Bulgaria as a Science

“It may help Bulgarians shed the idea that they are former ‘Turkish slaves’,” said Antoinette Primatarova, of the Centre for Liberal Strategies, recalling the similarly tortured relationship between Ireland and Britain.

But not all the analysts are so optimistic. Some say Turkey’s integration in the EU may pose threats to Bulgaria.

Ognyan Minchev, who says his “contra” arguments are more important that his “pro” one, fears a “Turkish Europe” taking shape in the Balkans.

“Turkish membership would remove the border between our two countries and bring Bulgaria, which is in demographic stagnation, into an expansionist Turkey’s orbit,” he said.

Minchev said Bulgaria faces serious ethnic challenges from its growing Roma minority and from the DPS’s drive to expand its political influence over the country’s whole Muslim community.

Chetin Kazak from the DPS disagrees, recalling that many small states co-exist beside much mightier states within the EU.

But that is unlikely to stem criticism of the DPS as a force that exerts more influence over politics than its numbers warrant.

Over the past ten years, the party has been a key partner in each government, gaining an important say-so over decisions, although it never gained more than 14 per cent of the seats in parliament.

Minchev says Bulgaria needs to firmly define relations with Turkey within the EU just as Poland did with Germany. But he worries that the DPS may block Bulgaria from doing so.

He admits that the idea that Turkish membership will curtail Bulgaria’s independence sounds far-fetched but says it is important to address and discuss the issue.

While he and the other Bulgarian analysts continue to argue rationally over the issue, the country’s nationalists are unlikely to be so restrained.

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* Albena Shkodrova is the Bulgarian editor of Balkan Insight and director of the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN in Bulgaria. Balkan Insight is BIRN’s on line publication.

Source: novinite.com