THE SOFIA ECHO: The mayor of Gurmen municipality in southwestern Bulgaria, Ahmed Bashev, has been detained for questioning by the State Agency for National Security (SANS) as a result of a prosecutor's probe into allegations of causing religious and national hatred, Bulgarian news agency BTA said on March 16 2009. >>> By Petar Kostadinov | Monday, March 16, 2009
THE SOFIA ECHO: New ‘Radical Islam in Bulgaria’ Claims
Just days after Sofia hosted a forum on how teaching at schools could be used to forestall radical Islam, a researcher gave an interview alleging that extremist Islamic sects were operating in eastern Bulgaria.
In an interview with Bulgarian news agency Focus, associate professor Tatyana Dronzina - described as an expert on conflict and terrorism research - was quoted as saying that Turkish-linked radical sects Nurju, Suleymandj and Miligurush were believed to be active in the eastern part of the country.
There were some grounds for believing that people linked to these sects were trying to make contact with pupils in Muslim religious schools in Shoumen, Rousse, Momchilgrad and in the Islamic Institute in Sofia as well, Focus quoted Dronzina as saying
While several intelligence and media reports have highlighted the rise of radical Islam in the former Yugoslavia and especially in Bosnia, earlier in 2008 US journalist Christopher Deliso said in his book The Coming Balkan Caliphate: Threat of Radical Islam to Europe and the West that Bulgaria was among Balkan countries where radical Islam activists were present.
Most intelligence reports have suggested that any such activity in Bulgaria is on a small scale.
After the forum in Sofia, Bulgarian National Radio interviewed Kamen Velichkov of the Foreign Ministry, who is in charge of the country's participation in the United Nations Alliance of Civilisations Initiative.
"The prevention of radicalisation in all creeds from an early school age is paramount, if we wish to have a dialogue among the various religions and cultures not only within the European Union," Velichkov told BNR.
"The issue of Islam's radicalisation is a complex one. It is above all within the competence of the state administration. Bulgaria has been trying to draw on the European experience, and in particular that of Spain, as well as non-European countries by participating in various formats, such as the Mediterranean Co-operation. >>> By Clive Leviev-Sawyer | Sunday, October 8, 2008
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