This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS  SOFIA 001239 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PINR BU
SUBJECT: BULGARIA: EXTREME NATIONALIST PARTY ENTERS 
PARLIAMENT 
 
Ref: (A) SOFIA 1134, (B) SOFIA 1217 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: The extreme nationalist political group 
Ataka (Attack) won 8.7 percent of the vote in June's general 
election and became the fourth largest political party in 
the new parliament which commenced in Sofia July 11.  If, as 
expected, the first three parties form a coalition 
government, this will make Ataka the largest single 
opposition party in parliament.  The group is strongly anti- 
U.S. and anti-EU.  Under the slogan "Let's Give Bulgaria 
Back to Bulgarians", it won 21 seats in the 240-seat 
parliament, ahead of all three parties on the fragmented 
center-right.  Hardships of the post-communist transition 
led to much of the protest vote of over 300,000 Bulgarians. 
Ataka leader Volen Siderov, a well-known journalist, is 
oenly anti-Semitic.  His statements inciting hatredagainst 
the Turkish and Roma populations succesfully exploited 
negative attiudes among some Bulgarians towards the ethnic 
minorities.  However, many Ataka supporters seemed to be as 
excited about the prospect of a new, tough-talking, anti- 
politician as by the actual message.  The surprise victory 
of this newly-formed group has shocked Bulgaria, a country 
with a reputation of ethnic tolerance.  END SUMMARY 
 
¶2. (U) National Union Ataka, set up in May, 2005, is a 
coalition of five marginal groups previously not represented 
in parliament: 
-- Siderov launched the Ataka political party in April 2005 
"to stimulate Bulgaria's national dignity."  Ataka does not 
yet have a grass-roots organization.  Its web site features 
a map of Bulgaria covered with Turkish and Israeli flags as 
well as numerous anti-Semitic articles, articles inciting 
hatred against Bulgarian Roma and Turkish minorities, and 
articles denouncing the U.S., EU and NATO. 
-- Former security and defense officers fired by Ivan 
Kostov's center-right government launched the Union of 
Patriotic Forces and Reserve Officers "Zashtita" 
(Protection) in 1998.  It also includes former Bulgarian 
Socialist Party (BSP) activists who disagree with the BSP 
reformist course. 
-- The Zora political circle are mostly communists with 
nationalist views and ties to the unreformed wing of the 
BSP.  Zora's mouthpiece, Nova Zora newspaper, is strongly 
anti-US and promotes ties with Russia and the Orthodox Slav 
nations.  Since the establishment of Ataka, the Nova Zora 
weekly has acted as its mouthpiece as well. 
-- The little known National Movement for Salvation of the 
Homeland and the Bulgarian National Patriotic Party. 
 
¶3. (U) Ataka's platform is heavily xenophobic.  Ethnic 
parties should be banned, as well as radio and television 
broadcasts in Turkish.  Foreign citizens should be 
prohibited from buying land, and Bulgarian production, trade 
and banks should be in local hands.  Ataka wants to revise 
major privatization deals and halt ties with the IMF and the 
World Bank.  Bulgaria should renegotiate its accession 
treaty with the EU, quit NATO, and not allow foreign 
military bases on its territory.  All business deals 
involving politicians should be investigated, and illegally 
acquired assets should be confiscated.  Siderov said 
submission of a draft bill for immediate withdrawal of the 
Bulgarian contingent from Iraq is an early priority. 
 
FOUNDERS AND FUNDERS: FORMER SECURITY OFFICERS 
 
¶4. (SBU) Ataka's parliamentary group includes a significant 
number of former military and police officials, most of them 
members of Zashtita.  The links of some of Ataka's members 
with the former state security services and unreformed 
elements of the BSP have fueled conspiracy theories about 
Ataka having been created by the BSP and people linked to 
the notorious 6th Political Directorate of the communist-era 
State Security Service.  Despite the presence of many former 
state security officers in Ataka, these theories are not 
substantiated.  Ataka relied predominantly on Zashtita's 
regional branches for its campaign, and received backing 
from local patriotic groups.  Regional private security 
companies provided funding for Ataka's relatively 
inexpensive campaign.  According to some sources, Overgaz 
Chief Sasho Donchev and Nove Holding owner Vassil Bozhkov, 
a.k.a., "the Skull," funded Ataka, as well as other parties, 
in the final stage of the campaign. 
 
SIDEROV: PROGRESSIVE JOURNALIST TURNED EXTREMIST 
 
¶5. (U) Born on April 19, 1956, in the town of Yambol, Volen 
Siderov studied photography in Sofia, and worked as a 
photographer at the National Museum of Literature.  In 1989, 
he joined the Union of Democratic Forces (UDF), which led 
post-communist changes in Bulgaria.  In 1990, Siderov, who 
was perceived as a talented and progressive journalist, 
became editor-in-chief of the right-wing daily Democratsia, 
 
 
the mouthpiece of the UDF.  He was fired in 1992. 
 
¶6. (U) Siderov has worked for some of Bulgaria's largest- 
circulation newspapers, most recently for Monitor daily, 
which is strongly anti-U.S.  In 2000, he won an award from 
the Union of Bulgarian Journalists.   Siderov, who likes to 
shock, posed naked for male magazine "Club M."  In 2002- 
2003, Siderov published two books - "The Boomerang of Evil," 
and "Who Robbed Us, and How," in which he expressed strong 
anti-Semitic and anti-globalist views.  His latest book, 
"Bulgarophobia," argues that Bulgarians are being subjected 
to genocide as part of a conspiracy inspired by the West and 
"the Zionists." 
 
¶7. (SBU) In 2003, Siderov's extreme nationalist and anti- 
Semitic articles became too radical even for Monitor, which 
fired him.  He hosts a TV show called Ataka on the private 
cable television channel SKAT, which he uses as a platform 
for his extremist views.  Siderov unsuccessfully tried to 
get on the ticket of the National Movement for Simeon II 
ahead of the 2001 general elections.  In 2003, he ran for 
mayor of Sofia on the ticket of a marginal agrarian party. 
Siderov, who is divorced, has a long-standing relationship 
with journalist Kapka Georgieva, whose son Dimitar Stoyanov 
is Ataka's deputy leader.  People who know Siderov describe 
him as an oversensitive man, craving to join the political 
elite which he so viciously attacks.  Historians involved 
with issues of nationalism do not take him seriously and say 
he has turned to nationalism as a result of personal and 
professional disappointments.  Siderov has not traveled to 
the U.S. and has never applied for a U.S. visa. 
 
OTHER KEY FIGURES IN ATAKA 
 
¶8. (U) Yordan Velichkov, the Chairman of Zashtita, worked 
for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs between 1970 and 1992. 
He graduated with a degree in law from Sofia University in 
1962 and specialized in diplomatic relations at Moscow's 
Diplomatic Academy.  Velichkov served in the U.S., Canada 
and Yugoslavia, and headed the Consular Relations 
Directorate.  Prof. Peter Beron, Zashtita deputy chairman, 
is a prominent natural scientist who has served as director 
of the National Museum of Natural History since 1993.  Beron 
briefly chaired the UDF in 1990, but was forced to quit 
following allegations of links with the communist secret 
services.  Stela Bankova, a former teacher, entered 
Parliament on the NMSS ticket in 2001 but a year later 
defected to become independent.  She was the only MP who 
voted against Bulgaria's EU accession treaty ratification 
last April.  Dimitar Stoyanov, a 22-year-old law student at 
Sofia University and deputy leader of Ataka, is the son of 
Siderov's girlfriend, Kapka Georgieva, from her first 
marriage.  He is openly anti-U.S. and anti-Semitic. 
Newspapers carried pictures of him giving the Nazi salute. 
Velichkov, Beron, Bankova and Stoyanov are all Ataka MPs. 
 
ATAKA CONSOLIDATES PROTEST, RADICAL VOTE 
 
¶9. (U) Ataka drew protest votes from across the political 
spectrum, receiving backing from people discontented with a 
political elite perceived as being detached from real life 
issues and from those who have suffered from the post- 
communist transition.  It penetrated all age groups, and 
drew its support from pensioners, civil servants and 
workers.  The plurality of Ataka's supporters backed 
Simeon's movement in the 2001 vote, and now see Ataka as the 
new "political miracle."  Siderov's aggressive style appeals 
to people who blame the mainstream parties for a sharp 
decline in their living standard, and look to a strong, new 
figure to lead them out of their economic and social 
problems.  Ataka also attracted many who did not vote in the 
previous elections. 
 
¶10. (U) Ataka successfully tapped Bulgarians' negative 
attitudes towards the Roma following recent violent 
incidents between the two groups.  The increased influence 
of the ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) 
party in the government, which has grown disproportionately 
to its political representation, has also led some 
Bulgarians to back Ataka.  In addition, staunch communists, 
who formerly supported the BSP, no longer feel represented 
by the reforming Socialists who back membership in the EU 
and NATO.  Ataka also consolidated the votes of numerous 
marginal patriotic, extremist and radical groups. 
 
¶11. (U) All parliamentary parties have declared they will 
not collaborate with Ataka in the new parliament, and all 
coalition scenarios exclude the group's participation in the 
government (Ref. A, B).  President Georgi Purvanov blasted 
Ataka's extremist statements.  BSP leader Sergey Stanishev 
said Ataka's extreme nationalism was "categorically 
unacceptable."  The Ambassador has announced a policy of no 
 
 
embassy contact with Ataka. 
 
¶12. (SBU) COMMENT:  For mainstream Bulgarians who think of 
themselves as tolerant, Ataka came out of nowhere in the 
last month of the campaign to win a surprising 21 seats in 
the Parliament.  At this point, most see Ataka as a fringe 
element which will quickly fade from prominence.  Ataka's 
emergence also is unsettling for Bulgaria's anxiety over its 
EU membership timetable.  Ataka is a motley group within 
which Siderov is perhaps the most extreme -- and certainly 
the loudest -- voice.  It is not clear to what extent Ataka 
MPs share his radical views, or whether they just used the 
popularity of his group to enter parliament.  Some analysts 
say Ataka may soon face defections or a split.  Its leaders 
are likely to tone down at least their anti-Semitic and 
racist rhetoric as they enter parliament.  Nevertheless, 
Ataka's presence in parliament is an unfortunate outcome 
given Bulgaria's tradition of ethnic tolerance, and will 
tarnish the EU aspirant's image abroad. END COMMENT. 
 
¶13. ATAKA VOTER PROFILE, MBMD exit poll, June 25, 2005. 
--------------------------------------------- ----------- 
GenderMale: 57.7%, Female: 42.3% 
--------------------------------------------- ----------- 
Age 18-29: 18.2%, 30-39: 19.5%, 40-49: 19.2% 
.2% 
50-59: 21.5%, Over 60: 21.6% 
--------------------------------------------- ----------- 
Education: Univ. 38.8%, High school 54.2%, Elementary 7.1% 
--------------------------------------------- ----------- 
Social group 
     Employer: 9.3%Mid-level manager:   5.4% 
     Civil servant 19.9%Worker: 24.7% 
     Student: 7.8%Unemployed:  6.8% 
     Housewife: 1.7%Pensioner:  24.4% 
--------------------------------------------- ----------- 
Who they voted for in 2001 general election 
     National Movement for Simeon II (NMSS) 34.9% 
     Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP)13.1% 
     Union of Democratic Forces (UDF)11.3% 
     Other 20.3% 
     Did not vote20.3% 
--------------------------------------------- ----------- 
¶14. Detailed memo available at Department's Bulgaria desk. 
PARDEW 
lable at Department's Bulgaria desk.