Bulgarian Human Rights in Macedonia or
BHRM (
Greek: Βουλγαρικά Ανθρώπινα Δικαιώματα στη Μακεδονία - ΒΑΔΜ,
Bulgarian: Български Човешки Права в Македония - БЧПМ) is a
political organization based in the Greek city of
Thessaloniki advocating recognition and promotion of the human rights of the ethnic
Bulgarian minorities in northern
Greece (primarily in
Macedonia) and the
Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
It was founded in July
2000 by Nicholas Stojanov and almost instantly caused controversy.
According to organization's constitution, national borders need to be redrawn so that "there is a more fair distribution of land" - the Greek newspaper
To Ethnos alleged that the organization was being financed by the then Bulgarian Prime Minister,
Simeon Sakskoburggotski, who however denied the allegation.
Although Greece currently denies Bulgarian minority, a bilateral Bulgarian-Greek agreement signed on September 29, 1925 in Geneva (
Politis-Kalfov protocol) under
League of Nations's demand, recognized Bulgarian minority in northern Grecce and guaranted its protection.
The reason was a brutal massacre of 17 Bulgarian peasants by Greek army at
Terliz present day Vathitopos, a village of
Drama prefecture near Greek-Bulgarian border.
Next month a Bulgarian textbook in Latin known as ABCDAR was introduced to Greek schools.
On February 2,1925 Greek parliament under pressure from Serbia rejected agreement's ratification.Since then no ethnic census has been held in Greece and a policy of denying any ethnic minority (except muslim minority of Thrace) has been prevailed.
On June 1998 during his official visit in Thessaloniki, Bulgarian president
Petar Stoyanov put the issue of Bulgarian minority in Greece.
BHRM runs an extensive website with strong anti-Greek content.
See also
Politics of Greece External links
Official Website In Greek Bulgarian Website, In English Why Macedonia isn't Greek The ethnic origin of ancient Macedonians News articles
Simeon II Accused of Bulgarian Party in Greece, Standart, Sofia, 9th August 2001. Sofia gov't calls fringe group's claims 'absurd, outrageous', Athens News Agency: Daily News Bulletin in English, 01-08-10. Επισήμως διαψεύδει η Βουλγαρία τα περί "Βουλγαρομακεδόνων" από το ΚΕΠ, ΒΗΜΑ 10th August 2001. Βουλγαρική οργάνωση με έδρα την Έδεσσα ζητάει αλλαγή συνόρων - from Ellinikes Grammes, the online magazine of LA.O.S.
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