[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 166 (Monday, November 22, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2527]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

[[Page E2527]]



  PRESIDENT CLINTON'S VISIT TO BULGARIA HIGHLIGHTS COUNTRY'S TOLERANCE

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, November 22, 1999

  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, today President Bill Clinton is in Bulgaria, 
the first visit by a President of the United States to this important 
Balkan country. One of the principal purposes of President Clinton's 
trip to Bulgaria is to recognize and acknowledge the contribution 
Bulgaria made to NATO during the conflict in Yugoslavia. Bulgaria 
permitted NATO aircraft to overfly its territory during the air 
campaign against Serbia, and Bulgaria has suffered substantial economic 
losses as a result of economic sanctions against Yugoslavia (Serbia). 
An expression of the gratitude of the United States is most 
appropriate.
  In addition to Bulgaria's cooperation in the conflict with 
Yugoslavia, Mr. Speaker, Bulgaria has contributed to regional 
peacekeeping and security. It maintains constructive relations with all 
of its neighbors, and it is host to the Southeastern Europe 
Multinational Peacekeeping Force, which comprises personnel from eight 
countries in the region. Bulgaria was the first country to recognize 
the sovereignty of neighboring Macedonia, setting an example of how 
countries in the Balkans can respect internationally-recognized borders 
and governments. Bulgaria has expressed its desire to become a member 
of NATO, and as Bulgaria continues to progress economically and 
politically Mr. Speaker, what President Clinton is seeing in Bulgaria 
is a country that is very different than the image most Americans have 
of the Balkans--and a country that is a stark contrast to its western 
neighbor, Yugoslavia.
  Over the past decade since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of 
Soviet domination of Central and Eastern Europe, Bulgaria has been 
transformed from a Soviet satellite into a functioning democracy. 
Several peaceful and competitive elections have been held--the most 
recent just two weeks ago. The current government of Prime Minister 
Ivan Kostov is implementing a broad program of economic and structural 
reforms that have produced modest levels of growth, controlled 
inflation, high levels of foreign investment, and international 
assistance. Financial markets have stabilized with the discipline of a 
currency board. State enterprises are being privatized. The Bulgarian 
economy is on a path that will lead toward eventual membership in the 
European Union, with accession negotiations scheduled to begin with 
Brussels next year.
  Mr. Speaker, what separates Bulgaria from many of its neighbors is 
its deeply ingrained sense of religious and ethnic tolerance. Earlier 
in this century, Bulgaria welcomed thousands of Armenian refugees who 
were subjected to suffering and persecution in Turkey and other 
countries of the region. Then, during World War II, Bulgarians 
demonstrated a remarkable example of national courage and heroism when 
they acted to save the country's Jewish population, which numbered 
50,000 persons, from deportation to Nazi death camps.
  This is a story largely unknown outside of Bulgaria, although my wife 
Annette has made considerable efforts to publicize the heroic efforts 
of the Bulgarian people. Despite strong pressure from Hitler's Germany, 
thousands of Bulgarians--parliamentarians, religious leaders, 
intellectuals, and ordinary workers risked their own lives and refused 
to send their neighbors and fellow Bulgarians to the Nazi crematoria. 
As a result, not a single Bulgarian Jew living within the boundaries of 
the country was sent to a concentration camp.
  More recently, Mr. Speaker, Bulgarians have sought to better 
integrate the minority Turkish population--which numbers some 800,000 
persons among a population of 8.4 million persons--into the political 
and economic life of the country. Under communism, Bulgaria in the mid-
1980's forced ethnic Turks to assimilate with the majority population 
by changing their names. Mosques were closed. Turkish-language 
education was curtailed. Many thousands of ethnic Turks fled the 
country.
  After communism's collapse, however, relations between Turks and 
Bulgarians improved dramatically. Bulgaria's pragmatic President, Petar 
Stoyanov, publicly apologized for his country's behavior toward its 
ethnic Turks at the time when the country was under communist rule. 
Turkey and Bulgaria have signed a series of agreements on free trade, 
cross-border investment, customs tariffs and even military cooperation.
  Mr. Speaker, in addition, Bulgarian Orthodox and Muslim religious 
leaders often work together, and in some communities churches and 
mosques are found in the same neighborhood. The two governments have 
initiated a program to help reunite Bulgarian and Turkish families 
separated by past conflicts. Bulgaria provided emergency relief in the 
wake of recent earthquakes that devastated Turkey. These initiatives 
have helped heal the wounds of the past.
  Mr. Speaker, at the core of Bulgaria's efforts to promote tolerance 
has been political inclusion and education. In October 1990, Bulgaria's 
first post-communist government included a Turkish party that won ten 
percent of the total seats in Parliament. In the area of education, 
Bulgarian school texts have been revised to include a more accurate 
history of Bulgarian-Turkish relations. School teachers from the 
country's Turkish regions are sent to Turkey to better learn how to 
teach the Turkish language.
  As Europe, the United States and the international community go about 
the task of rebuilding Southeastern Europe in the wake of the war in 
Kosovo, we should look to the example of Bulgaria as a society where 
ethnic and religious groups are peacefully co-existing, and where 
tolerance is ingrained in the country's culture and history.
  Mr. Speaker, the high-profile visit of President Clinton to Bulgaria 
calls attention to Bulgaria's fine record in this regard. Even among 
the multi-ethnic and multi-religious complexity so characteristic of 
the Balkans, which has led to so much human suffering and armed 
conflict in that region, people of diverse ethnic and religious 
backgrounds can live and work together peacefully and successfully. The 
Bulgarian people have shown that this can be done.

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