Word: zhivkov
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...Since Zhivkov was the architect of the country's discriminatory laws, his arrest seemed to signal that the government is determined to resist demands that limits on Turkish civil rights be restored. But it also showed how the government had been pushed by the crowds to cut ties with its past and how it was forced to scramble to maintain a modicum of support. After all, it was the same Petar Mladenov who lavished praise on Zhirkov for "his long and loyal service" when the veteran leader was eased from office only ten weeks...
...statue of Czar Alexander II dominates the cobblestone square in front of the parliament building in Sofia. It was erected by grateful Bulgarians to commemorate Russian victories in 1877 and 1878 that ended five centuries of Turkish rule over the Slavic nation. Since the resignation of Stalinist dictator Todor Zhivkov last November, that statue has become the rallying point for a revived nationalist movement using the old hatred of the Turks to fight new political battles. Day after day, thousands of Bulgarians ignored sub-zero temperatures to gather around it. They shook their fists and cheered rabble-rousing speeches protesting...
When former leader Todor Zhivkov was ousted Nov. 10, he was succeeded by Petar Mladenov who promised to steer Bulgaria out of its Stalinist past and into a democratic future...
Opposition leaders and Western diplomats say the deep mistrust between nationalist Slavs and ethnic Turks has been fanned since the mid-1980s by Zhivkov's assimilation policy and by anti-Turkish propaganda...
Demonstrations in Bulgaria -- yes, Bulgaria -- began tentatively at the end of September and then picked up momentum. Todor Zhivkov, the country's dictator for 35 years, was replaced on Nov. 10 by Petar Mladenov, who purged the Stalinist leadership, promising to legalize opposition parties and hold free elections by the end of May. That move was something of a surprise, since Bulgaria most closely identifies with the Soviet Union and was not expected to take reforms further than Gorbachev himself has done. And Gorbachev draws the line at the formation of rival parties...