site.btaMarch 5, 1990: Thousands of Ethnic Turks Rally as Parliament Debates Muslim Name Change Reversal

On March 5, 1990, thousands of ethnic Turks in Bulgaria gathered outside the National Assembly in Sofia as the legislature was debating a bill on restoring their original names. This was part of a process of reversing the forced assimilation policies of the 1980s, known as the "Regeneration Process," during which Bulgaria’s communist regime had forced ethnic Turks to adopt Slavic-sounding names.

The March 1990 rallies were part of a broader movement towards restoration of ethnic and religious rights in post-communist Bulgaria. The name-change bill was a crucial step in addressing the grievances of Bulgaria's Turkish minority after the fall of communism. This period saw increasing tensions, with both protests and resistance from nationalist factions opposing the reinstatement of Turkish names. In Parliament, nationalist politicians fiercely debated against the bill, but ultimately, the restoration of names was approved as part of Bulgaria's democratization process.