Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2025 All Rights Reserved

Yablanovo and Filaretovo honour victims of communist assimilation campaign

Photo: desehistory.com

The villages of Yablanovo and Filaretovo will today hold a memorial ceremony for the victims of the forced renaming of Bulgarian Turks during the so-called "revival process" a campaign of forced assimilation under communism, in which people of Turkish origin were ordered to change their names to Bulgarian.

On 17, 18 and 19 January 1985, riots broke out in Yablanovo, with local people blocking the roads to the village. The riots were put down after the intervention of armoured troops from the Third Bulgarian Army. Eight people died, including a baby, hundreds were beaten and arrested, and 517 residents were sent to the Belene concentration camp.
Four decades after the crimes against the Bulgarian Turks, there have been no convictions.



Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.

More from category

Georg Georgiev

Bulgarian Foreign Minister: 'Macedonian identity and language' irrelevant to Skopje's EU integration.

'International law does not address the recognition of identities and languages, and this also applies to North Macedonia,' said Foreign Minister Georg Georgiev, quoted by BGNES. ‘Formulations such as “recognition of Macedonian identity” and..

published on 6/19/25 11:22 AM

Polish ambassador symbolically hands over EU presidency to Denmark

At a ceremony in the Bulgarian resort town of Sveti Vlas, the Polish Ambassador to Bulgaria, Maciej Szymański,  symbolically  handed over the presidency of the Council of the EU to the Danish Ambassador, Flemming Stender. Denmark will take over the..

published on 6/19/25 9:01 AM

Two Bulgarians have been evacuated from Iran

Following intense round-the-clock efforts by the Bulgarian Embassy in Tehran , the Foreign Ministry announced that two Bulgarian citizens had been successfully evacuated from the Islamic Republic of Iran. They crossed the Iranian-Azerbaijani border..

published on 6/19/25 8:46 AM