THE SOFIA ECHO: A hero's welcome greeted the mayor of Gurmen municipality in southwestern Bulgaria, Ahmed Bashev, and Mourat Boshnak, a teacher of Islam in the village of Ribnovo, on their return on March 16 2009 from the State Agency for National Security (SANS).
The two were taken to SANS's headquarters in the early hours of March 16 2009 for questioning after a request from prosecutors in relation to tip-offs that the two had been preaching radical Islam and forcing youngsters to adhere to an Islamic dress code and way of life.
The tip-off came from independent MP Yane Yanev who, on March 14 2009, almost got into a fight with Boshnak during a debate on private national bTV broadcaster about whether radical Islam was on the rise in the western Rhodopi mountains, where the population is predominantly Muslim.
Yanev claimed that people from the area had told him about both Bashev and Boshnak forcing students and teachers to wear Muslim clothes (headscarf for the girls) when coming to school and that all students were forced to sign up to Boshnak's lessons in Islam. >>> Petar Kostadinov | Tuesday, March 17, 2009
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