site.btaMRF – New Beginning Remembers Communist-Era Oppression of Bulgarian Muslims

Joining other parliamentary groups in issuing declarations on Friday ahead of the Day of Gratitude and Homage to the Victims of the Communist Regime (February 1), the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) – New Beginning placed the focus on remembering the victims from the Bulgarian Muslim community.

The group's MP Hyusein Hafazov pointed to the existence of "several myths specifically about this day that must be debunked."

"At the time, those in power claimed that they were carrying out the will of the Allies who had won the war, something that is profoundly untrue," Hafazov commented, recalling that the death sentences carried out on February 1, 1945, preceded the Paris Peace Treaty, which was signed on February 10, 1947. "These sentences were carried out under the so-called Moscow Armistice of October 28, 1944, and there is no doubt that the Bulgarian leadership was overzealous in its efforts to rid itself of its political opponents," he stressed.

Speaking on behalf of his group, Hafazov noted that during the communist era, the Muslim community in Bulgaria was subjected to repression, restrictions and humiliation for decades. This violence was not only the forced change of people's Turkish names into Slav ones during the so-called Revival Process; "it was accompanied by various forms of assimilation, erasure of memory, restrictions on religious rites and on the use of the mother tongue," the MRF – New Beginning declaration said.

"Today, decades later, there are still no convicted perpetrators, no justice, no solace, which we owe not only to history and the victims but also to the young people of the present day. Guided by a sense of responsibility to the victims and to history, we want a fair judicial process and effective sentences for those guilty of the so-called Revival Process," said Hafazov, reading out the declaration.

The declaration further noted that MRF – New Beginning leader Delyan Peevski has submitted a formal claim to the Military District Prosecutor's Office calling for redress for all those oppressed during the "hateful assimilation process."

"We will continue to seek justice and fight for the only true path before Bulgaria: democracy, rights, freedoms, equality, peace, tolerance and brotherly love," MRF - New Beginning said.