DECLARATION

ON THE OCCASION OF THE 30^TH ANNIVERSARY OF NOVEMBER 10, 1989 –

THE BEGINNING OF THE DEMOCRTAIC CHANGES IN BULGARIA,

Adopted by the Supreme Muslim Council with Decision No. 1286 of November 7, 2019

History remembers a number of turning points that have contributed to the development of humankind. One of them is what happened on November 10, 1989, as a result of which the Bulgarian society took a new course after a period of 45 years of stagnation and deprivation of fundamental human rights.

On November 10, 1989 in Bulgaria collapsed the “everlasting” and “powerful” communist regime, strengthened by the atheistic ideology, which took away the most precious thing of the Bulgarian society, namely the freedom, including religious freedom, which are sacred and essential for every person, enshrined in him by his Creator.

During this period of 45 years the faith and the mother tongue of the Muslims were banned, their mosques – demolished or closed, their Muslim names – taken and forcibly changed with non-Muslim ones, and even the names of deceased were changed. Exactly those events played a significant role for awakening a civic consciousness of the nation and that of the international community, which undoubtedly contributed to the liberation of the Bulgarian nation from the ungodliness of the communist regime.

November 10, 1989 is an unforgettable date for the Bulgarian nation and in particular – for the Muslim community in Bulgaria because just a few months later the Muslim names were returned. And not only this – the religious schools were restored and the mosques were opened again, newspapers and books for Islam started to be published, both in Bulgarian and in the mother tongue for the majority of the community, the Turkish, a possibility of moving freely was given.

Despite that the achieved in a positive sense is not small at all, what began on November 10, 1989 was not finalized but also was not continued with the initial temps in all aspects of life. A sign for this is that already 30 years later, despite the great necessity, in European Sofia the construction of a second mosque and a building for the needs of the Higher Islamic Institute is not allowed, and there is also no possibility for the entire restoration of the waqf property of the community in the country. The silent assimilation of the Muslims continues as a result of which among them there are such who are unaware of their identity at all and “voluntary” change their Muslim names with others and in this way go away from their religious affiliation, culture and language.

Undisputable fact is that the further development of the valuable democratic achievements has stopped, even in some moments they have been taken away, therefore it is hard to speak about a completed transition towards democracy, but the game of democracy continues. That is why exactly on the anniversary of November 10, and after three decades, we have to think again about the values, freedom and democracy and to stand up for them, in order to continue in a positive direction this which began on November 10, 1989.