The Bulgarian village of Slavyanovo seems to be set for a repeat of the row over a monument to an "Unknown Turkish Soldier" from October 2009, when the first monument was torn down over the lack of a building permit, amidst a religious and political row.

On November 17, Bulgarian-language daily Dnevnik quoted Ali Yuzeirov, one of the brothers who built the first monument, as saying that preparations for the reconstruction of the monument were underway.

Earlier in the year, Ali and Yuzer Yuzeirov, Bulgarians of ethnic Turkish descent and of the Muslim faith, had built a first monument, founded a "Bulgarian Red Crescent" organisation and an entity that was said to be something between a political party and a movement, called the Muslim Democratic Union.

On September 30, Bulgarian-language media reported that during searches of buildings belonging to the Yuzeirovi in Slavyanovo, police had found publications that advocated radical Islam, including material in Arabic and Bulgarian allegedly designed to teach children the praiseworthiness of jihad.
 
Armed with a court order, police took away two sacks of publications and sealed the building of the Yuzeirovi’s "Friendship Club" in the village.

Village mayor Vassil Stoilov told Prime Minister Boiko Borissov that he suspected that the "Friendship Club" was being used as a base for propagating radical Islam.

In the late hours of September 30 the bulldozers tore down the monument for lack of a required construction permit.

On November 17, Dnevnik quoted Yuzeirov as saying that construction of the new monument had already begun and the official opening was scheduled for November 26, the night before the start of Eid al-Adha or the Muslim Festival of Sacrifice.

Yuzeirov was quoted by Dnevnik as saying that the monument would look the same as the original monument; a pyramid with a crescent on top.

The pedestal would be 2.99m high, a height that would not require a building permit. The original monument was five metres high, which meant it required a construction permit. According to Yuzeirov, any monuments, tombstones and crosses up to 3m did not require a permit under the Planning Act, Dnevnik said.

The new monument would only have a half-crescent on top, whereas the original monument had both a half-crescent and a Christian cross.

The monument was to be dedicated to all Muslims who died for Bulgaria, Yuzeirov was quoted by Dnevnik as saying.

A plaque that was to be fixed on the monument would carry a verse by Bulgarian poet Ivan Vazov, entitled "Bulgaria, they fell for you."

According to Dnevnik, the costs of the construction of the monument was to be carried by the brothers Yuzeirov, although they declined to specify how much the construction costs amounted to. "It will cost less than the humiliation of the state," Yuzeirov was quoted by Dnevnik as saying.