Resolving the Turkish Question in Bulgaria

The ethnic Turks living in Bulgaria had faced discrimination throughout Bulgaria's history. In response to a series of demonstrations in May 1989 for Turkish rights, the Communist government expelled more than 300,000 Bulgarian Turks over the course of the year. With such a large portion of the population affected, Turkish rights in Bulgaria became one of leading human rights issues facing the Bulgarian government in the fall of 1989. In November 1989, the leadership of the Communist Party had changed; new policies followed, including the legalization of several non-Communist political parties. However, the treatment of the Bulgarian Turks seemed unaffected. In this report from the U.S. Embassy in Bulgaria in January 1990, the U.S. Ambassador records that while the Bulgarian government promised improvement, there had been no noticeable change in the continuing human rights' violations.