Helsinki Watch and other international human rights organizations. as well as the State Departments human rights reports also continue to document the severe treatment of Turks. Hopes that glasnost will reverberate in a positive way in Bulgaria as it seems to have in some other East European countries are quickly dissipated with the realization that the Governments forced assimilation and namechange campaign continues to subject the Turkish population to unspeakable human rights crimes. including murder. torture. and forced starvation. While the plight of the Turks is indeed most bleak. the Bulgarian people also suffer an extreme repression under a small clique which tightly controls all fundamental freedoms such as speech. press. religion. association. travel. emigration. and due process. in violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. the Helsinki accords. and other international covenants. Unfortunately. the Bulgarian Government has been totally unresponsive to international entreaties. congressional demands and State Department representations. Notwithstanding the limits of United States influence with Bulgarian authorities. the situation is so grave as to demand a more assertive policy.
Keywords matched
emigration