“Turkish Yoke” in Kabul…

The term “Turkish Yoke” stirred controversy between Bulgarian and Turkish servicemen from the NATO mission in Afghanistan.
Major Daniela Blagoeva, reportedly made a presentation dedicated to Bulgaria’s Liberaton Day, which had been deemed offensive by Turkish army officers. Blagoeva had posted the presentation on the ISAF intranet in Kabul with text talking about the Turkish Yoke instead of the politically correct Ottoman Rule.
The Bulgarian Chief of Staff in Afghanistan had already apologized to his Turkish counterpart for the wrong use of terms.
The Bulgarian Defense Ministry informs the presentation had not been assigned to Blagoeva. The material has been deleted and the Turkish side expressed satisfaction over the swift reaction.
Blagoeva has not been punished and will continue to serve in Kabul until the new contingent arrives. Novinite

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I suppose our Turkish friends also would like a rename and rewrite of ‘Under The Yoke’ by Ivan Vazov written in 1888 to ‘Ottoman Tourism’. It depicts the Ottoman oppression of Bulgaria and is the most famous piece of classic Bulgarian literature. Under the Yoke has been translated into more than 30 languages.
The Turkish military and leadership should apologise to Bulgaria until the end of time for 500 years of forced mass conversions and murders. This is like the Dutch referring to the mass killings in Indonesia as cultural exchanges, the German occupations in WWII as fatherly advise or the Americans in Vietnam and Korea as exporting Barbeque technology.
The Turks have well shown in the last century that there is no difference between Ottoman and Turkish. The genocide of 1.5 million Armenians starting in 1915 was done by Turkish troops. History will also not be kind to Turkey in regards to their treatment of the Kurds.
I think that Major Daniela Blagoeva deserves a medal!!!

BULGARIA’S GDP DOWN 5% IN 2009

Bulgaria’s gross domestic product fell by 5% in 2009, ending a three-year growth pattern, the National Statistics Office in Sofia said on Thursday.
The slump has been revised upwards from the flash data that the statistics office provided a month ago, according to which the Bulgarian economy in 2009 shrank by 5,1% over 2008.
The contraction, which followed robust growth of 6,2 and 6% in 2007 and 2008, reflects the global economic crisis, the NSI said.
Despite the upward revision of the data, the last quarter of 2009 remains the weakest for the whole year with a 5,9% fall after the economy contracted by 3,5%, 4,7% and 5,4% during the first three quarters respectively.
Despite the annual decline, it was less severe than the International Monetary Fund’s forecast of a 6,5%.
Bulgaria’s conservative government has based its 2010 budget on a 2% fall of the gross domestic product, though it revised its expectations upwards by 0,3% in late January. The growth is expected to be due to a recovery of the Bulgarian economy in the second half of the year. Novinite