Five thousand Bulgarian Muslims, living in the Rhodopes mountains are ready to start protests against accusations that Muslim fundamentalists are being trained in the area. Shukri Kubov, Mayor of Sarnitsa village in the region of Velingrad, declared that the population needed to react timely to “insinuations of this kind,” and to oppose the accusations made by Muslim spiritual leaders that Osama bin Laden’s supporters are trained and radical Islam is taught in the area.
The Movement for Rights and Freedoms declared that the statements in the Russian memorandum to the UN, quoted by Reuters, are not true. The movement considers these as an attempt to deprive Bulgaria of its role of a stability island on the Balkans. According to MP Ahmed Hussein, attempts are being made to add Bulgaria to the list of countries, which support Islam fundamentalism.