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.
Bashev and Boshnak spent several hours in SANS custody and were released without charge, the two told private national broadcaster Nova Televisia on March 17 2009.

When they returned to Ribnovo TV cameras showed several hundred of the 3000 inhabitants gathered at the village square to applaud the pair.

Bashev was lifted aloft and wrapped in the Bulgarian flag. "This whole thing was just a set-up by Yanev who wants to see himself elected to Parliament again after this summer's elections," Bashev told Nova. "Once elections are over, no one would ever remember Ribnovo," he said.

"I am pleased with SANS' actions and I think that this is what they should do: to investigate whenever they have doubts. I have no criticism of them," he said. "They came to my door at about 6am and let me get dressed and were very polite," he said.

However, SANS actions were criticised by some media as gesture tactics. Instead of marching in with masks SANS could have simply summoned Bashev and Boshnak, just like any other Bulgarian citizens, Dnevink daily said on March 17 2009.

Both Bashev and Boshnak dismissed Yanev's allegations that they were preaching radical Islam using foreign foundations' money.

"I was born Bulgarian, I am a Bulgarian citizen, I have served in the Bulgarian army, I pay my taxes here and I want to die here as a Bulgarian," Boshnak said.

"I have never been to Saudi Arabia and I don't speak any language other than Bulgarian. I have studied in Macedonia and in Bulgaria," he noted.

"All children who are studying Islam with me have done it by their own volition with the knowledge of their parents," he said.

Bashev, a former principal of the school, said that at the end of every term parents can ask schools to form classes on certain topics and that religion (Christianity and Islam) is one of them. "Ribnovo is 100 per cent Muslim, so we picked Islam," he said. "Everything happens under the direct control of the state in the form of the Education Ministry and its regional inspectorate".

"I teach by textbooks  in Bulgarian that have been approved by Education Ministry," Boshnak said. "I don't teach the Koran but Islam," he said. "Of course, Islam is based on the Koran but I'm not only teaching them that," he said.

As for the dress code allegations, the two said that every student and teacher could choose what to wear. However, they admitted that the school had internal rules stipulating that a teacher could not come to work in jeans and women could not wear skirts that fell short of their knees.

"These are regulations valid for most public buildings in Bulgaria," they said. As for the headscarf, Boshnak said it was up to the students themselves and part of local tradition.

A Nova TV reporter from Ribnovo showed women wearing scarfs. "I wear it because I want to, not because someone told me or forced me to do it," a middle-aged woman said. "I decide what to wear, not someone else; it is how we dress up here," she said. "Some people wear modern clothes and everybody is fine with that."

The reporter talked to a young girl wearing jeans and a leather jacket. "The whole affair (Yanev's allegations) is a lie," she said. "No one forces us to wear traditional Muslim clothes. I've been living here for 23 years and nothing here happens in the way of radical Islam."

"When we graduated we wanted to go to Greece and we went; it was great fun," she said, when asked whether students are being sent to trips in Turkey by the school.

Talking to Nova TV on March 17 2009, Yanev continued claiming that radical Islam was being taught in Ribnovo. He said that he had been tipped-off by people living in Ribnovo who had complained about the actions of Bashev and Boshnak.

Several hours later Yanev tipped off SANS about another alleged transgression in the village of Satovcha, southern Bulgaria. Yanev told Bulgarian National Radio that the principal of the school in Satovcha, who is currently on leave, had forced students into a lifestyle compatible with radical Islam.

Education Ministry' regional inspectorate has also started an investigation into Yanev's claims.