State Control of Minorities in Bulgaria

The political participation of minorities in post-communist Bulgaria continues to be shaped by the state control of minorities, which was characteristic of the communist past. Legal and constitutional provisions preventing the political participation of minorities continue to be applied against unpopular minority groups, while the mainly Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms, which has established itself in the political arena, maintains that it is not an ethnic party and pursues only a minimalist minority rights agenda. Remarkably, the restrictions on the political participation of minorities in Bulgaria have scarcely been affected by accession to the European Union.