부산대학교 도서관

This article provides information on a seminar on the changes in the ethnic and religious groups in Bulgaria which was held in Sofia under the auspices of the Center for Research of Democracy in November 1991. The Center for Research of Democracy is a post-totalitarian institution created with the purpose of promoting the democratic tradition in Bulgaria's social and political life and studying the experience of developed democratic societies throughout the world. The first session was dedicated to the Muslims in Bulgaria and in the Balkans. The formation of the Muslim communities and their fate under the Ottoman Empire were discussed. An attempt to approach the minority problems in Bulgaria through the perspectives of social psychologists and politologists was made during the session. The image of the Muslim Turks as well as those of Gypsies, Jews and Armenians in the eyes of their compatriot Bulgarians was investigated. During the discussion, a consensus was achieved that there are increasing fears in certain nationalistic circles in Bulgarian society that all minority ethnic groups, but mainly the Gypsies and Turks, constitute a permanent threat for the ethnic Bulgarians.