TIME: Almanac 1995

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<text id=93CT1623> <link 90TT3280> <link 90TT2119> <title> Bulgaria--History </title> <history> Compact ALMANAC--CIA Factbook Europe Bulgaria </history> <article> <source>CIA World Factbook</source> <hdr> History </hdr> <body> Bulgaria's name is derived from a Turkic people, the Bulgars, who originated in steppe north of the Caspian Sea. In the latter part of the seventh century, one branch of the Bulgars moved up the Volga River, establishing the Kingdom of the Volga Bulgars; the other branch moved westward along the Black Sea settling near the mouth of the Danube. Although the name Bulgaria is not of Slavic origin, the Slavic people, who had entered the Balkan Peninsula earlier, absorbed the invading Turkic people and were, in large measure, the precursors of the present-day Bulgarians. Bulgarian kingdoms continued to exist in the Balkan Peninsula during the Middle Ages, following which the Ottoman Turks ruled Bulgaria for 500 years, until 1878. In that year, a Bulgarian principality was established between the Danube River and the Balkan Mountains when Russia and Romania assisted the Bulgarians in defeating the Ottomans. In 1885, the union of the Principality of Bulgaria with Eastern Rumelia south of the Balkan Mountains created an autonomous Bulgarian state with roughly the same borders as those of present-day Bulgaria. A fully independent Bulgarian kingdom, proclaimed September 22, 1908, participated in an anti-Ottoman coalition that defeated the Ottoman Empire in the First Balkan War (1912). The coalition soon dissolved over territorial disputes, however, and Bulgaria was isolated and defeated quickly in the Second Balkan War (1913) by Greece, Serbia, Montenegro, Romania, and Turkey. It later allied itself with Germany in World Wars I and II and suffered defeats twice more. Bulgaria's involvement in these wars was partly due to its ambitions for an outlet to the Aegean Sea and its desire to annex Macedonian and Thracian territory held by Greece, Yugoslavia, and Turkey. Although Bulgaria declared war on the United States and the United Kingdom during World War II, it did not declare war on the Soviet Union. In August 1944, Bulgarian emissaries opened talks in Cairo with Allied representatives, seeking to take Bulgaria out of the war. On September 5, 1944, while these talks were still under way, the Soviet Union declared war on Bulgaria. Communist rule in Bulgaria began September 9, 1944, when a communist dominated coalition, called the Fatherland Front, seized power from the coalition government formed to arrange an armistice with the Allies. At the same time, Soviet forces were marching into the country without resistance. Communist power, consolidated in the next 3 years, led to the adoption on December 4, 1947, of the so-called Dimitrov Constitution, modeled after that of the U.S.S.R. Yugoslavia's expulsion from the Cominform (a Soviet-led international socialist organization) in June 1948 and the subsequent Moscow-dictated persecution of "national communists" throughout Eastern Europe also led to arrests and trials in Bulgaria. In 1949, Traicho Kostov, a Bulgarian communist leader, was executed on charges of conspiring with the Yugoslavs. He had remained in Bulgaria during the war and was second in rank only to Georgi Dimitrov, who had spent the war years in Moscow. Vulko Chervenkov, Dimitrov's brother-in-law, who also had spent the war years in Moscow, emerged as the "Stalin of Bulgaria" after Dimitrov's death in 1949. In 1954, following Stalin's death and separation in the U.S.S.R. of the positions of party leader and head of government Chervenkov yielded the position of party chief to Todor Zhivkov. In the next 7 years, Zhivkov superseded his onetime mentor, blaming him for the "Stalinist excesses" and "violations of socialist legality" which had characterized the 1948-53 period. Chervenkov was ousted finally from his last leadership position in November 1961, and shortly thereafter Zhivkov took on the additional post of premier, thus recombining the positions of party leader and head of government. In 1971, he gave up the premiership and took on the newly created and more prestigious position of Chairman of the State Council (chief of state). He held this position and that of Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP) Secretary General until November 1989. Petur Mladenov, who led the Politburo in its effort to oust Zhivkov, now also holds both these positions, despite his declarations favoring separation of party and State powers. Mladenov is leading the BCP in its efforts to maintain a credible claim to political leadership in the country, despite a high level of opposition to the Communist Party which is now appearing. Elections, promised for May 1990, will indicate how successful Mladenov has been in that effort. Political Conditions The removal of long-time Bulgarian leader Todor Zhivkov from government and party positions on November 11, 1989, began a period of significant change in Bulgarian political life. Until this time, the BCP, with about 984,000 members, controlled all phases of Bulgarian life. The Bulgarian constitution guaranteed it a role as the leading force in society. Petur Mladenov, former Foreign Minister, took over from Zhivkov as Head of State and Secretary General of the BCP. In the period that followed, six of the nine full Politburo members were dismissed, as were three of the six candidate members. In most cases, these were individuals closely associated with former leader Zhivkov or with his most unpopular policies. There also were changes in the Central Committee (CC) membership, which were widely viewed as an effort to bring more liberal and reform-minded party members into responsible positions. Most important, however, the CC of the BCP voted in December 1989 to relinquish its monopoly on power. On January 16, 1990, the National Assembly formally removed the clauses guaranteeing the BCP's preeminence from the constitution. The other political party that functioned in Bulgaria during communist rule is the Bulgarian National Agrarian Union (BANU). Acoalition partner of the BCP, it could not have an independent program. Its leadership also changed in November 1989, and some of its members have begun to take the initiative, in the National Assembly and elsewhere, to assume a more independent position. Other political parties have begun to form since Zhivkov's dismissal. A new law on associations is expected to be considered by the National Assembly early in 1990; this would set the guidelines for the functioning of other political parties. In the meantime, independent parties are forming without benefit of legal guidelines and have apparently been permitted to function without government interference. A Social Democratic Party has been formed, as has a Green Party, among others. The government has promised "free, democratic" elections for the National Assembly before the end of May 1990. Some of the opposition members have called for elections in May for part of the assembly seats, followed later in the year by further elections; this is in order to give the newly formed opposition parties more time to organize. The current National Assembly generally considered to be a "rubber stamp" Parliament, has begun to take some tentative steps toward independence. The Bulgarian media, although still state-owned and controlled, has made so me effort at keeping pace with the political changes underway, and has reported accurately and objectively on opposition positions in many cases, although not in every instance. After decades in which Bulgarian political development was marked by stability and lack of dissent, it has now entered a period in which many voices are being heard. It has taken some important initial steps toward greater freedom and respect for human rights, but it faces a difficult task in achieving true democracy. Source: U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Public Affairs, February 1990. </body> </article> </text>