A memorial rally marking 39 years since the so-called “Revival Process” took place today near Mogilyane village, Kirkovo municipality. On this day in 1984, soldiers shot and killed three people because they were taking part in a demonstration against the forced replacement of their Turkish names with Bulgarian names. One of the people killed was 17-month old Tyurkyan, in whose memory a monument has been erected.

“I bow down to the victims of the totalitarian regime. I see the pain in your eyes, it is still there. We shall fight so this can never happen in Bulgaria, ever again because thanks to you, democracy came and we shall always be grateful to you,” said Delyan Peevski, chair of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) parliamentary group in his speech on site, BNR’s Radio Kardzhali reports.

The rally near Mogilyane is the latest in a series of rallies with which the MRF marked the events of 1984 in the region.