Sofia. There are 307 initially filed applications for opening of polling stations for the Bulgarian parliamentary elections in Turkey, announced spokesperson of the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry, Dimitar Yaprakov, speaking at a briefing, FOCUS News Agency reporter informed.
“There will be at least two polling stations in Istanbul. Polling stations will be definitely opened in Bursa, too,” Yaprakov remarked.
“There are 61 paper applications from the U.S. but more expected to be filed electronically. 59 applications were already filed from Germany, 144 from Cyprus, 130 from the Great Britain, 88 from Spain, 20 from Ireland, 48 from Luxembourg, 27 from France, and 44 from Switzerland. These are just analogically filed applications – by post or personally,” Yaprakov explained, adding that the online applications are not included in the abovementioned figures.
via Turkey files 307 applications for opening polling stations for Bulgaria early elections – FOCUS Information Agency.
Istanbul mayor: Reconstruction of Bulgarian St. Stephen Church kicked off
FOCUS News Agency
Sofia. “Work on the reconstruction of the Bulgarian St. Stephen Church in Istanbul has started,” said Mayor of Istanbul Kadir Topbas said at the meeting with Sofia Mayor Yordanka Fandakova, FOCUS News Agency reporter informs.
“We started the work on the reconstruction of one of the first pre-industrial iron constructions in the world, one of the first buildings – this is the Bulgarian St. Stephen Church in Istanbul. We started the work on the reconstruction of this church. I think this is good news for you. This investment will cost EUR 2 million and I think that after the work is done, the church will look much better, because it is of great value both for us and for you,” Topbas remarked.
via Istanbul mayor: Reconstruction of Bulgarian St. Stephen Church kicked off – FOCUS Information Agency.
Bulgarian Diaspora Minister Dimitrov has boasted a doubling of the number of the Bulgarian schools abroad. Photo by BGNES
Bulgaria’s government is currently perplexed as to how to go about the opening of a Bulgarian school in the unrecognized Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
This has been announced by Diaspora MinisterBozhidar Dimitrov, who spoke at a public discussion in Sofia organized by the “PR Thursday” club of M3 College where he was the special guest.
“We have been really surprised to find out that there are about 9 000-10 000 Bulgarian expats of ethnic Turkish origin residing in Northern Cyprus, who have asked for the opening of a Bulgarian school so that their kids can attend it,” Dimitrov said.
He explained that the expats in question are from those Bulgarian Turks who left Bulgaria in the late 1980s fleeing from the so called “Revival” or “Regeneration Process”, an assimilation campaign of the Bulgarian communist regime forcing Muslims, Bulgarians and Turks alike, to adopt Slavic-Christian names. Estimates say some 200 000-300 000 Bulgarian Turks and Muslims left the country then even though about half are believed to have come back after the regime collapsed in 1989.
“What is particularly bewildering for us in this case is the fact that Bulgaria has not recognized the independence of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, and therefore the Bulgarian government has no way of sponsoring a Bulgarian school there. If we open a Bulgarian school there, this will mean the recognition of this quasi-state. So we are stuck at the moment. But we will definitely find some form under which we can do it, in one way or another,” Dimitrov said.
He pointed out that a similar community of expat Bulgarian Turks living in Turkey’s Edirne, right to the southeast of the Bulgarian border had asked the Bulgarian government for a Bulgarian school, which is currently attended by 53 children.
The Diaspora Minister boasted an increase of the Bulgarian schools abroad to 136 since he took office a year ago, up from about 50.
The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus was proclaimed in 1983 and has been recognized only by Turkey.
