Ukraine.

Bulgarian Party Supports Creation of Autonomy in Odessa Region

Translated by Ollie Richardson for Fort Russ

7th July, 2016

Life

Svetoslav Proynov urged President Petro Poroshenko to stop discrimination against Bulgarians in Ukraine.

Bulgarian politician from the "Ataka" party Svetoslav Proynov called for the creation of territorial autonomy of ethnic Bulgarians on the territory of the Odessa region of Ukraine. As the politician noted, the Security Service of Ukraine use different methods of pressure on the Bulgarian diaspora in the Odessa region because of the statements of its members on the support for territorial autonomy. Proynov reminded the Ukrainian President that the Bulgarians settled on these lands to flee from the constant harassment by the Turkish authorities.

"Now they have to suffer harassment by the Ukrainian authorities, who do not wish to meet the cultural and linguistic needs of national minorities on the territory of Ukraine. I also want to emphasize that employees of the Security Service of Ukraine put illegal pressure on our diaspora following statements about the necessity of providing territorial autonomy," quotes the Bulgarian politician to Golos.ua.

Svetoslav Proynov accused the Ukrainian authorities of a policy of double standards, because the proclamation of the establishment of autonomy of the Crimean Tatars violated the rights of all other major communities of Ukraine.

As a reminder, earlier Poroshenko supported the amendment of the Constitution to grant the Crimean Tatars the right to self-determination. Then the same requirements as the Bulgarian head of state were put forward by the Assembly of the Romanians of Bukovina, seeking autonomy in the Chernivtsi region.