The Guardian of Liberty - Nemzetőr, 1985 (8. évfolyam, 1-6. szám)
1985-01-01 / 1. szám
HUMAN RIGHTS MINORITY BEING FORCED TO RENOUNCE NATIONALITY Members of the large Turkish minority in Bulgaria are being forced to renounce their Turkish origin, according to information from Yugoslavia. Tanjug, the Yugoslav news agency, reported recently that the Society for Solidarity with the Balkan Turks had, at a public meeting in Ankara, made „serious accusations" against the Bulgarian authorities over their treatment of the Rodopi Turks. The agency’s report said: „It has been alleged here (Ankara) that the Turkish population in Bulgaria has been under pressure to denounce its Turkish origin and to sign, under duress, statements in which its members ,agree voluntarily' and even demand that their nomes be changed to Bulgarian ones." And so, the report added, „Hassan becomes Dimitur in no time at all!" Many Turks protested against this assimilation. „It is claimed here," the Yugoslav despatch said, „that, after all sorts of harassment, these people are put in prison, even into some kind of concentrations camps. This is happening particularly in the Khaskovo region." According to „sparse news," the Bulgarian authorities had „to reinforce their military forces and security services to ,calm down’ the dissatisfied members of the Turkish minority." It was also claimed that armed clashes occurred, with casualties on both sides. The Yugoslav agency added that, according to reports in Ankara, the Bulgarian authorities imposed a ban on Turkish national celebrations, schools, places of worship, even the public use of the Turkish language. Many Turks have lived in Bulgaria since the time of the Ottoman Empire. At present there are more than a million of them in the mountainous area of the Rodopi and in southern Bulgaria. However, the number of these Turks emigrating, mainly illegally, is on the increase. 12 AN ARTIST’S IMPRESSION (taken from photographs) of what Professor Yuri Orlov, founder-chairman of the Helsinki Monitoring Group in Moscow, looked like before his arrest in 1977 (left) and now (right). In Helsinki, Finland, in 1975, 35 European and North American governments, including that of the USSR, signed the „Final Act,“ the 30,000-word document agreed upon at the end of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe. The document’s „Basket Three“ section commits these governments to uphold basic human rights. In May, 1976, Professor Orlov and other Soviet citizens founded the Public Group for Furthering the Implementation of the Helsinki Agreement in the USSR, usually referred to as the „Helsinki Monitoring Group in Moscow“ or even the „Orlov Group.“ Between November, 1976, and April, 1977, similar groups gathering carefully-verified information about the Soviet authorities’ violations of „Basket Three“ were established in the Ukraine, Lithuania, Georgia and Armenia. Dr. Orlov’s initiative also inspired the formation of the Working Commission to Investigate the Use of Psychiatry for Political Purposes and the Christian Committee for the Defence of Believers’ Rights. In February, 1977, Dr. Orlov was arrested. On May 18, 1978, he was sentenced to seven years in penal labour camps and five years’ „internal exile.“ Later, almost all the other members of these human rights organisations were sent to labour camps, prisons or psychiatric hospitals; a few were allowed to emigrate. Dr. Orlov served most of the first part of his sentence in a prison camp near Perm. He had many harrowing ordeals, being rough-handled by camp staff and placed for long spells in solitary confinement. His health seriously undermined, he is now, aged 60, prematurely old. His „internal exile“ is being spent in the harshly cold and remote Siberian region of Yakutia. Kobyai, the small town in which he is made to reside, often has shortages of water and food, only buckwheat and sugar being easily obtainable in local shops. Despite his being isolated from relatives, friends and fellow-scientists, the KGB still keeps constant watch on Dr. Orlov. In his log cabin he has no chance of continuing his research work as a nuclear physicist; before his arrest he was one of the USSR’s leading specialists in the acceleration of sub-atomic particles. THE GUARDIAN OF LIBERTY (NEMZETŐR) Erscheint 2monatlich. 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GREAT BRITAIN "NEMZETŐR“, B. C. M., London S/W. 7. U. S. A. Béla H. BÁCSKÁI, P.O. Box 102, Audubon/Pa. 19407. AUSTRALIA Mr. Jenő Beák, 3/50 Warrandyte Rd., RINGWOOD 3/34 Vic., Australia PRICES: mail: 1 copy AFRICA 1.80 Sh (100 CFA), Britain 60 P, Australia, USA, Canada: $ 2.— Germany: DM 4.— Annual subscription: AFRICA Sh 10 (500 CFA), Britain 3 — £, Germany/Europe: DM 20.-(or equivalent) Australia USA Canada: $ 10.— For air mail add 25 •/* For students 50 Vo discount Our BANK ACCOUNT: No. 2605756 Commerzbank AG. Munich. Federal Republic of Germany. JANUARY-FEBRUARY, 1985 NIGERIAN STEEL PROJECT DELAYED The scheduled date for the completion of Nigeria’s Ajaokuta steelworks has been moved back from 1986 to the end of 1988, according to Metal Bulletin, the internationally-read London trade magazine. However, the Nigerian Government has asked the main Soviet contractor at Ajaokuta, Tiajpromeksport, which is installing steelmaking and rolling equipment, to study ways of speeding up the project. Following a major revision of costs by the contractors, it is estimated that the total cost of the project will be about 7,000 million dollars.