Bulgarian Democracy and the Armenian Connection - 2
"The original Bulgars were Turkic tribes running away from the Mongols of Central Asia"
Ahmet Gursoy, Special to The Turkish Times (Part II of IV) - In Bulgaria, like in Russia, the reformation of the communist party by changing a few names did not go too far. While the pressure for new elections was mounting in the Parliament, out of parliament the formation of new political parties were escalating.

In the October election of 1991 the newly established party, the "Union of Democratic Forces" (UDF), took control of Parliament and Philip Dimitrov became the Prime Minister. Three months later in January 1992, Jelio Jelev was elected president. Two old parties (BSP and UDF), in two early elections that followed, shared control of Parliament from 1992 to 1997, until Ivon Kustov became the prime minister. Kustov successfully ruled the nation until the election of 2001, which was almost a referendum for Bulgarians to choose between the old and the new politics. The newly established ex-king Simeon's party (NMS) captured 46% of the vote. The new election produced 126 seats for the NMS party, 51 seats for UDF, 49 seats for BSP, and 21 seats for the MRF party. So far, the wisdom and charm of the 67-year-old king as a new prime minister, is maintaining a well-balanced government. A year later, although the minority party (MRF) proved to be a valuable junior partner, the bitter feelings between the old and the new politicians still linger. When the announcement was made that the MRF would be a junior partner of the coalition government, ex-premier and former leader of the UDF party Ivan Kuslov said, "Victory for MRF is a course for the future of Bulgaria." Presently MRF retains two ministers, two deputy ministers, six regional governors, seventeen mayors, and seventeen deputy mayors, nationally.

During my travels, I noticed that there are more national monuments standing in the parks, plazas, and mountain tops of Bulgaria than there are traffic lights in Sofia, the capital city of the state. From the mountain tops to the city centers, Bulgarians admire their monuments in large scale, not because of their aesthetic value but because of what they add to their national pride.

Most of the monuments are from the Soviet era but there are some interesting examples from the period of the Bulgarian nationalism (from the Bulgarian liberation in 1878 to the Communist takeover in 1946). One great example of this period is now standing at the front door of the Parliament building: a statue of the Russian Tsar Alexander II riding his horse with the air of everlasting confidence. Ironically in my eye, the Russian sculptor standing tall in front of the Parliament building gives the appearance of an invader more than a liberator.

Although Russians were victorious in the 1878 war against the Turks, in the end, they were unable to make any territorial gains. Instead, a new set of Balkan states were created as a buffer zone against any Russian aggression in the future. Thanks to the creative work accomplished by the British foreign office for making the Berlin Treaty an acceptable document to the Russians, a new picture for the future of Europe was in the making. As a result, the Ottoman Empire salvaged much of the Balkans with the backing of Austria and Britain at the Berlin Congress. Arrival of the British Navy, anchoring at the shores of Princes Islands of the Sea of Marmara before the opening day of the Berlin Congress, combined with the backing of Austria to fight against the Russian aggression, including a hopelessly weak Russian Navy at the Black Sea, were enough reasons for the Russians to accept the terms of the Berlin Treaty.

If the Berlin Congress were not implemented, the initial armistice in January and the peace treaty of March 1878 in San Stefano would allow Russian soldiers to patrol the new borders at Yesilkoy, the present location of Istanbul's International Airport. For the Ottoman Turks, this was an accomplishment of such importance and magnitude that they decided to give the island of Cyprus to Great Britain without any strings attached as a token of appreciation. Actually, one main motive to allow the British to occupy the Island of Cyprus was to have a convenient base for future protection of the Turkish straits - Dardanelles and Bosporus - if again they were threatened. There was another important reason behind the quick turnaround in settling the Berlin Congress and resolving the Cyprus issue: the close friendship of Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Vefik, a diplomat with an English wife, and the British Ambassador Sir Austen Layard in Istanbul.

Only four years later in 1882 the British occupied the entire country of Egypt, making Cairo the focus point of British policy in the Middle East for the control of the Suez Canal and the Gulf region and for the defense of the route to India. On the surface they were helping the Ottomans maintain their leadership in the Moslim world by neutralizing its main rival; in reality it was the first step of a joint agreement with France to divide the Ottoman land northeast of Jerusalem.

The winner of the 1878 war was the number-one deal maker of the world: Great Britain of Europe. The losers were the Turkish refugees from Bulgaria, nearly half a million staying in Istanbul's public buildings like mosques, and the Ottoman Empire, which lost 40% of their land and 20% of their population, retreating from the shores of the Adriatic to the banks of the Maritsa River in Thrace. England, playing into the hands of the nationalist group at the Berlin Congress, was quietly establishing two buffer zones, one at each end of the Black Sea: the Balkans and the Caucasus. Interestingly the containment policy Britain was proposing against Russia was once again brought back to reality nearly 100 years later by the United States in 1950. It was named NATO.

Politically the 1878 war polarized Europe between the supporters of the democracy (borrowed from the 100-year-old American experience backed by England, France, and Italy) and the centrist group with a distinct taste toward totalitarian tendencies headed by the Bismarck of Germany, Tsars of Russia, Hapsburgs of Austrian-Hungarian Empire, and the-sick-man-of Europe, the Ottoman Empire. The polarization of Europe set the stage for the greatest human suffering of all time -- the two world wars of the 20th century, the birth of Russian Socialism, the Balkan wars of 1912-13, and the birth of the Turkish Republic (1919-1923).

The 1878 war also legitimized the birth of ethnic cleansing and terrorism used in the name of national identity. Bulgarian rebels were terrorists because they were pushing civilians of the Turkish minority to exile by force and torture, with the support of Russian -born Armenian terrorists under the banner of the "Bulgarian Revival," started three years before the war of 1877-1878. During this period, about 260,000 Turkish civilians died and 475,000 were exiled, according to the estimate made by Justin McCarthy.(57) The very first Russian-Armenian collaboration in terrorism took place in Derebend Persia. The Armenian Church allied with Russian invaders to secure a Russian victory against Persians in 1796. Since then the collaboration continued during the Turco-Russian War of 1828-29 and the Crimean War of 1854. Armenian terrorists played a major role for the success of the Bulgarian Revival and the Russian victory in the 1878 war. To settle the terms of the treaty during the Berlin Congress, the Russian delegation included a number of young revolutionaries from Bulgaria educated at Robert College and Russian-born Armenian rebels who were the sole supporters of the Bulgarian cause in Russia. The Armenian Patriarch of Istanbul also sent his own delegation to the Congress, seeking autonomy and protection for the Armenians in Turkey. The young group of Russian delegates was articulate and influential, and they were able to maneuver the Congress for the passage of a controversial topic called Article 61. Article 61 of the treaty involved charging the Ottoman government to enact reforms for the Armenian minorities living in the six Eastern provinces of the Ottoman-Anatolia (Sivas, Erzurum, Elazig, Diyorbakir, Bitlis, and Van).

Although there was a continuing pressure from the western powers, it was proven in time that enacting reforms for the Armenians in Eastern Anatolia was a difficult task to accomplish because the Armenians were not segregated. They were totally mixed in rural Anatolia with historical ties of 600 years. For these reasons Christian missionaries, particularly Americans, have been conducting large-scale operations since 1893, in 436 churches with the help of 1,300 volunteers, educating 27,000 students in 21 schools and in eight American colleges in Istanbul, Merzifon, Tarsus, Kayseri, Maras, Antep, Harput, and Van. Many of these students, most of them Armenians, were able to immigrate to the United States. Financial campaign for the American missionaries was directed by James L. Barton and supported by dignitaries like Theodore Roosevelt and John D. Rockefeller.

Robert College, run by the American missionaries, opened its doors to minorities in Istanbul on July 4, 1871. Built in 1869 at the hills of Rumeli Hisari on land given by Ahmet Vefik Bey who later became the Ottoman's prime minister, the college in short time turned into an international center for the Balkan Nationalism, instead of a house of universal brotherhood as the American ambassador hoped.(30)

(To continue in the next issue…)