Toma Nikolaeff is director of the first and only Roma Information Agency Defacto (RIA Defacto), which was established on September 9 2003. In 2004, the agency received anonymous threats and closed down to resume activities in November last year. Before becoming Defacto’s director, Nikolaeff was the founder and deputy chair of the Roma Community Foundation and the National Council of Roma Organisations and Parties. He has been a member of the United Democratic Forces. He is currently founder and president of the second Roma political party registered in Bulgaria, the Central Unifying Movement “Salvation”, and deputy chair of the International World Roma Union.

What are your impressions of Bulgarian media?
Many times I am left with the impression that when my colleagues go to cover something they make it a hidden advertisement. On the other hand, when they do reveal someone’s dirty affairs, nothing follows. While in England, my dear, if newspapers publish things like that about you in a newspaper, your career is done, you burn. And here there is this impression that whatever journalists write, the caravan passes, the dog barks, and no one has any fears whatsoever. Another thing: I will never forget how I once went to the National Library to look for some excerpt from a newspaper; as I passed along I saw this newspaper from some 100 years ago. And I think it was Zahari Stoyanov who had given an interview for it, and he was saying exactly the same things that an MP from today would be saying, only there was some difference in the words. He talked about democracy, freedom of speech, opening the borders, improving the roads so that those from Europe could pass through here and leave money. There was no EU and NATO then, but they existed in some other form and politicians aimed there. I saw it with my own eyes and, I swear, my skin was all goose bumps.

Do you think Bulgarian media is censored?
Bulgarian media is very censored. You know, I was pleasantly surprised last year when Georgi Lozanov came out at the handing of the Chernorisets Hrabur annual journalism awards and said that there would be no big award for journalism; but he didn’t say why. The prime minister and vice prime minister were there and their smiles froze. Do you know why there was no award? Because of censorship. They have to defend different organisations, politicians, certain spheres.

How does a small media like yours survive?
I have submitted applications for funding to both government and non-government organisations – the Open Society Institute and Soros Foundation Network, the World Bank. We also have four or five projects, including projects to popularise EU integration. I have asked each ministry to give us 3500 leva for it. They accept us everywhere, they hear us out, but they won’t give us funding. And then they say that Roma people are illiterate and that there is no one to absorb the money. We applied to the Directorate on Ethnic and Demographic Issues to help us popularise EU integration, but we still don’t have an answer, and I am sure that they won’t answer. I wrote letters to all ministries. We have also offered our news to all medias: we wrote to BTA, 7 Days television, Balkan Bulgarian Television, Nova TV, Bulgarian National Television. We wanted to have Roma news five to 15 minutes a week. We also asked newspapers to give us a page a week to write Roma news. If you are a TV manager or a publisher, you have to be blind not to see the potential gain. If gypsies know that there is a newspaper with Roma news, and if there are 400 000 Roma in Bulgaria now, 100 000 of whom are educated, 50 000 would buy the newspaper. Imagine how many more uneducated Roma would watch the TV programmes.

In a press release you say that Defacto failed to realise big sales in the beginning because of lack of experience. Don’t you think that one of the reasons media might refuse to give you pages and media time is lack of experience?
They used to stop us because of lack of experience, but now they do it because of too much experience. After this press conference I haven’t said a single word against anyone. I don’t open my mouth too much because I see the intolerant attitude of media, government and non-government organisations. Journalists aren’t interested in covering Roma issues, although there are so many good undertakings. Non-government organisations are more tolerant, but do you know what they tell us: You shouldn’t write political articles. Now, figure out what kind of media Defacto would be we are limited from publishing something.

You said once that there were threats against you and this is why you stopped publishing in 2004.
There were threats. They all came from Roma people who were instigated by Turks to call us.

With what purpose?
To scare us away, so that we stop publishing.

How were you in the way of Turks?
In our first issues we came out very sharply against Turks, specifically against the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF). I am a nationalist and I don’t like someone parading the fact that they have held Bulgaria under a yoke for 500 years. And there were such statements by Adem Kenan (head of the unregistered Turkish Democratic Party, who referred to Bulgaria as a country his people have ruled for 500 years, and to Bulgarians as Turks’ former slaves).

You mentioned once that Defacto reporters receive small wages. What do people working for the newspaper do besides reporting to support themselves?
It’s different. Two of the boys are sons of businessmen, their father is a construction entrepreneur, and another has a private company. All of the others are sons and daughters of Roma leaders, acquaintances of mine, and many of them don’t want their names published. Imagine what would happen if their real names came out.

There is one name here – Polina Marinova.
This Polina Marinova was a long time ago! They now write under pseudonyms out of fear. We wouldn’t want to start out with the same tone now. We came out first in March 2003. This issue (that you are holding) is of September 4. So this is six months after we started, and we had already toned ourselves down.

So, some months after you started, the threats came…
On the telephone. I was here with a friend of mine, we were here having a drink. As we were about to leave, he stayed inside to start the alarm and I went down the stairs. The bulb went out at some point. When I reached the first floor I heard someone say: “Nikolai, hello.” And I said: “Hello.” I reached out my hand and “Bam! Bam!”, he starts kicking and beating me up and shouting: “We’ll shoot you!”. And me and my friend ran away. It was four or five people, total strangers. And if it wasn’t for that friend with me, who knows what would have happened. This was in April 2004. Then I thought to myself: they are just trying to scare us away, to hell with them, we will go on working. But a lot of people had gotten scared. There was this Russian journalist here. Someone called and told her that they knew where she lived and that if she came to work once again for those dirty gypsies, they would do so and so.

How many threats did you receive then?
For one week? Who can tell you how many there were… I don’t remember.

Did they threaten you with anything specific?
No, they were just saying: Who do you think yourselves to be, big deal that you are  gypsy media, stop writing bullshit, we will beat you up; you and your families…

Were those Bulgarians or Roma?
As far as I could tell by their accents, they were educated people, they had pure speech. Roma or Bulgarian, I can’t say. But the one of those they caught, I think they caught two of them, was a gypsy and he maybe had some connection to the MRF. About the other I am sure that he came from the MRF. They made him call and threaten us to close the agency. So, after these threats in April 2004 I went to England and returned in October 2005. During that time, I managed to balance things for myself and decided that if we continue in the same tone, we can’t expect anything good, especially if we write against, say, Maya Cholakova (Director of the Directorate on Ethnic and Demographic Issues). Who would give us funding if we continued like that? So, I thought to myself, if you want to give a job to some several people, jobs and salaries, you’d better keep quiet, not scream so much. So we stopped screaming...

Defacto’s website also has an English version, at: www.defacto.hit.bg