Bulgaria MPs Reschedule Agenda before Armenian 'Genocide' Vote

Desislav Chukolov, an MP from Bulgaria's Ataka party, believes the Turkish embassy pressured Parliament into changing the Friday agenda. Photo by BGNES

Lawmakers in Bulgaria's Parliament have moved to change the agenda of their vote on Friday, when they are to adopt a stance on the mass killings of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire in 1915.

With a number of states describing the events as "genocide" and Turkey disputing this, the Bulgarian legislature was to work on a position.

The subject was initially the first point in the agenda of Friday's plenary session, which is due to last between 09:00 and 10:30 EEST. Parliamentary control starts at 11:00, and sometimes undecided matters are postponed.

However, a Reformist Bloc (RB) lawmaker in Thursday requested that changes to land ownership legislation be the first issue raised during the Friday sitting, and a financial market-related reform could come second following a proposal by Menda Stoyanova, a key MP from the senior coalition partner, conservative GERB.

Speculation that rescheduling could result in no time being left for the vote, and that it could be abandoned after the 100th anniversary from the killings could be abandoned afterwards, has sparked the outrage of nationalist Ataka party, which has been pushing for a recognition on the "genocide" on behalf of Sofia.

It was Ataka that put forward the draft bill, and its lawmakers argued on Thursday that the agenda moves had been due to "pressure" applied by Turkey. MP Desislav Chukolov even argued that the Turkish embassy had used "leverage" on Parliament to make sure no time would remain for the vote.

Tensions arose the day before between a Bulgarian and a Turkish city, Haskovo and Edirne, over a decision of Haskovo authorities to rename a local park "Armenians."

The row resulted in contacts between the two sister cities being suspended.

Ankara insists the number of those murdered in the incident is well beyond the millions claimed by Armenians and some historians and that only a few hundred thousand people lost their lives.

 

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