A2.2.1 Administrative Unit
Veliko Turnovo Municipality has a territory of 885 square metres and a population of 90,432. The municipality includes the town of Veliko Turnovo, two other towns (Debeletz and Kilifarevo) and 34 villages and mahalas.444 The population density is 102.1 persons per square metre. The ethnic distribution of the population in the municipality, according to the official census, is shown in Table A12. Nevertheless, according to the estimations and survey carried out by the Amalipe Centre,445 the actual proportion of the Roma population is higher, at around six per cent. This discrepancy is due to the fact that certain Roma groups on the territory of the municipality (such as Rudari, Millet and some Dassikane Roma) prefer to identify themselves as Turks, Bulgarians or Romanians (other).446
443 Interview with Svetlana Stoyanova, school principal of the SS. Cyril and Methodius primary school in Nova Mahala, September 26, 2006.
444 Here mahala does not refer to a Roma neighbourhood but to a small scattered settlement (usually in mountain areas) with a very small number of inhabitants (very often one or two).
445 A Roma organisation based in Veliko Turnovo.
446 D. Kolev and T. Krumova, Mejdu Scila I Haribda: za identichnostta na milleta (Between Scylla and Charybdis: about the Identity of the Millet Roma), Veliko Turnovo: Astarta, 2005.
Table A12: Case Study: Veliko Turnovo Municipality – ethnic distribution Ethnic group Proportion of total
population (per cent) Number of inhabitants
Bulgarians 92.15 83,285
Turks 5.42 4,919
Roma 0.88 786
Other 0.44 390
Not identified/other 1 1,052
Source: Veliko Turnovo Municipality447
Some Roma families (around 20 per cent of the total Roma population in the municipality) live dispersed among Bulgarian families in some neighbourhoods of the town of Veliko Turnovo as well as in Debeletz and several villages. Most often Roma live in Roma neighbourhoods (called mahala) that are part of the broader administrative units (villages or towns) and do not form a distinct administrative unit. There are two Roma neighbourhoods in Veliko Turnovo as well as a Roma neighbourhood in Kilifarevo and some of the villages.
There is no special budget allocated for the Roma community. The municipality finances some activities in the field of education and culture (for example, Roma folklore classes, and celebration of Vassilitza, the Day of Roma Culture) as well as some activities of the local Roma NGO Amalipe within its mainstream budget. In August 2005 the City Council passed Decision No. 639.04.08.2005, after a proposal from the mayor and the Amalipe Centre, to exchange municipal land for new flats where Roma from the ghetto of Aleko Konstantinov St. will be resettled. The flats will be built by the company that buys the land.
There is no Roma representative in the local council or in the municipal administration.
A2.2.2 Roma and the Community
Over the past five years the number of school-age Roma children has gradually decreased, due to the lower birth rate in 1997 and 1998 as compared to previous years.
After the two critical years the birth rate has increased again, and this is reflected now in the pre-school enrolment.
Turkish is the mother tongue of 74.64 per cent of the Roma in Veliko Turnovo; 14.67 per cent of the Roma population speak Romanes, 6.96 speak Bulgarian as their first language, and 3.73 per cent are Romanian-speaking.
447 Municipal Development Plan 2007–2013, available at http://veliko-turnovo.bg (accessed on 3 June 2006).
Community infrastructure differs from place to place. It is relatively good in the largest Roma neighbourhood, Sveta Gora, in Veliko Turnovo, where all streets are paved, there is electricity, running water, a sewage network, and so on. The infrastructure is the worst in the Roma ghetto located at Aleko Konstantinov St. in Veliko Turnovo, where Roma live in slums, some of them without electricity and running water. As a whole, the Roma mahalas in the villages have bad roads and lack a sewage system, but the houses comply with regulations. However, this is a general problem for the villages in the municipality.448 At the same time, most of the houses have electricity and running water. The only mahala outside the municipal planning is one of the Roma neighbourhoods in the village of Resen. It is situated in a region often flooded by the Negovanka and Rositza rivers. As a result, the municipality has not so far considered any actions to improve conditions. A solution would be to provide new houses for the inhabitants of the neighbourhood in another part of the village.
The percentage of Roma formally employed at the community level in the villages is extremely low – less than ten per cent. Generally, Roma lost their jobs immediately after 1991–1992, when the agricultural cooperatives from the Communist period were abolished. In the town of Veliko Turnovo the percentage of formally employed Roma is higher, but still less than 30 per cent.
The municipal communal company and work employ most of the Roma working in Veliko Turnovo, as street cleaners. Roma also work as bakers and non-qualified workers. Many Roma were employed within the Government programme “From Social Benefits to Employment” (especially in 2004 when the programme reached its peak). At present the number of people employed by this programme has decreased, due to limits on the programme itself. In 2006 the number of Roma included in the programmes provided by the local labour office may be broken down as follows:
• Programme for educating and qualifying illiterate Roma – 31 persons;
• A course for professional qualification – 36 persons;
• Motivation training – 18 persons;
• Tailoring course – 12 persons;
• Professional orientation – 133 persons;
• Subsidised employment programmes – 147 persons (128 out of them being employed with the programme “From Social Benefits to Employment”);
• Assistants of disabled people – 5 persons;
• “Beautiful Bulgaria” Programme – 2 persons;
• Other – 9 persons.449
448 Veliko Turnovo Municipality, Municipal Development Plan 2007–2013, available in Bulgarian at http://veliko-turnovo.bg (accessed on 3 June 2006).
449 Information provided by the local labour office, 3 October 2006.
During the summer many Roma in Veliko Turnovo are employed in construction or other seasonal work in the construction industry. In the villages some Roma work as agricultural workers, especially in the summer. The percentage of Roma who have their own agricultural business is low, since they do not own land. In 2004 and 2005 some Roma families in the village of Vodoley were provided with land, but this is still an exception.
Different types of social benefits, together with income from seasonal work, continue to be the main source of income for many Roma families. For example, the household of Efrail Efremov, who lives in Veliko Turnovo, is composed of six people: his wife, two daughters, a son-in-law, a grandson and himself. His wife is long-term unemployed and does not have any income. The younger daughter is a student and the family receives an additional child allowance for her: around 20 levs (€10). The girl receives another 20 levs (€10) as a scholarship for excellent success in school.450 Efrail and his son-in-law work as builders during the summer months and they receive around 400 levs (€200) per month altogether. In the winter they do not have any income. The only significant constant income is the social benefit that the elder daughter receives for her son.
The extended family is the basis of the social structure of the Roma communities in Veliko Turnovo region. There are no preserved potestarian social institutions (such as meshere, longja and others) except among the few Kaldarashi Roma from the village of Samovodene.451
Although there are no ethnic conflicts, Roma communities in the municipality are socially and culturally isolated. This is especially true for the Roma from the biggest neighbourhood, that of Sveta Gora in Veliko Turnovo. They are Turkish-speaking and most of them are unemployed; they watch mainly Turkish TV, identify themselves as Turks and do not have ongoing contacts with the majority population. Officials recognise that the level of isolation is “too high and even dangerous”. Due to the work of the Roma culture classes programme developed by the Amalipe Centre, in recent years the level of isolation has been reduced, especially in the villages of Vodoley, Resen, Balvan and Ledenik, where the school brings together Roma and Bulgarian parents in public events.
450 The scholarship is a programme of the Ministry of Education and Science. There are two types of scholarships: if a student has school marks above 5.5 (6 is the maximum) then he or she receives a scholarship for high school success, while if the marks are above 4.5 and the family members receive an income below the minimum salary per person (160 levs or €80) then the student receives a social scholarship. The scholarship programme, however, is for secondary schools only.
Since the girl is still a student her mother receives 20 levs per month child allowance
451 The potestarian forms are informal authority mechanisms in traditional communities. Such a form is the meshere (or Romani Kris – the Roma internal court) or the longja (a traditional form of economic mutual support among community members). These forms are preserved only among the most traditional Roma groups: the Kaldarashi, the Burgudjii, and so on.
A2.2.3 Education School and education network
The total population of school-age children is 13,630, of whom 4,668 (34 per cent) are under the age of seven, 4,756 (35 per cent) are between the ages of 7 and 13, and 4,206 (31 per cent) are between 14 and 17 years old.452 The Regional Inspectorate of Education registered a drop-out rate of 0.45 per cent among primary school pupils, and 0.57 per cent among lower secondary students in the 2004–2005 school year.453 According to specialists working in the education field, however, these figures are underestimated, since very often the dropping out of children is not officially reported, in order to maintain higher school budgets. The figures can be estimated at 2.3 per cent for the primary education and 3.1 per cent for the lower secondary education.454 Enrolment rates for the 2004–2005 school year are as follows: primary education – 110.64 per cent; lower secondary – 107.89 per cent; secondary overall (general, professional, vocational) – 127.37 per cent. Rates are over 100 per cent, as many parents from neighbouring municipalities enrol their children in the Veliko Turnovo schools.
There is one segregated school in Veliko Turnovo, the Hristo Botev Lower Secondary School. It is situated at the beginning of the mahala in close proximity to a “Bulgarian”
school. At the same time, there is a school with a majority of Roma students (71.6 per cent in primary education) in Kilifarevo, which is the only school in a town where the number of school-age Bulgarian children is low. There are also schools with more than 80 per cent Roma students in the villages of Vodoley, Balvan, Ledenik and Tzerova Kuria.
There is no school in the municipality that is defined only as primary (which has only the first four grades). There are 13 schools that cover teaching from the first to the eighth grade, which are grouped under lower secondary and 15 schools where children can study up to the thirteenth grade. There are 123 pupils in primary grades that are enrolled in the segregated school, and 148 students at the lower secondary level.455
452 Table of the population according to permanent address, age and gender – Veliko Turnovo Municipality. Source: Veliko Turnovo Municipality, 13 February 2004.
453 Regional Inspectorate of Education, February 2006.
454 Informal conversation with municipal officials, March 2006.
455 Regional Inspectorate of Education.
Table A13: Case Study: Veliko Turnovo Municipality – proportion of Roma in six schools
Number of children – by grade Proportion of minority (Roma) children (per cent) – by grade