Abstract

Minority issues have been the focus of several governments as part of their internal affairs and simultaneously as branch of foreign policy between the host country and the country of origin of the minority groups.  My essay deals with the assimilation and integration policies that were used by the Bulgarian state towards two minority groups: the Roma and the ethnic Turks; in retrospection, these policies were meant to be if not beneficial at least harmless to the interests of the state.  The formulas used for this purpose though have varied considerably throughout history, since they have always depended upon the existing social context and political framework.  It would be interesting to examine the variation in the integrating and assimilating mechanisms adopted by the Bulgarian state in both the Communist and Post-Communist Bulgaria, which have been interrelated with the current trends in each period.