Bulgaria’s Ethnic Turkish Party Rises in Defense of Islam Subsidies

The leadership of the DPS party demanded proportianal cuts of state religion subsidies. Photo by BGNES

Bulgarian ethnic Turkish party DPS has protested against what it sees as disproportional cuts in religious state subsidies in the 2010 Revised State Budget Act.

According to the provisions of the act, which was passed last week by the Parliament at first reading, the state subsidy for the Bulgarian Orthodoxy is reduced by 6%, while the state subsidy for Islam is cut by 55%.

The DPS party (“Movement for Rights and Freedoms”) has protested demanding a proportional reduction of the money for all religions.

“The Movement for Rights and Freedoms is of the opinion that this is a banal technical mistake but we do have some doubts that it might be politically motivated. One of the changes we will propose at the second reading of the budget law will be aimed at rectifying this discrepancy,” declared the Deputy Chair of the DPS Lyutvi Mestan at a news conference Tuesday.

According to the other Deputy Chair of the party, Aliosman Imamov, the disproportional cuts stem from the fact that all state religion subsidies were reduced by BGN 100 000. The lower subsidy for Islam therefore showed a steeper percentage cut.

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