Model for Monitoring the Implementation of Minority Rights on Local Level
Minority Rights Protection and Inter-Ethnic Relations in Municipalities with Diverse Population
The publication provides the findings of a research conducted in the spring of 2006 by the International Centre for Minority Studies and Intercultural Relations in the municipality of Ardino. The objective was to examine the relationships between different communities, while focusing on the minority rights protection in a municipality with a reversed demographic proportion – the national minority in this case is the local majority. The towns and villages in the municipality have diverse ethnic balance: some have a mixed population (Turks, Bulgarian Muslims and Bulgarian Christians in Ardino, and in Byal Izvor, in addition to these three groups, there also Roma); others have a homogeneous Turkish population or a homogeneous Muslim Bulgarian population. The overwhelming majority of the people in the municipality are Muslims.
