Source: International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights Sofia/Vienna, 21 November 2006. Gathered for their annual General Assembly meeting in Sofia, Bulgaria, on 16-19 November 2006, members of the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) expressed concern about the rise in anti-minority rhetoric and discrimination in Bulgaria. The extremist nationalist party Ataka (“Attack”), which gained representation in the Bulgarian…
Source: Macedonian daily newspaper Dnevnik Translated by UMDiaspora Staff The European Commission ought to watch closely the situation in Bulgaria and help the Macedonian party OMO Ilinden PIRIN to be registered as a political party, the European Free Alliance (EFA) has requested. “The anti- Macedonian hysteria in Bulgaria must stop and the party of the Macedonians OMO Ilinden PIRIN should…
On July 18th, 2006, Nelly Maes, the President of the European Free Alliance sent a letter to Olli Rehn, the Commissioner of Enlargement of the European Commission in reference to Bulgaria’s denial to recognize its quite large ethnic Macedonian minority urging him to monitor the situation. Mr. Commissioner of the European Commission, As President of the European Free Alliance (EFA),…
Source: Macedonian Human Rights Movement International Press Release – July 21, 2006 Read this page in Macedonian On July 30, 2006 in Mosomishkite Banji, Bulgaria, (near the city of Gotse Delchev) Macedonian organizations and their supporters will gather to commemorate Ilinden, the Macedonian uprising against the Ottoman Empire in 1903. Macedonians in Bulgaria continuously face discrimination and intimidation when asserting…
Source: MHRMI Bulgarian politicians and media are in an uproar following the congress of Macedonian political party OMO Ilinden PIRIN. The party called for the Macedonian language to be taught in schools and news to be broadcast in Macedonian on Bulgarian state television. On its website, the Focus News Agency referred to this as the “Scandal of the Day” and…