site.btaPresident Plevneliev: Half-truths Are The Biggest Mistake of Bulgaria's Transition

President Plevneliev: Half-truths Are The Biggest Mistake of Bulgaria's Transition


Sofia, November 11 (BTA) - It is about time the period of
communism enters the history textbooks, President Rosen
Plevneliev said here Wednesday. Speaking at an international
conference titled "How to Cope with the Past Looking at the
Future", which is part of the President's initiative marking the
25th anniversary of the democratic changes in Bulgaria, he said
that the trouble with the Bulgarian transition is that the
Bulgarian society has failed to tell the whole truth about the
communist regime.

He noted that not a single educational or cultural institution
has a systematic commitment to show the communist ideology's
workings. Plevneliev referred to social survey data showing that
just 6 per cent of young Bulgarians between 16 and 30 know
something about life under communism.

Today is time for Bulgarians to reflect, "to ask ourselves and
answer honestly in what we succeeded and what went wrong during
the years of transition from a totalitarian regime to
democracy," he said. "The answer is that for 25 years we did not
tell the whole truth about the communist regime, we did not
manage to completely open the secret police files, we did not
find the strength, as a society, to close this chapter of the
past, condemning unequivocally and categorically the
totalitarian regime's crimes," the President said. The half-told
truth is the biggest mistake of Bulgaria's transition -
half-opened files, half-told truths, half-presented facts about
the inhuman nature of the communist regime," he went on to say.

The Head of State noted that "we must not forget the crimes of
communism: not because we expect revenge and not because we hope
that finally, after 25 years, someone will be held responsible,
but to cherish what we currently have and protect it."

Plevneliev listed the so called Regeneration Process of forcible
assimilation of ethnic Turks among the communist regime's
crimes. He noted that in its centuries-long history, Bulgaria
has always succeeded in taking advantage of its cultural, ethnic
and religious diversity and has built a deep-rooted tradition
of tolerance and understanding.

The President stressed the peaceful and bloodless nature of the
Bulgarian transition and said that is an indisputable success.

He said, however, that it is time to admit that Bulgaria,
together with countries like Serbia, Ukraine and Russia, carried
out a "bad, non-transparent and to some extent oligarchic
privatization".

He said it is time the institutions achieve results for the
citizens, work facing the citizens and not be a facade for
serving someone's shady interests. The reforms must go on. Rule
of law is society's ultimate goal, he said, adding that more can
be done for the introduction of direct democracy elements, for
improving the mechanisms for civil representation in power. It
is about time that e-government and e-voting are introduced, the
President said.

Socialists dispute some of the assessments

The assessments of the transition period in Bulgaria can be
found in the two extremes - "25 years of freedom" and "25 years
are enough", Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) deputy leader
Yanaki Stoilov commented. BSP has adopted a position on the
Bulgarian transition's nature and assessment.

The transition did not stand up to its two main tasks - to bring
Bulgaria to a higher level of socioeconomic development and
ensure the greater justice awaited, Stoilov said. This is why
BSP disputes part of the assessments presently made. According
to Stoilov, they can be summarized within some extreme
statements. One of them is the official commemoration under the
motto "25 years of freedom", professed by the Right-wing, by
various statesmen, by people who have, to a large extent, gained
benefits or taken senior positions not just during the
transition period, but through the policies carried out in the
years of transition, Stoilov said.

The other point of view is the one of people who are now ready
to reject everything and it can be summarized within the motto
"25 years are enough", he added.

Stoilov noted that BSP played a main role for the transition
period's peaceful nature, for the adoption of the Constitution
which defines Bulgaria as democratic and social country,
governed by the rue of law, for being a social corrective to
Right-wing politics.

Socialist leader Mihail Mikov lashed out at the President for
his remarks on the transition in Bulgaria. "The President's
position, using extreme ideological cliches, does not help
overcome the division in Bulgarian society," he commented,
adding that the use of history for ideological purposes has
never led to anything good.