Bulgaria Nationalists Rally against Austrian Batak Study

Politics » DOMESTIC | November 28, 2009, Saturday // 14:55
Bulgaria Nationalists Up in Arms against Austrian Professor over Batak Study: Bulgaria Nationalists Rally against Austrian Batak Study Bulgaria's nationalists are protesting against the lecture of Austrian Professor, Ulf Brunnbauer because in his study he declared the Batak Slaughter a myth. Photo by BGNES

Followers and members of Bulgaria’s far-right, nationalist Ataka party are holding a protest rally in downtown Sofia Saturday.

The nationalists are gathered in front of the upscale “Arena di Serdika” hotel to protest against the lecture of the Austrian history professor, Ulf Brunnbauer, held there.

Brunnbauer is notorious in Bulgaria with his study claiming the Batak Slaughter is a myth, the number of its victims exaggerated and the entire story of Bulgaria being for 500 years under Ottoman yoke is fabricated.

The Member of the European Parliament from Ataka and step son of party leader, Volen Siderov – Dimitar Stoyanov, submitted a protest declaration, which was handed in person to the historian.

Stoyanov reported that Brunnbauer has been arrogant when he received the note and called them “stupid patriots.”

The demonstrators are waiving Bulgarian and Ataka flags.

The other nationalist party, VMRO, is also reported to take part in the protests and is holding their own rally.

“We object the incompetent interference of people like Brunnbauer with the Bulgarian historical memory and the arrogant, brazen distortion of the historical facts,” the declaration of the Sofia VMRO branch reads.

VMRO insist Brunnbauer must apologize to the Bulgarian people.

Brunnbauer is currently a history professor at the Institute of Eastern European Studies in Berlin.

Batak was an important staging point for the Bulgarian April Uprising in 1876, in which Bulgarian rebels attempted to end the Ottoman Empire's domination over their country. The rebel city declared independence from the Turks and this announcement was reported to the Turkish authorities. What followed can only be described as mass murder on an unimaginable scale.

On May 17, 1876, 8 000 Turkish soldiers led by Ahmet Aga Barun surrounded the city. After a first battle, the men from Batak decided to negotiate with Ahmet Aga. He promised them the withdrawal of his troops under the condition that Batak disarms. After the rebels had laid down their weapons, the soldiers attacked the defenseless population. 5 000 people were massacred in Batak alone. The number of victims in the district of Philippopolis (Plovdiv) reached 15 000. The majority of the victims were beheaded.

In August, Bulgaria's Prime Minister Boyko Borisov backed Ataka’s proposal for declaring one of the most horrendous acts in history, the Batak Slaughter, a day of Bulgarian Genocide.

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Tags: Ulf Brunnbauer, Dimitar Stoyanov, VMRO, Batak, genocide, Boyko Borisov, Prime Minister, Ataka

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