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Abstract
Building on Europeanisation scholarship, this article unpacks the instrumental rhetoric of Armenian genocide recognition in Bulgaria. In Bulgaria’s 2015 parliamentary hearings on the issue, diverse political actors—from liberal to nationalist political party members—formed unlikely coalitions and strategically instrumentalised Armenian genocide recognition as a way to signal ‘Europeanisation’ in pursuing very distinct ends.
Notes
1 The European People’s Party (EPP)—a grouping of centre-right parties in the European Parliament—put forward this resolution.
2 See the analysis by Bechev (Citation2015).
3 Tchilingirian (Citation2001) quotes a former Bulgarian ambassador to Armenia, Sevda Sevan: ‘The Bulgarian government had decreed that they should be welcomed to Bulgaria. There was even a law that said Armenians should not be viewed as refugees, but with full rights as citizens of Bulgaria. As far as I am aware, Bulgaria is the only country that welcomed the Armenians fleeing Turkey with such a warm embrace’.
4 The council represents all 12 major cultural Armenian organisations in Bulgaria and addresses issues related to the Armenian community. It also acts as an advocacy organisation, particularly in relation to state allocations for the establishment of Armenian institutions, such as the Armenian church in central Sofia (Tchilingirian Citation2001).
5 In 2004, the City of Sofia agreed to finance six AGBU Armenian cultural events each year. These events promote Armenian culture and music to both Armenians and Bulgarians.
6 There are no reliable statistics on the number of Armenians currently in Bulgaria. For example, the Bulgarian census for 2012 stipulated that there were 6,522 Armenians in Bulgaria. See ‘Population by Place of Residence, Age and Ethnic Group’, National Statistical Institute, 2011 Census, available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20120602032148/http://censusresults.nsi.bg/Census/Reports/2/2/R7.aspx, accessed 25 February 2022, whereas the Armenian Embassy in Bulgaria put the number at 30,000 in 2019. See ‘About the Community’, Embassy of Armenia to Bulgaria, available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20190816185658/http://bulgaria.mfa.am/hy/community-overview/, accessed 10 February 2022.
7 I would like to thank Dr Antoaneta Anguelova and Dr Petia Alexieva for translating these interviews.
8 Other politicians speculated that GERB members, feeling pressure from Turkey and DPS officials, did not wish to discuss Armenian genocide recognition.
9 Bulgarian nationalist sentiment mobilised around the Young Turks’ extermination and expulsion of approximately 200,000 Bulgarians in Eastern Thrace and the Eastern Rhodope Mountains during the Second Balkan War (1913). While this history has long stoked sentiment among certain groups of Bulgarians, it did not become a political platform until nationalist political parties, such as VMRO and NFSB, incorporated it, along with the Armenian genocide, into their platforms. Some analysts have linked these events with the Armenian genocide by arguing that the Thracian atrocities acted as a prelude to the genocide (Majstorovic Citation2019, p. 46).
10 Author’s interview with Daniel Mitov, Bulgaria’s former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sofia, 7 May 2019.
11 Author’s interview with anonymous official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sofia, 16 May 2019.
12 Author’s interview with Boris Stanimirov, member of parliament, Sofia, 4 May 2019.
13 That is, Bulgarians who fought in the national liberation movement.
14 Author’s interview with anonymous member of parliament, VMRO political party, Sofia, 28 April 2019.
15 Author’s interview with Valieri Simeonov, member of parliament, Sofia, 10 May 2019. For original Bulgarian, see Appendix [Q1].
16 For an excerpt of this speech, see Appendix [Q2].
17 ‘Shestdeset i peto zasedanie, Sofia, Bulgaria, Friday, 24 April 2015, Otkrito v 9, 02 ch’, available at: https://www.parliament.bg/en/plenaryst/ns/55/ID/5374, accessed 10 February 2022. For the entire excerpt in the original Bulgarian, see Appendix [Q3].
18 ‘Shestdeset i peto zasedanie, Sofia, Bulgaria, Friday, 24 April 2015, Otkrito v 9, 02 ch’, available at: https://www.parliament.bg/en/plenaryst/ns/55/ID/5374, accessed 10 February 2022. For the entire excerpt in the original Bulgarian, see Appendix [Q4].
19 For an outline of Ataka’s earlier agenda, see Siderov’s 2007 speech, available at: https://www.parliament.bg/bg/plenaryst/ns/51/ID/5374, accessed 10 February 2022. In the speech, Siderov attacked the BSP and DPS coalition, and promoted Bulgarian genocide recognition. He makes no references to Europe or European policies.
20 Ataka leader, Volen Siderov, did not speak at the 2015 hearing.
21 ‘Shestdeset i peto zasedanie, Sofia, Bulgaria, Friday, 24 April 2015, Otkrito v 9, 02 ch’, available at: https://www.parliament.bg/en/plenaryst/ns/55/ID/5374, accessed 10 February 2022. For the entire excerpt in the original Bulgarian, see Appendix [Q5].
22 For local reporting of the events, see ‘Bŭlgariya prizna “masovo iztreblenie” nad armentsite’, bntnews, 24 April 2015, available at: http://news.bnt.bg/bg/a/469261-ns-prie-deklaratsiya-za-masovoto-iztreblenie-na-armentsi-prez-pa-rvata-svetovna-vojna-st-roshkev?fbclid=IwAR0QAcnmdCmyoGcZET4vS2oDAY_3buU4Gyc73HUujhWmhRnaaVdYEePx7nQ, accessed 10 February 2022.
23 The Bulgarian word for genocide is genotsid, whereas the Bulgarian used in the official statement is masovi izbivaniya, or mass killings/extermination. In Bulgarian, Borissov’s statement is, ‘Kazakh mnogo yasno, masovoto iztreblenie na armentsite’.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Daniel Fittante
Daniel Fittante, Södertörn University, Sweden. Email: [email protected]