BULGARIANS IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY

BULGARIANS IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY

Bulgarian national doctrine. First part foundation of the Bulgarian National Doctrine Professor Grigor Velev, responsible editor, Professor Angel G’labov, Professor Georgi Bakalov, Professor Georgi Markov, and others. Sofia 1997. Publishing house “Znanie” EOOD.

The publishing house “Znanie” EOOD and the Institute for Metalo-znaenje at BAN, financially supported the elaboration of the first part of the Bulgarian national doctrine.

Note

After 1990, after the fall of the former regime, a number of so-called national strategic centres and institutes were formed in Bulgaria which focused on Bulgaria’s national strategy. Although not officially, they were mainly connected with the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS). They are: the Scientific Centre for Bulgarian national strategy, the Foundation “Manfred Werner” in Sofia, the Macedonian Scientific Institute, Sofia, the magazine “Macedonian Review” and many more.

Informally, according to the composition of authors, editorial and collaborative sponsorship or circles, they are surely strongly associated with the political centres in this country and with the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS). We will be conveying derivatives of three documents: the first and second part of the Bulgarian National Doctrine (published 1997 and 1998), from which we will be conveying the entire contents from the first and parts of the concept and definitions, as well as broader key statements concerning their attitudes towards Macedonia and the Macedonian people; conveyed from the second part will be the assessment and strategy following in the same direction. Omitted are maps, which, of course, selectively present the broadest ethnic territory at different times.

The third document, references to “good neighbourly relations” with the Republic of Macedonia, was published in 2008 in Sofia, in booklet form entitled “Bulgarian policy towards the Republic of Macedonia”, from which we will convey only one key statement.

1. ESSENCE OF THE BULGARIAN NATIONAL DOCTRINE “BULGARIA IN THE 21ST CENTURY”

When the nation and state find themselves in difficult times it is necessary to sprout new views on the sources of our national history and to draw wisdom and direction. It requires us to look towards our neighbours and beyond; to Europe and to the world to become familiar with other people’s national policies and the means by which they achieve their national views.

Many of these countries owe their successful and permanent existence and the realization of their national interests, to their national doctrines.

The national doctrine represents a theoretical base system of the officially accepted views and principles of the historical aspirations, perspectives and goals of the nation, which leads the way to achieving the national ideal.

2. THEORETICAL BASIS (TERMS AND PRINCIPLES) OF THE BULGARIAN NATIONAL DOCTRINE

Prior to building the national doctrine, it is necessary to explain some basic concepts and principles, such as:

Nation; National awareness and identity; Nationalism; National self-esteem, pride and dignity; National spirit; National ideal; National interests.

This is important to us because these terms have long been discredited by the “Marxist-Leninist ideology”. Moreover, those who used terms derived from “nation” during the years of the totalitarian regime in their scientific or political activities were declared “enemies”.

This is how the opinions of entire generations were manipulated and deformed in order to distort the real meaning and essence of these terms.

1. ETHNICITY, NATIONALITY, NATION

Before we present the definition of nation, it is necessary to present the definition of ethnicity and nationality. It is important in order to avoid misunderstandings in terminology.

1.1. Ethnos (ethnicity)

Ethnicity is a collective term referring to any racial, tribal, linguistic and ethno-cultural community and represents a tribal (clan) substrate of a nation. Ethnic self-awareness is self-determination through identity or origin.

1.2. Nationality

Nationality is the intermediate stage which distinguishes the tribe (relations) from the nation. A nation is a community of people who have not reached the level of national consolidation but are aware of their common ancestry and cultural heritage. The term “nation” was introduced by the Soviet ethnography to fix the intermediate stage. In western ethnology, the term “nationality” is not used.

The terms “ethnicity” and “nationality” can be used interchangeably.

1.3. Nation

The nation as a concept sprouted in Europe during the Enlightenment years and came into use after the French Revolution. This concept was formed as a counterweight to the clerical-aristocratic order which resisted democratic unity and social equality in the participation of all citizens. There is no other concept which would precisely represent the notion of a free society. In different

historical periods a different content was included and it produced different determinations. In the formation of the national ideology of various countries there are mainly two prevailing concepts of the nation: 1) the ethnic concept (ethno-nation) and 2) the socio-cultural concept (political nation).

1.3.1. The ethnic nation (ethno-nation)

At the core of the ethnic concept stands “ethnicity” in the narrow sense of the term.

It is well known that there are about 200 nations in the world today, which in themselves have united more than 10,000 ethnic groups. Moreover, the formation of modern nations, are representative of almost all known tribes, ethnicities and races, some of which have already disappeared. No nation in the world can claim to be an ethnic monolith or having ethnic homogeneity (purity). Therefore, the ethnic concept of the nation should be viewed as a stage that has passed in the historical development of the theory.

1.3.2. Socio-cultural (political) nation

According to French educators, this type of nation represents a “society of citizens united by the ideal of general statehood”.

This understanding of nation is grounded in the underlying social structure of most countries in the world - France, USA, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Great Britain, Austria and the Balkans - Greece and Turkey. Therefore, all citizens of the United States and France are treated as members of the American and accordingly, the French nation.

2. The Bulgarian nation

During Ottoman rule, born and created on the basis of the “Bulgarian nationality” was the “Bulgarian national consciousness”. It was expressed with the desire to: 1) have an independent Orthodox Church, and 2) have an independent Bulgarian state.

Thus, the ethnic (national) factor and the “orthodox religion” each played a separate role in the formation of the Bulgarian nation.

Over a long period of time ethnicity, ethnic consciousness and the Christian religion became the defining characteristics of the Bulgarian nationality. Almost all of our nation’s options after we gained our freedom, including: “our roots”, “our Bulgarian blood”, “our Orthodox Christian faith”, “our Bulgarian faith” are factors in making us who we are. Living within the boundaries of the Bulgarian state, as its citizens, are Turks, Tartars, Gypsies, Jews, Armenians, Greeks, Karakachanians, Gagauzians, Vlachs, Aromanians (KutsoVlachs or Vlachs), etc., about who Levski wrote in his letter to Gancho Miliov: “whatever they may be, for everyone they will all be the same...”

This question is not only of theoretical but also of paramount practical importance to our country.

After Bulgaria was liberated, there were no characteristic manifestations of xenophobia and ethnic conflict among our people. Those of our countrymen, under certain conditions, on the strength of the ethnic concept of the nation, can be disconnected from the composition of the Bulgarian nation.

Today we look at the Bulgarian nation as historically created, persistent, a self-developed community that sprang up and is functioning in the territory which is a single political, economic, social and spiritual region.

This region includes material and spiritual values that are the product of specific collective independence of its members, regardless of their ethnic, religious, racial, etc., origin. It is constantly evolving, moving to new heights of quality.

All Bulgarian citizens are members of the Bulgarian nation:

Regardless of their ethnic or racial backgrounds; Regardless of their class affiliation; Regardless of their religion; Regardless of their political views;

Those who recognize Bulgaria as their country and fatherland; Those who guard and pass on to future generations the spirit of Bulgaria’s historical destiny; Those who speak the Bulgarian language to the extent that they participate as equals and equally in the affairs of the nation; Those who do not seek a foreign national identity. Understanding that the nation is a “socio-cultural or political” community, which is the basis of the modern Bulgarian state.

Clearly and categorically underlined in our Constitution is that Bulgaria is a single-nation state, characterized by ethnic, religious and linguistic diversity, which contributes to the stability of society and acts as a strong unifying factor.

In Article 167 the Bulgarian state flag is called the “national flag”. All Bulgarian citizens, regardless of their ethnic and religious consciousness are valued under that flag.

According to Article 116, “state servants are executors of the will and interests of the nation”. The Constitution speaks of “national security” and the president as a state leader “embodies the unity of the nation”.

This approach does not mean that we give up keeping and developing our relationship with the Bulgarians who live in other countries, with whom we bind our kinship and historical and cultural ties.

In terms of the development of the integration processes into Europe, there is a theoretical possibility that the nation will outlive the current state in its classical form. A country can be destroyed by force, but not the nation. This is due to the existence of an exceptional force in the national identity that: 1) undergoes a serious questioning of the spiritual energy and the genetic power of the nation in difficult times, 2) comfortably adopts foreign national values and thus enriches its own value system, and 3) gives birth to national democracy, which is the most lasting form of political legitimacy.

2.1. The Bulgarian national consciousness (identity)

The national consciousness is expressed through the cultural identity of the nation. It is a permanent system of values (cultural, material, intellectual and emotional) that characterizes the nation as a socio-cultural community.

Today, the subject of the Bulgarian national identity is not class, religion or political party all by themselves, but as parts of the nation, which at every stage of its historical development is able to unite on a number of fundamental ideas, principles, values, interests and ideals. It generally determines the national identity and its practical realization.

2.2 National unity

The issue of national unity is complex. To address this problem, different countries in the world use different political approaches. The most important of them are:

Agglutination. This is a voluntary and time continuous process which unites two or more ethnicities and cultures.

As an example we can point to the agglutination (confluence) between Thracians, Pre-Bulgarians and Slavs, as a result of an educated Bulgarian nationality.

Integration. This is a process of national unification of different ethnic groups, preserving their ethnic and cultural identity.

This process aims to: Overcome all pure ethnic elements that divide the nation; Guaranteeing equal rights and opportunities to all citizens, regardless of their differences by race, ethnicity, religion or language.

Bulgaria has traditionally adhered to the policy of integration.

Integration contributes to nation-building as a socio-cultural community. This means that its members are mutually accepted as

compatriots who have common interests and a common national identity.

Integration confirms the fact that the existing ethnic, religious and other groups, did not occur through annexation of foreign lands, but through the settlement of our country and as a result of the religious (Islamization) and cultural assimilation with our Ottoman oppressors. These groups represent an integral part of the Bulgarian nation and are citizens of the Bulgarian state.

At the same time, parts of Bulgaria, together with its population, exist in neighbouring countries as a result of annexations after the wars. That is why Bulgaria is called upon to protect the rights of its countrymen by investing unrelenting care to maintain and develop their knowledge about Bulgarian culture.

Assimilation. This is a process based on the idea of primacy of the dominant ethnic group and its culture in order to achieve homogeneity in the state. This process is achieved voluntarily or through violence against ethnic groups in order for them to give up their ethnicity and culture.

The Bulgarian population in Vardar Macedonia is exposed to assimilation and so is the Bulgarian Pomoravje population by Serbia, the Bulgarian population in Aegean Macedonia and Aegean Thrace by Greece and the Bulgarian population in Eastern Thrace by Turkey.

Segregation. This is a process by which, at its base, stands the idea of preponderance of the dominant ethnic group and culture on the other and smaller groups. It is expressed in isolating these smaller groups in certain areas or ghettos. This policy continues to be applied, to this day, in a range of countries.

2.3. The Bulgarian nation and the question of national minorities

The ethnic groups that constitute a nation can be placed in various positions - from a tolerant attitude towards them - to - a state of injustice and repression.

Regarding the socio-cultural nation, the Constitution stipulates that “all citizens of the state are members of the nation”, irrespective of their ethnic origin and are equal before the laws of the State and protected by its constitution.

The Council of Europe has proposed a Framework Convention for the protection of national minorities. Envisaged in it is the development of national legislation to protect human rights, including those of separate national groups. The term “national minority” is not formulated in this document. Therefore, its provisions provide an opportunity for each state to determine on its own the kind of legislation necessary to protect the rights of the representatives of other national groups. The convention does not provide for recognition of collective rights. It does not provide for directly, but through the national legislation of each country.

Article 2 of the Constitution defines the Republic of Bulgaria as a “unitary state” in which “no autonomous territorial units are allowed”.

Article 36 of the Constitution ensures the right of every person use of their own language, if the Bulgarian language is not their mother tongue. Other provisions provide for other individual civil and human rights.

2.4. The Bulgarian nation and the supranational governance structures of a united Europe

The construction of a United Europe has created conditions for forming a supranational governance structure. The current and projected future development of the European integration process provides a basis that will not restrict the rights of the various nations and will also expose them to even stronger national presence and national identities as an expression of unity in numbers.

The Council of Europe, its Committee of Foreign Ministers and Consultative Assembly with representatives from the parliaments of the Member States, the Commission on Human Rights, the European Court and other cooperative organs, will not limit the national rights of states, but will support them in their development.

Bulgaria is a member of the Council of Europe since 1992. This is an important act which will best help to protect its national interests. Our inclusion in the European Union and in NATO will increase our opportunities to pursue our interests.