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

Book presents the history of the Bulgarian Royal Court

The book "Royal Bulgaria (1879-1946). The Bulgarian Royal Court (personalities, positions, biographies)" by the authors prof. Peter Stoyanovich and Assoc. Prof. Ivaylo Shalafov is on the shelves of bookstores.  The luxury edition with more than 650..

published on 1/18/25 7:35 AM

Sunny over the mountains, fog in the valleys

Saturday will be sunny in most parts of the country. In the lowlands and river plains of southern Bulgaria there will be fog or low clouds, which will clear by midday in most places. Lows will be between minus 6 and minus 1°C, with Sofia around minus..

published on 1/17/25 7:05 PM
Deputy transport minister Yordan Karadzhov

Resignations after fatal train accident near Sofia

The new Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport Grozdan Karadajov has accepted the resignations of the heads of the National Railway Infrastructure Company Stoyan Stoyanov and of BDZ Freight Transport Company Hristiyan Krastev. The resignations..

published on 1/17/25 6:47 PM