Category Archives: Bulgaria

Bulgaria News Eastern Europe

Romani Children Festival

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Romani Children Festival

The Bulgarian children’s Roma Festival “Open Heart” gathers over 1,500 children from all over Bulgaria. The program includes exhibitions, music, theatre, crafts, and traditions. The main emphasis this year is the desire to give a voice not only to children, but also to Romnja, cultural figures and community leaders.

Bulgaria News Eastern Europe

Bulgaria: Child Poverty

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Bulgaria: Child Poverty

Almost every third child in Bulgaria lives in material deprivation, according to data from the National Statistical Institute for last year. The most affected by the phenomenon are Roma children – over 2/3 of them, while for Bulgarians the indicator is below 1/5, and for children of Turkish origin – nearly 1/3.

Bulgaria News Eastern Europe

Sofia: Brawl

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Sofia: Brawl

Another news we do not really need. Romnja fought each other in the centre of Sofia, the Bulgarian capital. The action took place near St. Peter’s Park, around Konstantin Velichkov Blvd. in Sofia.

According to a wtiness, Romnja literally grabbed each other by the hair in a mass melee. However, he was unable to count how many women participated in the fight. “They were like wild animals. Imagine animals in a zoo fighting for prey. The sight was just like that. They just made my eyes water,” he says on Facebook.

According to him, police arrived at the scene in a flash, and some of the brawlers quickly spat on their heels. The police are currently searching for the attackers.

Bulgaria France News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

France, Roma, and Bulgaria

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France, Roma, and Bulgaria

The French Institute of Bulgaria is opening its doors to Roma culture from June 2 to 5, 2025. Through screenings and evenings of discussions, this series will highlight their history, creativity, and the diversity of their artistic expressions across Europe.

Unfortunately, being French, they bring a baggage of stereotypes starting with the names of “Roms, Tsiganes, Manouches, Bohémiens, Romanichels, Sintis, Gitans…” And then go on with saying that Roma reside in Europe since the XVth century.  This in Bulgaria, one of the cradles of Roma culture as part of the Byzantine Empire where Roma have been for more than a thousand year.

One can only wish that journalists manage to learn something at some point …

Bulgaria News Eastern Europe

Bulgaria: Vote Buying

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Bulgaria: Vote Buying

The Burgas District Court has overturned a verdict issued by the Pomorie District Court, by which the mayor of the Pomorie village of Bata, Georgi Georgiev, was found not guilty. The court found him guilty and sentenced him to ten months in prison, postponing the execution of the imposed sentence for a probationary period of three years.

Georgiev was found guilty of giving sums of money in the amount of 50 leva to S.R., I.Ch., Z.B. and M.S. in Bata in early April 2021, in order to persuade them to exercise their right to vote in the parliamentary elections in favour of a certain political coalition.

Bulgaria News Eastern Europe

Bulgarian Roma Food

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Bulgarian Roma Food

Spring Roma dishes arepresented at the Ethnographic Museum in Burgas, Bulgaria for an unconventional offer – the Week of Roma Spring Feasts.

Cooking will be done in front of the general public by residents of the village of Rusokastro. They are old friends of the Burgas Museum, and during the summer months they work on the excavations of the medieval town of Rusokastro. Here, they will work as master chefs, and will reveal to us the secrets of Roma cuisine and more precisely – of spring Roma dishes.

On Wednesday (May 21), the recipe Ribnik without fish will be presented, which is prepared with the first spring green beans. On Thursday (May 22) we will enjoy lean sarmi from duckweed with an appetizing sauce, and on Friday (May 23) we will be able to try the unique lapadnik – bread with duckweed, green onions and gyozu.

Bulgaria News Eastern Europe

Bulgaria: Bulldozed

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Bulgaria: Bulldozed

The Roma neighbourhood of Zaharna Fabrika is currently being destroyed. The houses were deemed illegal. This occurred in spite of a ruling by the European Court of Human Right from April 11th asking for a delay until the ongoing law case is solved.

Shame.

Bulgaria News Eastern Europe

Bulgarian Politics, Roma, and Mahalas

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Bulgarian Politics, Roma, and Mahalas

Kiril Petkov, a former Bulgarian prime minister and candidate in the upcoming elections is defending the rights of a Mahala (a Roma neighbourhood) in Sofia. He is not alone in defending the “Zaharna Fabrika” which has who has called for manifestations in front of the parliament.

Bulgaria News Eastern Europe

Bulgaria: Murder

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Bulgaria: Murder

A toddler was murdered in Kula, Bulgaria, close to the Serbian border. The suspects are two Roma who fled the country shortly after the murder.

Reasons are not given.

Bulgaria News Eastern Europe

Bulgaria and the Alo.bg Site

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Bulgaria and the Alo.bg Site

The Alo.bg site is showcasing classified ads. Now, more and more Romnja are advertising their services as prostitutes in the Varna region.

This has prompted discussions: Some believe that this is a serious problem that should be investigated by the authorities, while others believe that the situation has been exaggerated. They believe that this is a form of exploitation and that such practices should be stopped and are demanding stricter control over online platforms.

Sceptics believe that this is part of a broader social problem and that the focus should not be only on the ethnicity of the women, but on the reasons that make them engage in such activity. “This is not a problem of just one community, but of the whole society. We need to work for integration and providing opportunities for everyone to prevent exploitation,” said one expert.

Bulgaria News Eastern Europe

Bulgaria: About Mother Tongue …

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Bulgaria: About Mother Tongue …

An article that totally misses the point. A project, that aims to “help” people with a different mother tongue (read Roma and Turks). What they miss is that Roma always grow up with several mother tongues, local and Romanes, and in the Balkan, Ottoman Turkish.

No further comments …

Bulgaria News Eastern Europe

Bulgaria and Mahala

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Bulgaria and Mahala

An unfinished apartment block, where Roma families have settled themselves and are raising their children there, continues to be a major problem according to the people of the neighbourhood. Residents have repeatedly filed reports that public order is being violated.

Now these issues in Humni Dol were discussed at a second working meeting between representatives of the local government as well as with Roma mediators. It is doubtful they will find solutions …

Bulgaria News Eastern Europe

Bulgaria, Bango Vasil, and Politics

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Bulgaria, Bango Vasil, and Politics

The leader of the MRF and the PG of “DPS – New Beginning” Delyan Peevski congratulated Roma for the Bango Vasil (or Vasilica), the old New Year according to the orthodox calendar, which is celebrated by all Roma in Bulgaria. He said: “I congratulate all Roma on the biggest Roma holiday Bango Vasil or also called Vasilitsa”. And he added: “Be healthy, be worthy Bulgarian citizens and know that you are not second-class people and I will continue to fight for a decent life for all people in Bulgaria. Believe in the new beginning and be confident that the best is yet to come! Happy Bango Vasil!”

Bulgaria News Eastern Europe

Bango Vasil in Bulgaria

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Bango Vasil in Bulgaria

Bulgarian Police and gendarmerie were stationed at the entrances of several settlements in the Sliven region. The Roma neighbourhood in Sliven was sealed by the police and a checkpoint set up  in the Sliven “Nadezhda” neighbourhood. It was for a special operation aimed at combating drug trafficking and domestic crime. Public order was also being monitored on the eve of the Bango Vasil holiday which the article deems to be the Roma New Yea which is in fact the old new year according to the orthodox calendar.

Bulgaria News Eastern Europe

Bulgarian Roma Songs

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Bulgarian Roma Songs

A published Bulgarian textbook contains 99 Roma songs, collected from the territory of present-day Bulgaria between 1950 and 1975. Songs about love, family songs, songs about heroes have been preserved. The man who preserved this for generations is Mustafa Aliyev, better known by his Bulgarian name Manush Romanov. Mustafa Aliyev dedicated his life to the development of the culture of his community. He belonged to the group of Sofia “Jerli”

He participated in the anti-fascist resistance. He was the editor-in-chief of the newspapers “Romano Esi” (Romanian) and “Nevo Drom” (New Road). He was the director of the “Roma” theatre, which was closed by the communists.

Bulgaria News Eastern Europe

Stolipinovo

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Stolipinovo

The vlogger is the American Drew Goldberg, known by his online pseudonym Drew Binsky, with more that 5 mio followers visited the Stolipinovo Mahala in Plovdiv.

It is considered the largest in Bulgaria with over 40,000 Roma residents. To date, the problems in this district are many, the main ones being the problem with garbage, crime and drugs. Some people even describe the place as a “city within a city”.

Bulgaria News Eastern Europe

Bulgaria, Schools, and Roma

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Bulgaria, Schools, and Roma

Dimitrinka Georgieva, the principal of the “Lyuben Karavelov” school in the Varna Asparuhovo district in Bulgaria was awarded in the “Person of the Year” competition of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee in the Inspiration category.

There are 400 children at the “Lyuben Karavelov” school at the moment. Of these, 121 are children from Ukraine from preparatory classes to grade 11. Of the remaining less than 280 children, about 90 percent are students of Roma and Turkish origin, and the rest are Bulgarians.

Sounds like a segregated school …

Bulgaria News Eastern Europe

Bulgaria: Weird

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Bulgaria: Weird

Really weird Bulgarian news … A prisoner behind bars in Plovdiv posts a video on TikTok declaring his love for his girlfriend, rapping it in Romanes. Well, mobiles phones are officially not allowed in prisons in Bulgaria … Maybe only if you don’t pay the guards …

Bulgaria News Eastern Europe

Bulgaria, School, and Roma

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Bulgaria, School, and Roma

An outraged teacher sent an anonymous letter to Nova TV complaining that students are doing belly dances in the assembly hall of the “Vasil Levski” vocational high school in Ihtiman. The young people are drinking beer and dancing instead of being in class and studying. The teacher says he was shocked.

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