Dimitrov Eager to Naturalize 500 000 Bessarabia Bulgarians

Politics » DIPLOMACY | September 22, 2010, Wednesday // 16:23
Bulgaria: Dimitrov Eager to Naturalize 500 000 Bessarabia Bulgarians Bulgaria's Diaspora Minister Bozhidar Dimitrov (left) wants to naturalize hundreds of thousands of ethnic Bulgarians from Bessarabia. Photo by BGNES

More than 500 000 ethnic Bulgarians from Bessarabia, the historic region of today's Moldova and southwest Ukraine, are eligible to become Bulgarian citizens, according to Diaspora Minister Bozhidar Dimitrov.

Speaking during the first ever "National Fair" of the Bessarbian Bulgarians taking place in Sofia on Bulgaria's Independence Day, Dimitrov said official statistics showed there are about 250 000 ethnic Bulgarians living in today's Moldova, and another 300 000 in today's Ukraine in the Odessa and Bolgrad regions.

"Some 28 000 Bessarabian Bulgarians have been granted Bulgarian citizenship since 2002; of those, about 20 000 currently live in Bulgaria," Dimitrov said.

"About 40% of the Bulgarians from Macedonia (Dimitrov means the Macedonian Slavs – editor's note) who get Bulgarian citizenship emigrate to Bulgaria, while another 40% remain in Macedonia. Apparently, they use the Bulgarian passports to travel more easily, and to a certain extent as a means of protection from repressions on part of the Macedonia authorities. Only 20% of the Macedonians granted Bulgarian citizenship leave for other EU countries," explained the Diaspora Minister.

The first national fair of Bulgarians from Bessarabia, the historic region of today's Moldova and southwest Ukraine containing a large Bulgarian community, is entitled "My Land, My Bulgaria" (a quote from a popular Bulgarian song). It is organized by the Bessarabian Bulgarians Foundation and supported by other NGOs and Diaspora Minister Bozhidar Dimitrov.

The organizers have explicitly expressed their gratitude to Minister Dimitrov for his efforts in favor of the historic Bulgarian communities in Moldova and Ukraine.

At a special ceremony, they presented to Dimitrov a "Welcome to Bulgaria" candle of 13 kg in weight and 70 cm in height, made of Bulgarian rose oil.

"This is a sign of gratitude for the fact that only in this year 76 000 Bulgarians managed to acquire Bulgarian citizenship and to come back to their homeland," says the announcement of the Bessarabian Bulgarians Foundation.

(According to the figures announced by Dimitrov, 17 000 Bulgarians from Macedonia, Moldova, Serbia, and Russia have been granted citizenship in the past year.)

The Bessarabian Bulgarian communities formed in the 18th-19th century as hundreds of thousands of Bulgarians fled from Ottoman Turkish repressions to the southwestern tip of the Russian Empire.

Dimitrov has been a proponent of the idea to grant citizenship to all of them and to bring them to Bulgaria, including as a measure to tackle Bulgaria's worsening demographic crisis.

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Tags: Bozhidar Dimitrov, Diaspora Minister, ethnic Bulgarians, Bessarabia, Bessarabia Bulgarians, moldova, Ukraine, naturalization, Bulgarian citizenship, macedonia, FYROM, Macedonians

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