Timeline Bulgaria
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The
Thracians lived in what is now Bulgaria and
parts of modern Greece, Romania, Macedonia, and Turkey between 4,000
B.C. and the 8th century A.D., when they were assimilated by the
invading Slavs.
(AP, 7/16/07)
Bulgaria Chronology 1989-1999: http://www.projects.v2.nl/~arns/Texts/Chrono/BG.html
History: http://www.digsys.bg/books/history/index.html
Tourist: www.balkan-travel.com
5000BC The
Thracian village of Nebet Tepe, later Plovdid, Bulgaria, dated to about
this time. It was redeveloped by the Macedonians, Romans, Byzantines,
Bulgars and Turks.
(SSFC, 7/16/06, p.G4)
4000BC Skilled goldsmiths [proto-Thracians] lived in
the area of Varna on the Black Sea.
(SFEC, 2/1/98, p.T3)(SFEC, 8/2/98, DB p.22)
2100BC-2000BC Some 15,000 tiny Golden rings,
estimated at 4,100 to 4,200 years old, were found in 2005 near Dabene,
Bulgaria. They were attributed to proto-Thracians, ancestors of the
Thracians, who lived in the area until they were assimilated by
invading Slavs in the 8th century.
(SFC, 8/17/05, p.A2)
c585BC Greeks settled in the Area of Varna on the
Black Sea about this time and were followed by the Romans, Byzantines
and Turks.
(SFEC, 2/1/98, p.T3)
400BC In 2007 a 2,400-year-old
golden mask that once belonged to a Thracian king was unearthed in a
timber-lined tomb in southeastern Bulgaria.
(AP, 7/17/07)
359BC-336BC Philip II ruled the
Kingdom of Macedonia. He founded Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
(WUD, 1994, p.1081)(SFC, 7/18/96, p.E1)
100-200 Serdica was home to a Roman amphitheater. It
stood on the trade road between the Danube and Constantinople. Known to
the Romans as Serdica, it later became known as Sophia, the capital of
Bulgaria.
(AM, 7/04, p.14)
117 The Trimontium amphitheater
was built in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. The area was later sacked by Attila the
Hun and the site was covered in dirt until a landslide exposed it in
1972.
(SSFC, 7/16/06, p.G4)
650 The Khazars’ aggressive
territorial expansion drove some Bulgars westward. These Bulgars soon
founded a kingdom in the southeastern Balkans that became known as
Bulgaria.
(TJOK, 1999, p.16)
681 Bulgaria’s 1st kingdom was
established.
(WPR, 3/04, p.28)
700-800 Invading Slavs assimilated the Thracians in
the area of modern Bulgaria and parts of Greece, Romania, Macedonia and
Turkey.
(SFC, 8/17/05, p.A2)
700-800 The Madara Horseman in Kaspichan was carved
into a sandstone cliff.
(SFEC, 8/28/98, p.T4)
811 Jul 26, Nicephorus I,
Byzantine Emperor (802-11), died in the Battle at Pliska. The Bulgarian
under monarch Krum beat the Byzantines.
(MC, 7/26/02)
917 Aug 20, A Byzantine
counter-offensive was routed by Syeon at Anchialus, Bulgaria.
(HN, 8/20/98)
927 May 27, Symeon, czar of
Bulgaria, died.
(MC, 5/27/02)
927 Ivan Rilski (later St. John of
Rila), an Orthodox Bulgarian, chose a hermit’s life in a cave in the
mountains above Sofia, Bulgaria. His students built a complex nearby
that grew to become the Rila Monastery.
(SSFC, 7/16/06, p.G4)
1014 Oct 6, The Byzantine Emperor
Basil II (958-1025) earned the title "Slayer of Bulgars" after he
ordered the blinding of 15,000 Bulgarian troops. Basil II was godfather
to Russia’s Prince Vladimir.
(HN,
10/6/98)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basil_II)(Econ, 2/16/08, p.60)
1018 By this year Basil II had
annexed Bulgaria.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R6)
1850 Jun 27, Ivan Vazov, poet,
novelist, playwright (Under the Yoke), was born in Bulgaria.
(SC, 6/27/02)
1861 Feb 26, Ferdinand I, 1st tsar
of modern Bulgaria (1908-18), was born in Vienna.
(SC, 2/26/02)
1867 Khristo Botev completed his
education in Russia and returned to Bulgaria only to flee to Romania.
There he joined his friend Stephan Stambulov in promoting a Bulgarian
liberation movement through literature, journalism and simply
organizing dissidents. He was a hero of the Bulgarian nationalist
movement against Turkish rule in the 19th century—and also a poet.
(HNQ, 9/7/00)
1876 May, During an uprising in
central Bulgaria (part of the overall “Eastern Crisis‘ in the Balkans
from 1875-78), Khristo Botev, nationalist hero and poet, re-entered
Bulgaria with a small band of rebels. He was killed near Mt. Veslez a
few days after his return.
(HNQ, 9/7/00)
1876 Russia under Alexander II
invaded Ottoman-controlled Bulgaria with a mixture of humanitarian and
imperialistic motives following reports that Turks were massacring
Bulgarians.
(SFC, 9/7/08, Books p.5)
1878 Mar 3, Russia and the
Ottomans signed the treaty of San Stefano, granting independence to
Serbia. With the Treaty of San Stefano (and subsequent negotiations in
Berlin) in the wake of the last Russo-Turkish War, the Ottoman Empire
lost its possession of numerous territories including Bulgaria,
Montenegro, Romania, and Serbia. The Russo-Turkish wars dated to the
17th century, the Russians generally gaining territory and influence
over the declining Ottoman Empire. In the last war, Russia and Serbia
supported rebellions in the Balkans. In concluding the Treaty of San
Stefano, the Ottomans released control of Montenegro, Romania and
Serbia, granted autonomy to Bosnia and Herzegovina, and allowed an
autonomous state of Bulgaria to be placed under Russian control.
(HN, 3/3/99)(HNQ, 2/23/01)
1878 At this time Bulgaria had no
army. By 1913, it had one of the most formidable land forces in Europe.
(HN, 6/24/98)
1885 Sep 18, A coup d’etat in
Eastern Rumelia led directly to a war between Serbia and Bulgaria. The
Balkan peace settlement established by the 1878 Treaty of Berlin was
undone when a coup d’etat in the disputed province of Eastern Rumelia
resulted in Eastern Rumelia (separated from Bulgaria in 1878)
announcing its re-unification with Bulgaria. Serbian prince Milan
responded by demanding Bulgaria cede some of its territory to Serbia.
An international conference convened and became deadlocked in November
and Serbia declared war.
(HNQ, 4/2/99)
1885 Nov 17, The Serbian Army,
with Russian support, invaded Bulgaria.
(HN, 11/17/98)
1885 Nov 19, Bulgarians, led by
Stefan Stambolov, repulsed a larger Serbian invasion force at
Slivinitza.
(HN, 11/19/98)
1885 Nov 26, Bulgaria moved into
Serbia.
(HNQ, 4/2/99)
1886 Mar 3, The Treaty of
Bucharest concluded the Serb-Bulgarian war, reestablishing prewar
Serbo-Bulgarian borders but leaving Eastern Rumelia and Bulgaria united.
(HNQ, 4/2/99)
1886 The Cathedral of the
Assumption was built in Varna, Bulgaria.
(SFEC, 2/1/98, p.T3)
1894 Jan 30, Boris III
(d.1943), czar of Bulgaria (1918-43), was born.
(SFC, 9/6/00, p.A10)(MC, 1/30/02)
1895 Jul 15, Stephen Stambulov,
ex-prime minister of Bulgaria was murdered by Macedonian rebels.
(HN, 7/15/98)
1901 Sep 3, Miss Ellen Stone, a
Protestant missionary from Haverhill, Mass., was kidnapped in Bulgaria
by a Macedonian revolutionary gang, who demanded $110,000 in gold.
Katerina Tsilka, her pregnant Bulgarian companion, was also kidnapped
and gave birth during her captivity to a baby girl. In 2003 Teresa
Carpenter authored "The Miss Stone Affair: America's First Modern
Hostage Crisis."
(SSFC, 6/22/03, p.M4)
1903 Jan 3, The Bulgarian
government renounced the treaty of commerce tying it to
Austro-Hungarian empire.
(HN, 1/3/99)
1903 Sep 8, Between 30,000 and
50,000 Bulgarian men, women and children were massacred in Monastir by
Turkish troops seeking to check a threatened Macedonian uprising.
(HN, 9/8/98)
1903 Sep 17, Turks destroyed the
town of Kastoria in Bulgaria, killing 10,000 civilians.
(HN, 9/17/98)
1905 Jul 25, Elias Canetti,
Bulgarian-British novelist, essayist (Nobel 1981), was born.
(SC, 7/25/02)
1908 Sep 22, Bulgaria declared
independence from Ottoman Empire (Turkey).
(MC, 9/22/01)
1912 Oct 17, Bulgaria, Greece and
Serbia declared war on Turkey. [see Oct 18]
(MC, 10/17/01)
1912 Oct 18, The First Balkan War
broke out between the members of the Balkan League-- Serbia, Bulgaria,
Greece and Montenegro--and the Ottoman Empire. A small Balkan War broke
out and was quelled by the major powers. Albanian nationalism spurred
repeated revolts against Turkish dominion and resulted in the First
Balkan War in which the Turks were driven out of much of the Balkan
Peninsula. Austria-Hungary’s 1908 annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
spurred Serbian efforts to form the Balkan alliance with its
neighbors. As a result of the war on Turkey, Serbia doubled its
territory with the award of Northern Macedonia. Albanian leaders
affirmed Albania as an independent state. [see Oct 8]
(V.D.-H.K.p.290)(CO, Grolier’s/ Albania)(HN,
10/18/98)(HNQ, 3/27/99)(www, Albania, 1998)
1912 Nov 5, Bulgarian troops in
Constantinople blockaded drinking water.
(MC, 11/5/01)
1912 Dec 3, Turkey, Serbia,
Montenegro, Greece and Bulgaria signed a weapons pact.
(MC, 12/3/01)
1912 Dec 4, An armistice was
signed to end the First Balkan War. Following several victories over
the Ottoman army, coalition forces occupied Macedonia and forced the
Ottoman Empire to seek an armistice.
(www.maknews.com/html/articles/stefov/stefov61.html)
1913 Feb 7, Turks lost 5,000 men
in a battle with the Bulgarian army in Gallipoli.
(HN, 2/7/99)
1913 Mar 26, The Balkan allies
took Adrianople. Bulgaria captured Adrianople, ending the 1st Balkan
War.
(HN, 3/25/98)(SS, 3/26/02)
1913 Jun 1, Serbia and Greece
concluded a secret treaty for joint action against Bulgaria; joined by
Romania. Dissatisfied with their share of the spoils, Serbia, denied
its proposed outlet to the Adriatic Sea, sought compensation in
Macedonia along the Vardar River which the Bulgarians rejected while
Greece asked for control of Thessaloniki and "a certain part" of the
eastern Macedonian territories, which Bulgaria rejected as well.
(www.maknews.com/html/articles/stefov/stefov61.html)
1913 Jun 24, Greece and Serbia
annulled their alliance with Bulgaria following border disputes over
Macedonia and Thrace.
(HN, 6/24/98)
1913 Jun 29, Anticipating
assistance from Austro-Hungary the Bulgarian army attacked its former
allies. This Second Balkan War was at first waged entirely on
Macedonian soil. Bulgaria defeated Greek and Serbian troops.
(www.maknews.com/html/articles/stefov/stefov61.html)
1913 Jul 1, Serbia and Greece
declared war on Bulgaria.
(MC, 7/1/02)
1913 Jul 10, Rumania entered the
Second Balkan War and four days later the Ottoman Empire joined the
general assault on Bulgaria. Faced with four fronts, Bulgarian armies
were defeated piecemeal and the government at Sofia was forced to seek
peace. Atrocities were widespread. For example, in pursuing the
Bulgarian army Greek forces systematically burnt to the ground all
Macedonian villages they encountered, mass-murdering their entire
populations. Likewise, when the Greek army entered Kukush (Kilkis) and
occupied surrounding villages, about 400 old people and children were
imprisoned and killed. Nor did the Serbian "liberators" lag behind in
destruction and wanton slaughter throughout Macedonia. In Bitola,
Skopje, Shtip and Gevgelija, the Serbian army, police and chetniks
(guerrillas) committed their own atrocities.
(www.maknews.com/html/articles/stefov/stefov61.html)
1913 Jul 31, Bulgaria signed an
armistice concluding the 2nd Balkan War. [see Aug 10]
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balkan_Wars)
1913 Aug 10, The Treaty of
Bucharest ended the Second Balkan War. It was concluded by the
delegates of Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, and Greece. The
entire "disputed zone" was taken by Serbia, Greece secured its position
in Thessaloniki and southeastern Macedonia, the Ottomans regained all
the territories lost in the First Balkan War to Bulgaria with the
exception of eastern (Pirin) Macedonia, and the Romanians seized
Southern Dobruja.
(www.maknews.com/html/articles/stefov/stefov61.html)
1913 Sep 29, The Treaty of
Constantinople was signed. Turkey obtained not only Adrianople, but
also Kirk Kilissé and Demotica. The Bulgarians were not even
left masters of the one railway leading to Dedeagatch, their sole port
on the Aegean Sea.
(www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/boshtml/bos151.htm)
1914 Nov 20, Bulgaria proclaimed
its neutrality in the First World War.
(HN, 11/20/98)
1915 Sep 24, Bulgaria mobilized
troops on the Serbian border.
(HN, 9/24/98)
1915 Oct 11, A Bulgarian anti
Serbian offensive began.
(MC, 10/11/01)
1915 Oct 16, Great Britain
declared war on Bulgaria.
(MC, 10/16/01)
1915 Oct 19, Russia and Italy
declared war on Bulgaria.
(MC, 10/19/01)
1916 Sep 1, Bulgaria declared war
on Rumania as the First World War expanded.
(HN, 9/1/99)
1916 Sep 27, Constance of Greece
declared war on Bulgaria.
(HN, 9/27/98)
1917 Jan 5, Bulgarian and German
troops occupied the Port of Braila in East Romania.
(HN, 1/5/99)(WUD, 1994, p.178)
1918 Mar 3, Germany,
Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire and Russia signed the
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which ended Russian participation in World War
I. Germany and Austria forced Soviet Russia to sign the Peace of Brest,
which called for the establishment of 5 independent countries: Estonia,
Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine. The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk,
which ended Russian participation in World War I, was annulled by the
November 1918 armistice. The treaty deprived the Soviets of White
Russia.
(HN, 3/3/99)(LHC, 3/1/03)(AP, 3/3/08)
1918 Sep 30, Bulgaria pulled out
of World War I.
(HN, 9/30/98)
1919 Nov 27, Bulgaria signed peace
treaty with Allies at Neuilly, France, fixing war reparations and
recognizing Yugoslavian independence.
(HN, 11/27/98)
1923 Jun 9, Bulgaria’s government
was overthrown by the military.
(HN 6/9/98)
1930 Oct 4, King Boris
Cobourgh-Gotha III married Giovanna of Savoy, the daughter of Vittorio
Emanuele, the former king. Queen Ioanna died in 2000 at age 92.
(SFC, 2/29/00, p.A19)
1933 Feb 27, Germany's parliament
building, the Reichstag, caught fire. The Nazis blamed the Communists
and used the fire as a pretext for suspending civil liberties and
increasing their power. Georgi Dimitrov, a Bulgarian Communist, was one
of the accused plotters, but was acquitted. After WW II Dimitrov became
the 1st premier of communist Bulgaria. In 2003 Ivo Banac edited "The
Diary of Georgi Dimitrov."
(AP, 2/27/98)(HN, 2/27/99)(WSJ, 6/6/03, p.W9)
1935 Apr 21, King Boris of
Bulgaria forbade all political parties.
(MC, 4/21/02)
1935-1943 Georgi Dimitrov, a Bulgarian communist
selected by Stalin, led the Comintern.
(WSJ, 6/6/03, p.W9)
1939-1945 No Bulgarian Jew was killed during the
Holocaust.
(SFC, 9/6/00, p.A10)
1940 Jul 2, Georgi Ivan Ivanov,
1st Bulgarian space traveler (Soyuz 33), was born.
(SC, 7/2/02)
1941 Mar 1, Bulgaria joined the
Axis as the Nazis occupy Sofia.
(WUD, 1944, p.1683)(HN, 3/1/98)
1941 Mar 3, Moscow denounced the
Axis rule in Bulgaria.
(HN, 3/3/99)
1941 Mar 5, Britain severed all
relation with Bulgaria and prepared for an air attack on Bulgaria.
(HN, 3/5/98)
1943 Aug 16, Bulgarian czar Boris
III visited Adolf Hitler.
(MC, 8/16/02)
1943 Dec 10, Allied forces bombed
Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria.
(HN, 12/10/98)
1943 Dec 11, U.S. Secretary of
State, Cordell Hull, demanded that Hungary, Rumania, and Bulgaria
withdraw from the war.
(HN, 12/11/98)
1943 King Boris Cobourgh-Gotha III
died shortly after he yielded to pressure from Adolph Hitler to ally
with Nazi Germany. Prince Simeon (6) acceded to the thrown and reigned
under regencies until 1946 when the monarchy was abolished.
(SFC, 2/29/00, p.A19)
1944 Aug 26, Bulgaria announced
that it had withdrawn from the war (World War II) and that German
troops in the country were to be disarmed.
(RTH, 8/26/99)
1944-1947 King Simeon II reigned over Bulgaria when
he was 6 to 9 years old. The Communists sent him packing.
(SFC, 6/27/97, p.A16)
1946 Sep 8, Bulgaria ended its
monarchy. The monarchy was abolished in a referendum called by
communists installed by the Soviet Army. Georgi Dimitrov became the 1st
premier of communist Bulgaria. In 2003 Ivo Banac edited "The Diary of
Georgi Dimitrov."
(SFC, 2/29/00, p.A19)(MC, 9/8/01)(WSJ, 6/6/03, p.W9)
1947 Sep 23, Nikola Petkov, leader
of Bulgaria party, was hanged.
(MC, 9/23/01)
1949 Jan 1, Bulgaria inaugurated a
5-year plan.
(EWH, 1968, p.1193)
1949 Jun 25, Communist Deputy
Premier Traicho Kostov was arrested and charged with ideological
deviation and treason. He and ten associates were found guilty and
executed on Dec 16.
(EWH, 1968, p.1194)
1949 Jul 2, Premier Georgi
Dimitrov (b.1882), the founding leader of Bulgarian communism, died in
Moscow while undergoing medical treatment. His remains were placed in a
marble mausoleum in Sophia. He was succeeded by Vassil Kolarov.
Dimitrov’s remains were buried in 1990. In 2003 Ivo Banac edited "The
Diary of Georgi Dimitrov."
(EWH, 1968, p.1194)(SFC, 9/10/99, p.A12)(WSJ,
6/6/03, p.W9)(SFC, 9/10/08, p.A5)
1949 Dec 14, Bulgarian ex-Premier
Traicho Kostov was sentenced to die for treason in Sofia.
(HN, 12/14/98)
1950 Feb 21, The United States
formally broke relations with Bulgaria.
(HN, 2/21/98)
1952 Vincentius Bossilkov, the
Bishop of Nikopolis, was convicted at a Stalinist-era show trial for
refusing to accept a law aimed at removing the local Catholic Church
from Vatican jurisdiction. He was tried, tortured, shot and buried in a
common grave. He was beatified in 1998.
(SFC, 3/16/98, p.A9)
1954-1989 Todor Zhikov (d.1998) ruled Bulgaria.
During his rule he authorized a forced assimilation drive against the 1
million ethnic Turks. Over 100 were killed and some 310,000 forcibly
expelled.
(SFC, 8/7/98, p.D3)
1955 May 14, Representatives from
eight Communist bloc countries: Soviet Union, Albania, Bulgaria,
Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland & Romania, signed the
Warsaw Pact in Poland. Andras Hegedues signed for Hungary.
(AP, 5/14/97)(SFC, 10/26/99, p.B4)(MC, 5/14/02)
1968 Aug 3, The Bratislava
statement conceded Czechoslovakia’s right to pursue its own path. The
conference was held in Bratislava, Slovakia, for representatives of the
communist and workers' parties of the People's Republic of Bulgaria,
the Hungarian People's Republic, the German Democratic Republic, the
Polish People's Republic, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and
the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic.
(WUD, 1994,
p.1687)(http://library.thinkquest.org/C001155/documents/doc41.htm)
1969 Georgi Markov, a renowned
writer and journalist, fled communist Bulgaria and settled in London,
where he worked for the Bulgarian-language service of the British
Broadcasting Corp.
(AP, 6/16/05)
1971 May 18, The 3rd Bulgarian
constitution went into effect.
(www.servat.unibe.ch/icl/bu00000_.html)
1972 Communist Party officials
told Muslim men to change their names to something more Bulgarian. A
protest in Breznitsa left 8 dead.
(SFC, 3/27/00, p.A12)
1977 Bulgaria’s foreign minister
Petar Mladenov became a member of the policy-making Politburo.
(SFC, 6/2/00, p.D5)
1978 Sep 6, Bulgarian defector
Georgi Markov, living in London, was stabbed in the leg by a man
carrying an umbrella; Markov died four days later, an apparent victim
of the Bulgarian secret police using a ricin-coated pellet. The
assassin was later identified as Francesco Gullino (Guillino,
Giullino), code name Piccadilly, an Italian-born Dane, operating under
instructions from Vasil Kotsev, Bulgaria’s top spymaster.
(AP, 9/7/08)(Econ, 9/6/08, p.61)
1978 Sep 11, Georgi Markov, a
Bulgarian defector, died at a British hospital four days after being
stabbed by a man wielding a poisoned umbrella tip. British
investigative reporter Peter Earle (d.1997 at 71) revealed that Markov
was jabbed by an East German agent with a poison tipped umbrella on
Waterloo Bridge. The original report stated that Markov died of a heart
attack. In 1993 Danish authorities charged a Dane of Italian origin,
Francesco Guillino, with killing Markov. Guillino, who reportedly had
worked for the Bulgarian secret services since 1972, denied any
wrongdoing and eventually was freed. In 2005 journalist Hristo Hristov
authored “Kill Vagabond,” in which he presented new evidence confirming
that the hit was planned and carried out by Bulgaria's communist-era
secret service.
(SFEC, 4/27/97, p.B8)(AP, 9/11/98)(AP, 6/16/05)(SFC,
6/17/05, p.W5)
1980 In 1980, Konstantin Pavlov
(1933-2008), Bulgarian poet and screenwriter, was granted the Grand
Prix at the Karlovy Vary film festival for his screenplay of the film
"Illusion."
(AP, 9/30/08)
1988 Dec 27, Bulgaria stopped
jamming Radio Free Europe after more than 3 decades.
(http://tinyurl.com/jh6vq)
1989 Nov 10, In Bulgaria Communist
ruler Todor Zhivkov was thrown out of office after a 35-year
dictatorship. The ouster was led by Foreign Minister Petar Mladenov who
later became president.
(SFC, 11/29/96, p.B3)(SFC, 5/2/97,
p.A14)(www.bulgaria.com/history/rulers/zhivkov.html)
1989 To avoid assimilation 300,000
Turks left Bulgaria.
(SFC, 9/9/96, p.A11)
1989 Bulgaria’s new government
apologized for "crimes of the past" and rescinded the 1972 Communist
law for Muslim men to change their names.
(SFC, 3/27/00, p.A12)
1990 Feb 3, The parliament of
Bulgaria elected economist Andrei Lukanov to replace a hard-line
Communist as premier. Lukanov became the prime minister after rising to
the number 2 spot of the Communist hierarchy under Zhivkov. He oversaw
the party’s formal break with Stalinism and victory in the first free
elections.
(SFC, 10/5/96, p.A10)(AP, 2/3/00)
1990 Jun, Bulgaria’s former
Communist Party, renamed the Socialist party, won parliamentary
elections.
(SFC, 5/2/97, p.A14)
1990 Jul, Bulgaria’s Pres. Petar
Mladenov resigned under pressure from the anti-communist opposition.
(SFC, 6/2/00, p.D5)
1990 Nov, Bulgaria’s Andrei
Lukanov fell from power under a wave of protests and strikes.
(SFC, 10/5/96, p.A10)
1990 Dec, Bulgaria’s Socialist
dominated Parliament formed a coalition government headed by nonparty
lawyer Dimitar Popov. It included the opposition Union of Democratic
Forces (UDF).
(SFC, 5/2/97, p.A14)
1990 The body of Georgi Dimitrov
was removed from its mausoleum in Sophia and cremated.
(SFC, 9/10/99, p.A12)
1990-1997 Bulgaria’s Socialist Party drove the
country to the brink of bankruptcy.
(SFC, 6/18/01, p.A10)
1991 Bulgaria’s .UDF won a modest
majority in parliament in the fall, but its government was ousted in a
no-confidence vote after 11 months in power.
(SFC, 5/2/97, p.A14)
1991 In Bulgaria Albena Simeonova
established the Foundation for Ecological Training and Education.
(USAT, 4/22/96, p.4-D)
1992 Bulgaria’s Communist leader
Todor Zhivkov was convicted of embezzling state funds. He was freed in
1997.
(WSJ, 1/21/97, p.A1)
1993 Jun 28, Boris Christoff
(b.1914), Bulgaria born bass singer, died in Rome.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Christoff)
1993 In Bulgaria Albena Simeonova
established the environmental group Green Parliament.
(USAT, 4/22/96, p.4-D)
1993 Bulgaria banned dancing
bears, but performances continued through 2002. In 2000 Four Paws, a
Vienna animal rights group, opened a bear sanctuary at Belitsa.
(SFC, 7/8/02, p.A3)
1994 Dec 18, Bulgaria’s Socialist
Party (ex-communist) won a parliamentary election. Premier Zhan
Videnov’s Socialist government won a parliamentary majority.
(www.projects.v2.nl/~arns/Texts/Chrono/BG.html)(SFC,
6/6/96, p.C5)
1994 Arms exports from Bulgaria
generated about $250 mil., a three-fold increase over a year earlier.
(WSJ, 7/24/95, p.A-7c)
1994 Emil Kuylev (1956-2005), a
former police officer, founded the Bulgarian-Russian Rosexim bank and
acquired in 2002 the state insurance company DZI, making his business
into the largest banking and insurance firm in Bulgaria.
(AP, 10/26/05)
1995 Dec, Bulgaria's Parliament
endorsed the government's decision to apply for full membership to the
European Union.
(WSJ, 12/4/95, p.A-8)
1996 Apr 22, Albena Simeonova,
founder of Green Parliament in Bulgaria was a Goldman Award winner for
her campaigning against nuclear power and other environmental issues.
(USAT, 4/22/96, p.4-D)
1996 May 21, Bulgaria's PM Zhan
Videnov was struggling to keep the country’s economy intact. The local
currency, the lev, slumped to 116 leva to the dollar.
(WSJ, 5/21/96, p.A-12)
1996 May 25, King Simeon returned
to Bulgaria. He may run for president but must get waived
constitutional requirement that candidates must have been residents for
the previous 5 years. He was forced into exile by the communist rulers
at age 9.
(SFC, 5/26/96, p.C-11)
1996 Jun 6, Bulgaria's currency
was plummeting and crime was rampant. People were dispirited and the
official economy was 90% state-owned and under management by former
Communists. Pres. Zhelyu Zhelev doubted whether the Socialist Party
would be able to rescue the country.
(SFC, 6/6/96, C2,5)
1996 Jun 14, Bulgaria passed
legislation to give joint ventures at least 50% foreign owned a five
year tax holiday, and required that half of the forgiven tax sums be
invested in the same businesses.
(WSJ, 6/14/96, p.A10)
1996 Jun, The average monthly
wages in Bulgaria fell to about $65 from $122 in May.
(WSJ, 8/19/96, p.A7C)
1996 Jul 1, In Bulgaria there was
sharp increases in taxes, excise duties and electricity and fuel prices.
(SFC, 7/2/96, p.A10)
1996 Jul, Bulgaria reached an
agreement with the IMF and $582 million was pumped in with another $200
million promised by the World Bank.
(WSJ, 8/19/96, p.A7C)
1996 Jul, Inflation in Bulgaria
hit 23% for the month.
(SFC, 9/9/96, p.A11)
1996 Aug 11, Vangelia Gushterova
(84), a blind peasant woman with supposed clairvoyant powers, died in
Bulgaria of cancer.
(SFC, 8/12/96, p.C5)
1996 Oct 2, In Bulgaria former PM
Andrei Lukanov was assassinated. It was said that he had new proofs of
corruption in the highest power circles. In 2003 5 men were convicted
and sentenced to life in prison without chance of parole.
(SFC, 10/5/96, p.A10)(AP, 11/28/03)
1996 Oct 27, Bulgaria's
anti-Communist opposition candidate, Petar Stoyanov, led the elections
against Ivan Marazov with 44% vs. 27%.
(SFC, 10/28/96, p.A10)
1996 Nov 3, In Bulgaria’s
presidential elections Petar Stoyanov (44) won with 61.9% of the vote.
(SFC, 11/4/96, p.A11)
1996 Bulgaria’s GDP fell 10% and
foreign debt went up to more than $9 billion, equal to the size of the
economy. Wages have fallen to $20 per month from 120.
(WSJ, 2/28/97, p.A1)
1997 Jan 8, Bulgaria’s ruling
party backed Nikolai Dobrev for premier.
(WSJ, 1/9/97, p.A1)
1997 Jan 10, In Bulgaria
protestors trapped legislators of the ruling Socialist Party inside
parliament. The economy was still 90% state-owned and inflation last
year topped 300%.
(SFC, 1/11/96, p.A8)
1997 Jan 19, Bulgaria’s Pres.
Peter Stoyanov was sworn into office and he immediately called for new
parliamentary elections.
(SFC, 1/20/96, p.A13)
1997 Feb 3, Bulgaria's Premier
designate Nikolai Dobrev was selected by the Bulgaria’s Socialists to
lead a new government. Thousands hit the streets with students and
transport workers in protest.
(SFC, 2/4/97, p.A9)
1997 Feb 4, Bulgaria’s
ex-Communists backed down and agreed to new elections in April.
(WSJ, 2/5/97, p.A1)
1997 Apr 19, In Bulgaria the
United Democratic Forces (UDF) under Ivan Kostov won elections with 52%
of the vote. The former Communist’s renamed Socialist Party won 19%.
(SFEC, 4/21/97, p.A8)
1997 May 2, Bulgaria’s average
salary was reported as $30 a month and the average pension $4 a month.
(SFC, 5/2/97, p.A18)
1997 May 21, In Bulgaria Ivan
Kostov was elected the new premiere by the parliament. He planned
reforms for the economy, cleanup of corruption, and gaining admission
to the EU and NATO.
(SFC, 5/22/97, p.C3)
1998 Nov 23, An Arctic cold wave
was reported to have killed 71 people across Europe over the last 3
days. 36 deaths were in Poland and 24 in Romania and Bulgaria.
(SFC, 11/24/98, p.A14)
1999 Mar 26, In Bulgaria some
10,000 people protested NATO strikes; in Greece some 15,000 marched on
the US embassy in protest; in Bosnia some 3,000 Serb youths turned
violent in Banja Luka over the NATO strikes.
(SFC, 3/27/99, p.A11)
1999 Apr 18, NATO requested from
Bulgaria the use of its airspace.
(WSJ, 4/19/99, p.A1)
1999 Apr 20, Bulgaria and Romania
offered to let NATO use their airspace to bomb Yugoslavia.
(WSJ, 4/21/99, A22)
1999 Apr 29, In Bulgaria an errant
NATO HARM missile hit a home in Gorna Banya on the outskirts of Sofia.
There were no casualties.
(SFC, 4/30/99, p.A13,D2)
1999 Jun 30, In Bulgaria finance
minister Muravei Radev announced that 40% of state assets would be sold
and dozens of companies closed.
(SFC, 7/1/99, p.A15)
1999 Aug 21, In Bulgaria a planned
explosion in Sophia of the mausoleum that once housed the body of
former Communist leader Georgi Dimitrov failed to collapse the
structure. It took a week to collapse the structure.
(SFEC, 8/22/99, p.A18)(SFC, 9/10/99, p.A12)
1999 Nov 22, Pres. Clinton visited
Bulgaria and promised more aid if the economy stabilized and the
movement toward democracy continued.
(SFC, 11/23/99, p.A14)
1999 Dec 10, The EU granted
preliminary consideration for membership to Bulgaria, Latvia,
Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Malta.
(SFC, 12/11/99, p.A16)
1999 Bulgaria cut 3 zeroes from
its currency.
(Econ, 8/28/04, p.67)
1999 Bulgaria agreed with the EU
to close the two oldest reactors in the Kozlodui nuclear power plant by
the end of 2006 because of safety concerns. 2 newer 1,000-megawatt
reactors were to stay running until the next decade.
(AP, 10/9/06)
1999 Bulgaria privatized the
troubled Kremikovtzi steel plant selling 71% to businessman Valentin
Zahariev for one dollar and a promise to rehabilitate the plant.
(WSJ, 8/4/08, p.A8)
2000 May 31, Petar Mladenov,
former Bulgarian president (1989-1990), died at age 64.
(SFC, 6/2/00, p.D5)
2001 Apr 23, It was reported that
Simeon Borisov Saxe-Coburgotski, the former Czar Simeon II of Bulgaria,
had recently announced plans to form a political party.
(SFC, 4/23/01, p.A8)
2001 Apr, Customs agents in
Bulgaria confiscated a transport plane from the Czech Republic with 6
howitzers and a cache of AK-47 rifles. The plane was scheduled to go to
Georgia but had flight plans for Eritrea.
(WSJ, 12/11/01, p.A15)
2001 Jun 17, In Bulgaria voters in
parliamentary elections supported the national Movement of Czar Simeon
II (64), who was eligible to become prime minister. PM Ivan Kostov
conceded. Simeon’s party won 120 of 240 seats.
(SFC, 6/18/01, p.A10)(SFC, 7/13/01, p.A14)
2001 Jul 12, In Bulgaria Simeon
Saxe-Coburgotski (64), the former King Simeon II, was chosen as Prime
Minister. He promised to solve the country's problems in 800 days.
(SFC, 7/13/01, p.A14)(Econ, 11/1/03, p.46)
2001 Dec 21, In Sofia, Bulgaria,
at least 7 young people were killed when they rushed the entrance of a
downtown disco.
(SFC, 12/22/01, p.A5)
2001 In Bulgaria Socialist Georgi
Parvanov (44) won 53% of the presidential vote against incumbent Petar
Stoyanov. This signaled discontent with the pace of reforms of PM
Simeon Saxcoburggotski.
(SFC, 11/19/01, p.A14)(WSJ, 11/19/01, p.A1)
2002 May 23, Pope John Paul II
visited Bulgaria, his 1st to the Orthodox nation of just 80,000
thousand Catholics.
(SFC, 5/24/02, p.A13)
2002 May 31, Bulgaria signed an
agreement with the US to destroy its Cold War-era missiles. The US
planned to pay the costs of destruction.
(SFC, 6/1/02, p.A11)
2002 Jun 9, The Bulgaria Socialist
Party re-elected Sergei Stanishev (35), its young, reformist leader, in
a landslide victory for the social democratic wing of the party over
aging communist hard-liners.
(AP, 6/9/02)
2002 Oct 9, The European Union's
executive Commission declared Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Cyprus,
Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovenia,
and Slovakia nearly ready for EU membership and recommended they be
invited to join in 2004. Romania and Bulgaria likely will be delayed
until 2007 because of weak economies, the Commission said, adding
Turkey was the weakest link among candidates.
(AP, 10/9/02)
2002 Nov 21, The Baltic nations of
Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania joined former communist states Bulgaria,
Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia as the next wave of NATO states.
(AP, 11/21/02)
2003 Mar 7, In Bulgaria Ilya
Pavlov, owner of the energy and tourism-related company Multigroup and
Bulgaria's richest man, was killed by a sniper in Sofia. Pavlov, a
former wrestler, was instrumental in the demise of the Kremikovtzi
steel plant.
(AP, 10/26/05)(http://tinyurl.com/hju8l)(WSJ,
8/4/08, p.A8)
2003 Nov 28, In Bulgaria 5 men
were convicted and sentenced to life in prison without chance of parole
for the 1996 assassination of former Prime Minister Andrei Lukanov.
(AP, 11/28/03)
2003 Dec 24, It was reported that
U.S. and Russian experts recovered 37 pounds of weapons-grade uranium,
enough to develop a nuclear warhead, from a closed atomic facility in
Bulgaria.
(AP, 12/24/03)
2003 Dec 27, In Iraq insurgents
launched 3 coordinated attacks in the southern city of Karbala, killing
12 people, including six Iraqi police officers, 2 Thai soldiers and 5
Bulgarians.
(AP, 12/27/03)(AP, 12/28/03)(SSFC, 12/28/03,
p.A3)(WSJ, 12/29/03, p.A1)
2004 Jan 2, Bulgaria reported that
more than two dozen Bulgarian soldiers are refusing deployment in Iraq,
following the deaths of five countrymen.
(AP, 1/2/04)
2004 Mar 29, Pres. Bush hosted a
White House ceremony to welcome Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia,
Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia into the NATO alliance.
(WSJ, 3/30/04, p.A1)
2004 Mar, The population of
Bulgaria was about 7.9 million, down from 8.9 million in 1989.
(WPR, 3/04, p.28)
2004 Apr 2, In Brussel an official
ceremony welcomed Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Romania,
Slovakia and Slovenia into the NATO alliance.
(SFC, 4/3/04, p.A11)
2004 May 3, Bulgaria sent 24 of
its soldiers home after they complained about being unprepared for duty
in Iraq.
(AP, 5/3/04)
2004 Jul 14, Militants in Iraq
said they killed a captive Bulgarian truck driver and threatened to put
another hostage to death in 24 hours. Georgi Lazov (30) and Ivaylo
Kepov (32) were kidnapped Jun 29.
(AP, 7/14/04)(USAT, 7/4/04, p.5A)
2004 Sep 30, Bulgaria adopted
changes to its criminal justice system to meet EU demands for joining
the group in 2007.
(WSJ, 10/4/04, p.A15)
2004 Dec 7, Libya listed three
conditions under which it is prepared to drop charges against five
Bulgarian nurses condemned to death on suspect charges of spreading
AIDS.
(AFP, 12/8/04)
2004 Dec 28, Albania, Bulgaria and
Macedonia gave political support to a $1.2 billion private trans-Balkan
pipeline that will allow Russian and Caspian crude oil to avoid Turkish
waters.
(WSJ, 12/29/04, p.A7)
2005 Jan 1, Bulgaria was forecast
for 4% GDP growth with a population at 7.7 million and GDP per head at
$3,590.
(Econ, 1/8/05, p.87)
2005 Jan 21, Bulgarian President
Georgy Parvanov told parliament that he would like to see Bulgaria's
450-strong troop contingent out of Iraq before the end of the year.
(AFP, 1/21/05)
2005 Feb, Bulgaria’s parliament
passed a law authorizing the confiscation of illegally obtained assets.
Widespread money laundering had manifested itself in a construction
boom in tourist areas and other sudden explosions of wealth. The
audacity of the crime bosses, who intimidate normal Bulgarians with
their gun-toting entourages, has angered many and may play a role in
whether Saxe-Coburg will hold on to power in summer elections.
(AP, 4/3/05)
2005 Mar 4, In Iraq Pvt. Gardi
Gardev, a Bulgarian soldier, was killed by friendly fire." President
Georgi Parvanov summoned U.S. Ambassador James Pardew on Mar 7 and
complained about the lack of coordination between coalition troops in
Iraq.
(AP, 3/7/05)
2005 Apr 13, The European
Parliament approved the entry of Bulgaria and Romania into the EU in
2007, but it said both countries still need to carry out necessary
reforms.
(AP, 4/13/05)
2005 May 28, Bulgarian President
Georgi Parvanov flew Tripoli to meet with Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi,
days before a Libyan court rules on the appeal of five Bulgarian nurses
sentenced to death over an AIDS-tainted blood scandal.
(Reuters, 5/27/05)
2005 Jun 25, Bulgarians voted in
general elections. The ex-communist Socialist party was expected to see
the Socialists topple ex-king PM Simeon Saxe-Coburg and take over the
tough task of steering the country into the EU in 2007.
(Reuters, 6/25/05)
2005 Jun 26, In Bulgaria with
99.6% of the votes counted, the Socialists had 31% of the vote, while
the ruling center-right National Movement of PM Simeon Saxcoburggotski
had 20%. The Movement for rights and Freedoms, a party for ethnic
Turks, won 13%.
(AP, 6/26/05)(WSJ, 6/27/05, p.A12)(Econ, 7/2/05,
p.46)
2005 Jul 15, Officials said heavy
rains and flash floods have killed 20 people and inundated tens of
thousands of homes in Bulgaria and Romania.
(AP, 7/15/05)
2005 Aug 15, Bulgaria's three
largest parties formed a coalition under a Socialist prime minister,
resolving seven weeks of stalemate threatening to hold up the Balkan
state's aspirations for EU entry in 2007.
(AP, 8/15/05)
2005 Aug 16, Bulgaria's Parliament
overwhelmingly approved historian Sergei Stanishev (39), the leader of
the Socialist Party, as the country's new prime minister bringing to
power his socialist-liberal coalition government.
(AP, 8/16/05)
2005 Aug 17, Libya called on the
Bulgarian government to negotiate a payment to win amnesty for five
Bulgarian medics and a Palestinian sentenced to death for allegedly
infecting 400 children with the AIDS virus.
(AP, 8/18/05)
2005 Aug, Georgy Iliev, owner of a
Bulgarian First League football club and brother of the founder of the
VIS security-guard business that was banned for racketeering, was shot
down in a bar he owned.
(AP, 10/26/05)
2005 Sep 2, Bulgaria said it has
begun preparations to withdraw its 400 troops from Iraq.
(AP, 9/2/05)
2005 Oct 10, Shinka Manova, a
high-ranking Bulgarian customs official, was slain in Sofia. He was
allegedly protecting the smuggling business of the mafia.
(AP, 10/26/05)
2005 Oct 14, Bulgaria adopted a
new penal procedure to remedy a judiciary system that has been
criticized for failing to jail well-known criminals.
(AP, 10/26/05)
2005 Oct 26, Emil Kyulev (49)
owner of Bulgaria's largest insurance and banking group, DZI-Rosexim,
was shot dead in the street in Sofia in the latest in a series of
killings to jolt the country, which has been told to crack down on
organized crime if it wants to join the EU.
(AP, 10/26/05)(Econ, 10/29/05, p.50)
2005 Dec 23, Bulgaria and Libya
agreed to set up a special fund for AIDS-infected children in Libya,
where five Bulgarian nurses face the death penalty after being
convicted of causing the infections.
(AP, 12/23/05)
2005 Dec 25, Libya's Supreme Court
scrapped death sentences against five Bulgarian nurses and a
Palestinian doctor and ordered a retrial of the cases which have harmed
Tripoli's efforts to build ties with the West.
(Reuters, 12/25/05)
2005 Dec 27, Ukraine and Bulgaria
said all their troops had left Iraq. Poland said it would remain but
reduce its number of troops by 600 next year.
(AP, 12/27/05)
2005 In Bulgaria businessman
Valentin Zahariev sold the troubled Kremikovtzi steel plant for $110
million to Pramod Mittal, the brother of steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal.
(WSJ, 8/4/08, p.A8)
2005 Bulgaria’s GDP per head was
$3,480.
(Econ, 1/6/07, p.43)
2006 Jan 6, Bulgarian officials
said Gazprom was pushing it to switch to a system in which it pays
transit fees and charges Sofia market prices. Bulgaria rejected the
offer and said its current is good to 2010.
(WSJ, 1/9/06, p.A11)
2006 Jan 21, The families of 426
HIV-infected Libyan children asked for $12 million in compensation for
each child as part of efforts to resolve the case of five Bulgarian
nurses and a Palestinian doctor charged with intentionally infecting
the children.
(AP, 1/22/06)
2006 Jan, Hewlett-Packard
announced that it will open a global delivery service center in Sofia,
Bulgaria, in June with some 1000 Bulgarian employees.
(SFC, 5/16/06,
p.C1)(http://iinbulgaria.com/newsletter/html/biin-37.html)
2006 Feb 22, Bulgaria's parliament
endorsed a government decision to send a 120-member non-combat unit to
Iraq.
(AP, 2/22/06)
2006 Mar 24, Officials said
Bulgaria and the US have reached an agreement allowing the US military
to use several military bases in Bulgaria.
(AP, 3/24/06)
2006 Apr 13, The Danube reached
record-high levels in Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia, flooding fertile
farmland as authorities in southeastern Europe considered ordering
evacuations.
(AP, 4/13/06)
2006 Apr 27, Thousands of
Bulgarians demonstrated against a deal to allow US troops to use
military facilities in the country.
(AP, 4/27/06)
2006 Apr 28, In Bulgaria Secretary
Rice signed a Defense Cooperation Agreement, which included a US lease
of 3 bases in Bulgaria.
(www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/pix/2006/65423.htm)(Econ,
6/24/06, p.62)
2006 May 26, In Bulgaria lawmakers
overwhelmingly approved an agreement allowing US troops to use
Bulgarian military facilities.
(AP, 5/26/06)
2006 May 30, In Bulgaria more than
10,000 people protested in the streets of Sofia to demand changes in
the government's economic and social policy, which they blame for the
country's rising cost of living.
(AP, 5/30/06)
2006 Sep 26, The European
Commission recommended that Bulgaria and Romania join the EU next year,
but under some of the harshest terms ever faced by new members.
(AP, 9/26/06)
2006 Oct 2, Vladimir Kramnik of
Russia and Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria played to a draw in Game 6 of
the world chess championship after Kramnik agreed to resume competition
after a dispute over bathroom breaks threatened to halt the tournament.
(AP, 10/3/06)
2006 Oct 22, Bulgarians voted for
the president who will lead their country into the EU. Incumbent Georgi
Parvanov won 64% of the vote against his main rival, ultranationalist
Volen Siderov. Turnout was only 38% of Bulgaria's 6.4 million eligible
voters, short of the 50% required by law to allow Parvanov to avoid a
runoff. Most power in Bulgaria rests with the prime minister and
parliament. But the president does have veto powers, giving him the
right to send any bill back to parliament. He also represents the state
abroad, leads the armed forces and can sign international treaties. The
president is elected for a term of five years, renewable only once. The
runoff was set for Oct 29.
(AP, 10/22/06)(WSJ, 10/24/06, p.A1)
2006 Oct 24, Britain said
Bulgarians and Romanians will have only limited rights to work in
Britain for at least a year after their countries join the European
Union on January 1.
(AP, 10/24/06)
2006 Oct 29, Bulgarian President
Georgy Parvanov won re-election to a second five-year term with an
unassailable lead in his run-off battle against ultra-nationalist
challenger Volen Siderov. Turnout was between 35 and 40%.
(AP, 10/29/06)
2006 Oct 30, A Russian company won
a bid to construct a second nuclear plant in Bulgaria.
(AP, 10/31/06)
2006 Nov 15, In Bulgaria Bozhidar
Doychev, the director of the department responsible for communist-era
archives, was found dead at his desk, shot with his own gun. Lawmakers
had recently voted to open the archives.
(Econ, 12/23/06,
p.74)(www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread234270/pg)
2006 Dec 6, Lawmakers in Bulgaria
adopted a much-delayed law to open the archives of its former communist
secret service, but also voted to keep a small portion of the files
secret for "national security reasons."
(AP, 12/6/06)
2006 Dec 7, In northeastern
Bulgaria a truck collided with a bus, sending both vehicles off a
bridge into a river and killing at least 17 people.
(AP, 12/8/06)
2006 Dec 19, A Libya court
convicted five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor of
deliberately infecting 400 children with HIV and sentenced them to
death, despite scientific evidence the youngsters had the virus before
the medical workers came to Libya. The verdict, which will be
automatically referred to Libya's Supreme Court, drew quick
condemnation from European nations. The six later had their death
sentences commuted, and were transferred to Bulgaria, where they were
pardoned and set free.
(AP, 12/19/06)(AP, 12/19/07)
2006 Dec 31, In Bulgaria 2
Chernobyl-era nuclear energy units were shut down at Kozloduy as an
accession to Bulgaria’s joining the EU. This led to a cut in energy
exports and to soaring energy prices in the Balkans.
(Econ, 2/10/07, p.51)(http://tinyurl.com/2oyyok)
2007 Jan 1, Bulgaria and Romania
joined the EU. Some 30,000 Israelis gained EU citizenship due to their
dual registration in Romania.
(WSJ, 10/4/07, p.A11)(AP, 1/1/07)
2007 Mar 2, Bulgaria's
Socialist-led government survived a no-confidence on a motion filed by
the opposition, claiming that the government was unable to cope with a
health care crisis.
(AP, 3/2/07)
2007 Mar 15, Bulgaria, Russia and
Greece signed a deal in Athens to build a 175-mile pipeline to
transport Russian oil to a port in northern Greece.
(AP, 3/15/07)
2007 May 20, An exit poll showed
that Bulgaria's ruling Socialist party won the country's first
elections for the European Parliament with 23.9% of votes, despite
voter frustration with rampant corruption and poverty.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 27, A Libyan court
acquitted 5 Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian medic of charges of
slandering policemen by protesting that their confessions had been
extracted under torture.
(AFP, 5/27/07)
2007 Jun 2, Bulgarian PM Sergey
Stanishev said he had accepted the resignation of two ministers,
following a corruption scandal that has shaken his centre-left
government.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 11, Pres. Bush arrived in
Bulgaria and met with President Georgi Parvanov.
(AP, 6/11/07)
2007 Jun 15, Activists in Bulgaria
bought the freedom of the country’s last three dancing bears. They will
get to rest their paws at a mountain sanctuary, in an apparent end to
the centuries-old performance tradition in the Balkans. Bears had still
performed, even though the practice was outlawed in 1993, when there
were 20 to 30 such bears in the country.
(AP, 6/15/07)
2007 Jul 11, Manol Velev, a
Bulgarian businessman, was shot and left in a coma. Velev was married
to Bulgaria’s sports minister and had paid for the 2006 re-election
campaign of Pres. Georgi Parvanov. Velev was released from the hospital
on December 6, 2007 and faced extensive rehabilitation.
(http://paper.standartnews.com/en/article.php?d=2007-12-06&article=9058)(Econ,
8/11/07, p.42)
2007 Jul 17, Libya's foreign
minister said the death sentences for five Bulgarian nurses and a
Palestinian doctor accused of infecting hundreds of Libyan children
with HIV have been commuted to life in prison. The ruling came after
the families of the children each received $1 million and agreed to
drop their demand for the execution of the six.
(AP, 7/17/07)
2007 Jul 24, Five Bulgarian nurses
and a Palestinian doctor, sentenced to life in prison in Libya for
allegedly infecting children with HIV, came home to Bulgaria and were
greeted with tears and hugs, and a presidential pardon that allowed
them to walk free after 8 1/2 years behind bars. French President
Nicolas Sarkozy said Qatar mediated the release and hinted the Gulf
country may have had a broader role in resolving the crisis.
(AP, 7/24/07)
2007 Jul 28, Libya said the Czech
Republic, Qatar and Bulgaria contributed to an international fund to
support hundreds of children who contracted HIV at a Libyan hospital in
the 1990s. Libya also denounced a decision by Bulgaria's president to
pardon six medics from life jail terms in an AIDS case as a "betrayal"
and an "illegal procedure."
(Reuters, 7/28/07)(AFP, 7/28/07)
2007 Aug 2, Bulgaria said it had
decided to write off Libya's communist-era debt as a contribution to an
international fund for the victims of an AIDS epidemic blamed by
Tripoli on six Bulgarian medics.
(AP, 8/2/07)
2007 Sep 3, Bulgaria donated $56.6
million in Soviet-era debt owned by Libya as its contribution to a deal
that led to the release of six medics convicted of infecting Libyan
children with HIV.
(AP, 9/3/07)
2007 Oct 28, Bulgarians voted in
municipal elections that attracted a record number of candidates given
the scheduled influx of millions of euros in EU funding over the next
few years. The vote will prove a mid-term test for the ruling
centre-left coalition government of PM Sergey Stanishev.
(AP, 10/28/07)
2007 Nov 23, Bulgaria’s Interior
Ministry said police have arrested nine people and broke a huge
counterfeiting ring that churned out foreign passports and other
documents and distributed them across Europe.
(AP, 11/23/07)
2007 Dec 12, A new report said the
trafficking of Bulgarian women as sex slaves brings in about 1.8
billion euros ($2.6 billion) a year for the gangs behind it, making it
the country's most profitable criminal activity.
(AP, 12/12/07)
2007 Dec 12, Ashraf Juma Hajuj,
the Palestinian-born doctor held with five Bulgarian nurses in a Libyan
prison for over eight years, filed suit in Paris against Libyan leader
Moamer Kadhafi for torture. The six medics, who always maintained their
innocence, said they were subjected to torture, including beatings,
electric shocks, food and sleep deprivation, and even sexual abuse, in
order to confess to their alleged crime.
(AFP, 12/13/07)
2007 Georgi Parvanov, president of
Bulgaria, was named as a collaborator with communist secret services.
He said he was approached to edit a book and did not realize he was
dealing with spooks.
(Econ, 5/31/08, SR p.13)
2008 Jan 18, Russian President
Vladimir Putin clinched a key pipeline deal with Bulgaria that
strengthens Moscow's grip on European gas markets before issuing a
stern warning about the future status of Kosovo.
(AP, 1/18/08)
2008 Feb 28, In Bulgaria a night
train traveling from Sofia to the northeastern town of Kardam caught
fire. Officials said at least eight people died, adding that the toll
could rise.
(AP, 2/29/08)
2008 Apr 4, A Bulgarian official
revealed that the country's communist-era border troops killed East
Germans and others who tried to get to the West by sneaking across this
Balkan country's borders during the Cold War. Documents detailed at
least two cases in which citizens of then communist East Germany were
killed, one in 1974 and one in 1988. Archives also showed that 22
Bulgarians were shot while trying to escape to Greece or Turkey between
1964 and 1967.
(AP, 4/5/08)
2008 Apr 7, In Bulgaria gunmen
killed Georgy Stoyev, the country’s best-known author of books on the
mafia. The night before, Borislav Georgiev, the chief executive of a
large energy company, was killed in his apartment building with two
bullets to the head.
(http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iOiGGOjL2rCkZuEhCa9kkLtaA5LA)
2008 Apr 13, Bulgaria's powerful
Interior Minister Rumen Petkov resigned amid a snowballing corruption
scandal that exposed links between top crime-busters and suspected
criminals.
(AP, 4/13/08)
2008 Jun 28, In Bulgaria
extremists throwing rocks, bottles and gasoline bombs attacked the
capital's first gay pride parade which included some 150 participants.
(AP, 6/28/08)
2008 Jul 18, A report of the
European Union Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) was leaked to the media.
According the report, which was sent to Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister
Plugchieva two weeks ago, businessman Lyudmil Stoykov, who sponsored
the president's election campaign, and his associate Mario Nikolov, who
is a sponsor of Parvanov's Bulgarian Socialist Party, were involved in
large-scale abuses of EU funds.
(http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90853/6452879.html)
2008 Jul 23, The European
Commission froze almost euro500 million ($800 million) in aid to
Bulgaria, citing corruption, organized crime, severe spending
irregularities and alleged vote-buying in a country that only joined
the EU last year.
(AP, 7/23/08)
2008 Jul, Bulgarian prosecutors
indicted Alexander Tomov, chief executive of the Kremikovtzi steel
plant, for millions of euros that they say were transferred to a soccer
club and then to offshore companies controlled by Tomov. The former
politician had been hired by Pramod Mittal in August 2007 to stop the
financial bleeding at the Kremikovtzi steel plant.
(WSJ, 8/4/08, p.A8)
2008 Aug 6, A Bulgarian court
declared the Kremikovtzi steel plant to be insolvent. Ukrainian
billionaire Kostyantin Zhevago and Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal SA
competed to take over the plant operations following the insolvency
proceedings.
(WSJ, 8/7/08, p.B2)
2008 Jul, Bulgaria’s population
stood at about 7.5 million people, down from 10.5 million since the
early 1990s.
(Econ, 7/26/08, p.63)
2008 Sep 14, Archaeologist Georgi
Kitov (b.1943), an expert on the treasure-rich Thracian culture of
antiquity, died of a heart attack while excavating a temple in central
Bulgaria.
(AP, 9/19/08)
2008 Sep 28, Konstantin Pavlov
(b.1933), Bulgarian poet and screenwriter, died. He was among the few
Bulgarian intellectuals who dared to assert their professional
independence during the 1945-89 communist regime. Some of his most
popular volumes of poetry are "Sweet Agony" (1991), "The Murder of the
Sleeping Man" (1992) and "A Long Time Ago..." (1998).
(AP, 9/30/08)
2008 Nov 25, Bulgaria lost euro220
million ($286 million) in promised payments from the EU because of its
failure to tackle corruption.
(www.eubusiness.com/news-eu/1227620855.75/)
2008 Dec 17, Bulgaria's last 155
troops stationed in Iraq returned home. 13 Bulgarian soldiers and six
civilians have died in Iraq since 2003. Bulgaria also has troops in
international military missions in Afghanistan, Kosovo and Bosnia.
(AP, 12/17/08)
2009 Jan 3, Russian gas flows to
four European Union countries fell normal levels after Moscow cut off
supplies to Ukraine in a pricing row with no talks in sight to resolve
the dispute. Bulgaria's Bulgargaz joined energy firms in Poland,
Romania and Hungary in saying they had noted falls in supply.
(Reuters, 1/3/09)
2009 Jan 6, A natural gas crisis
loomed over Europe, as a contract dispute between Russia and Ukraine
shut off Russian gas supplies to six countries and reduced gas
deliveries to several others. Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, Romania,
Croatia and Turkey all reported a halt in gas shipments.
(AP, 1/6/09)
2009 Jan 14, Russia and Ukraine
wrangled over gas supplies again. Bulgaria and Slovakia, cut off by the
row for a freezing week, launched missions to plead for Russian gas
flow to be restored.
(Reuters, 1/14/09)
2009 Jan 15, Bulgarians held a
rally outside parliament for the second day to demand that their
government resign because of alleged corruption and a deepening
economic crisis.
(AP, 1/15/09)
2009 Jan 20, In Belgium the
“Entropa” art installation at the EU headquarters, by Czech artist
David Cerny, covered up the part that showed Bulgaria as a squat toilet
after protests from the aggrieved nation.
(AP, 1/20/09)
2009 Feb 8, Voters in Switzerland
approved an expanded labor deal with the European Union that allows
Romanians and Bulgarians to work in the Alpine republic.
(AP, 2/8/09)
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Subject = Bulgaria
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