Bulgarians are used to feeling threatened over the past 65 years. For the first 45 years they were told by the communists that the bad people from the capitalist West threatened to take over their country. For the past 20 years, Bulgarians have been threatened by the spectre of radical Islam.

One constant in statements by Bulgarian politicians in the past 25 years has been the line about "Bulgarians’ ethnic and religious tolerance". Politicians claimed such tolerance on the basis of the absence of ethnic tension and turmoil of the kind seen in neighbouring Serbia in the 1990s. Bulgaria is also the first Balkan country to have a party representing its Muslim minority in government for two consecutive terms.   

Just like any other country, however, in Bulgaria politics can justify almost anything. This sometimes includes playing the ethnic issue for the sake of someone’s growing popularity. Usually these games are played when elections are near. In most cases they are played by people who are not members of any major party.

The latest example of such "playing with matches", as Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev described it, is independent MP Yane Yanev who put himself at the centre of a radical Islam row that managed to embroil the country’s biggest investigative body, the State Agency for National Security (SANS).

The messenger
Yanev, leader of the small scale opposition Law and Justice party, long ago earned himself a reputation as a recipient of classified information that he later makes public, protected by his MP’s status. He was behind the scandal around former National Revenue Head Maria Mourgina about alleged VAT schemes.

He is also behind accusations against Haskovo mayor Georgi Ivanov, who was accused of taking a bribe. In all cases Yanev’s version always matched that of investigative authorities, suggesting that he followed the same direction.

New toy
Yanev’s most recent toy has been the religious issue and most specifically the radical Islamic "threat". On March 14 2009 he almost came to blows with Ahmed Bashev, mayor of Gurmen municipality in southern Bulgaria, during a debate on private national bTV broadcaster about whether radical Islam was on the rise in the western Rhodope mountains, home to a predominantly Muslim population.

Yanev claimed that Bashev, together with Mourat Boshnak, a teacher from the local Ribnovo village, was preaching a form of radical Islam that forced  youngsters to adhere to an Islamic dress code and way of life. Bashev dismissed the allegations but in the early hours of March 16 his home was stormed by masked SANS officers. Bashev and Boshnak were taken for questioning in Sofia.

They were released at the end of the day without charge only to receive a hero’s welcome from hundreds of Ribnovo villagers on their return.
A series of media reports and debates ensued, asking whether something untoward was happening in Ribnovo and whether Bulgaria was facing an outbreak of radical Islam. TV reports from Ribnovo revealed an almost entirely Muslim population which has been abiding by a traditional dress code for decades, if not centuries.

Because of this strict observance Ribnovo is popular with ethnologists and documentary directors investigating Bulgaria’s minorities. Perhaps the best explanation for their situation was given by Bashev himself. "This whole affair 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.

SANS’ refusal to detain Boshnak might suggest that he is right. Yanev,  however, showed that he was not ready to give up on Bashev. On March 18 he told BTA news agency that he had proof of Bashev’s corrupt activities as mayor of Gurmen. "Bashev is the Bin Laden of Gurmen who wants to use religion as a way to control people," he said. As for showing proof, Yanev pledged to do so within the next couple of days.