FORUM

DEAR RALITSA

I had planned to come this week but because I need to be in Brussels for an important European Council meeting I sadly cannot come. However, in my place I have asked my colleague MEP Paul Nuttall, the deputy leader of the UK Independence Party, to go in my stead. He shall be in Bulgaria on a fact-finding mission from Wednesday to Friday this week.

I am pleased my comments have helped create a debate in Bulgaria, a proud country with many well-educated people and much to celebrate.

You are right to love your country Bulgaria, as I love mine, the United Kingdom.

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DEAR MR FARAGE

As a person who is Bulgarian, lived and studied in the UK and chose to go back to Bulgaria and build a career here instead of the UK, I wanted to take a stand on your statement regarding Bulgarian and Romanian immigrants and explain why I chose to go back to my home country.

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UNDER THE YOKE OF STEREOTYPES

One might have thought at the beginning of the 21st Century Bulgarians would have learned from past mistakes and come to appreciate all aspects of their own history in a balanced and objective manner, but the reactions prompted by Vagabond Media's latest book, The Turks of Bulgaria, seem to indicate otherwise.

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ON PATRIOTS AND 'PATRIOTS'

Dr Johnson defined patriotism succinctly and perhaps unfairly as the last refuge of scoundrels. I say unfairly, because for me there is a vast difference between patriots and people who call themselves patriots. What has never changed is the alacrity with which self-declared patriots label as unpatriotic those who care deeply about their country. Sitting smugly on their moral high ground these self-professed "patriots" feel they have done sufficient. There is no need to engage in any rational argument with those whose views they disagree with.

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NOT IN BLACK-AND-WHITE

There were two reasons for starting on The Turks of Bulgaria, the logical follow-up to A Guide to Ottoman Bulgaria (Vagabond Media, Sofia, 2012 & 2012), and both are personal.

Firstly, there was the naivety with which I, along with many Bulgarians of my generation, perceived what was going on around us in the 1970s and 1980s.

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HOLY OR TOADY?

It is sad to see an old man, two years short of becoming a centenarian, pass away. But when you consider that that man had been the head of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church for over 40 years, both during and after Communism, the story gets more complicated.

Patriarch Maxim, who died in November, was born in 1911 and was associated with Bulgarian Orthodoxy from the age of 12, when he became a monk. His was an extraordinary career.

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FACING THE PAST, BUT FAILING TO LOOK TO THE FUTURE

In its short post-Communist history Bulgaria has tried, with varying success, to slough off elements of its past and its behaviour as a Balkan nation where Communist-era propaganda used to distort or ban outright any public debate. These elements include, but are not limited to, the historically controversial figure of King Boris III, Bulgaria's last king. A war-time ally of Hitler, he was father to Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the country's prime minister in 2001-2005.

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MILITSIONERSHTINA

The pun is unintended and probably bad, but if you can't pronounce the headline of this article you are unlikely to understand what is really going on in Bulgaria under Boyko Borisov and Tsvetan Tsvetanov.

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SECURITY BITES

In the wake of the Burgas terrorist attack Bulgaria's top policeman, Tsvetan Tsvetanov, announced "tightened" security measures to prevent possible further attacks. These include "enhanced protection" of Israeli and Jewish sites throughout the country, as well as a greater police presence at coach and railway stations, and on the Sofia underground.

Are they working?

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TOLERANT PESSIMISTS

According to a public opinion survey on www.opendata.bg conducted by the Open Society Institute-Sofia, in May 2012, more than half of the Bulgarians consider the present conditions in the country "unbearable." A mere six percent say they feel satisfied. The pessimists who think the situation has deteriorated make up 13 percent, a decrease of 2 percent compared to 2011. This, however, does spell more happiness, but can be explained with the fact that a higher 32 percent of those interviewed say that in 2012 things are as bad as they were the previous year.

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