but councillors from the Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) party of Sofia mayor Boiko Borissov, withdrew their proposal in the last minute. “I don't want to confront Turkey,” Borissov told reporters at the time.

[Joseph]

http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=113188

No sister of mine, says Kırklareli

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Ali Ümit Ülker
KIRKLARELİ – Doğan News Agency

Authorities in the Kırklareli province in Thrace announced yesterday they have broken ties with Dobrich and Burgas after the two Bulgarian municipalities decided to recognize the so-called Armenian genocide. Dobrich's status as a “sister city” has also been rescinded.

Cavit Çağlayan, mayor of Kirklareli from the Republican People's Party, or CHP, said the Foreign Ministry had sent a warning asking the municipalities not to establish ties with Burgas and if there were ties, to terminate them.

He said 12 municipalities in Bulgaria had recognized the so-called Armenian genocide, but what really mattered to them was Dobrich's actions.

“The Dobrich decision upset us,” Çağlayan said. “We need to show them there is a price to pay, which is a cross-border project worth YTL 600,000. We haven't signed it and told them why.

“We don't have ‘sister city' relations with Burgas,” he said. “We sent them a letter condemning their decision to recognize the so-called Armenian genocide.”

Çağlayan said he believed the Burgas decision was influenced by the growing power of the right-wing National Union Attack, or Ataka, party in the Burgas municipal assembly.