European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 27, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Czechoslovakia ethnic minorities complicate Domestic and foreign policies the Balkans Are no longer a powder Keg but Harmony in the Region still seems unattainable. The Balkans As Balkans Zed As Ever by Henry Kamm new York times w to would want to place Romania territorial Intel i Ity in question asked unofficial in Bucharest raising his Index Finger and eyebrows As if to suggest sinister secret out neighbor he answered making Clear by indirection that he meant the soviet Union. Complaints Over purported restrictions on Romania s hungarian minority he suggested have been inspired by Moscow in an elaborate plot to undermine Bucharest s foreign policy which is sometimes not fully in line with Moscow s. The fanciful theory was More indicative of a romanian stale of mind than of documented soviet manipulation. Minority nationalities left in alien lands by centuries of shitting boundaries still play an important role in the Balkan s Complex politics. The Balkans Are no longer a powder Keg capable of igniting world conflagration. The last Crucil conflicts were fought in the late 1940s, when Greece with american help beat Back a soviet supported communist insurrection and Yugoslavia laced Down Moscow and preserved its Independence at the Cost of being drummed out of the soviet Camp. But Harmony still seems unattainable. The Region includes the two most mutually antagonistic members of the North Atlantic treaty organization. Greece and Turkey. Eleven years ago they were at War on Cyprus which Turkey had invaded and where it remains in occupation. The area also contains the most Loyal member of the Warsaw pact Bulgaria and the most questionable one Romania. Yugoslavia although relatively at peace with the Soviel Union and its allies re the  be finally revisionist communist nation keeping i Borders open and professing no alignment. Neighbouring Albania views itself agony with North Korea As the Only truly communist country. Too pure Tor Alliance with any other in this setting ethnic minorities disturb relations Between and within the Camps violence erupted late last year in Bulgaria where the government decided to Force 800,000 to 1 million ethnic turks into a major step toward suppressing their identity entire villages were rounded up and ordered to sign forms announcing their voluntary adoption of bulgarian names. Turkish names Are islamic whereas the Bible is the principal source of bulgarian names. For months local resistance was met with police and military repression. Turkish  say about 1.000 ethnic turks were killed and Many More wounded and imprisoned. Although Turk account for close to 10 percent of Bulgaria s population they have been docile and under represented. Trying to explain the repression outside observers speculate that the authorities May fear that the fast growing largely Rural turkish minority will gather too much strength. Bulgaria however has refused even to discuss an offer from Turkey to receive All he ethnic turks As immigrants. Three other important Balkan minorities complain of insufficient recognition or discrimination. Both concerns Are Felt by Yugoslavia s albanians who make up More than 75 percent of the 1.5 million population of Kosovo an autonomous province of the Federated nation s serbian Republic in Yugoslavia s least developed Region. A steady flow of statements from Albania plays on their feelings of second class citizenship. Sunday october 27, 1985 denying Yugoslavia s assertions thai they win i 1 secede and join Albania Kosovo s nationalists say they want their own Federated Republic a status accorded Yugoslavia s six other major National in s since 1981, when at least 10 people were killed an-.1 about 200 injured in Kosovo violence. 750 Elan ii. Albanians have been jailed lot agitation Deena d  Albania meanwhile has kept a tight lid Ori d own leading minority an estimated 400.000 ethnic clocks they Are greek orthodox in a country that was Lai gely moslem until Albania became the Only nation Thrift outlaws All religion. Until the 1981 election of the greek prime minister. Andreas Papandreou. Albania had rejected All greek efforts to obtain minimal minority rights. Now a minute thaw in Albania s fierce isolationism has kindled Hope in aliens that some language rights will be Granold to greeks and Albania is beginning to allow some of them to visit relatives in Greece Europe largest National minority the hungarians in Romania number 1 7 million by Bucharest s reckoning and 2 million according to unofficial hungarian sources. Romania keeps most complaining voices to a whisper and brotherly relations in the Warsaw pact prevent oficial protests from Budapest but off the record and in Milder language officials there Echo hungarian emigre and dissident charges that the minority s cultural rights Are shrinking. Lulius fees an ethnic hungarian who deals with minority issues at the Central committee of the romanian communist Patty denied All accusations listing a Large number of hungarian language Heaters As Well As newspapers books and local cultural centers. He said 285,000 elementary and High school pupils Are being educated in hungarian. 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