The First Free Elections in Bulgaria in the Context of the „Ethnic Crisis“ of 1989–1990

The article analyzes the problem of the beginning of post-communist democratization in Bulgaria in the context of the assimilation campaign against Bulgarian Turks in the late 1980s and the return of their civil rights at the very end of 1989. Since that decision was not well received by some sections of Bulgarian society, the protests that erupted after it called into question the civic nature of the demands proclaimed and defended by the liberal Union of Democratic Forces. As the hitherto unexamined archival documents show, it was the Bulgarian Socialist Party that benefited most from this situation, since it managed to exploit public fears to win the first free elections and thus legitimize itself as a full participant in democratic processes. This distanced Bulgaria from the general trends of post-communist development in the countries of Central Europe.