Bulgaria - Country Information
Bulgaria info
The Bulgars, a Central Asian Turkic tribe, merged with the local Slavic inhabitants
in the late 7th century to form the first Bulgarian state. In succeeding centuries,
Bulgaria struggled with the Byzantine Empire to assert its place in the Balkans,
but by the end of the 14th century the country was overrun by the Ottoman Turks.
Bulgaria regained its independence in 1878, but having fought on the losing side
in both World Wars, it fell within the Soviet sphere of influence and became a
People's Republic in 1946. Communist domination ended in 1990, when Bulgaria
held its first multiparty election since World War II and began the contentious
process of moving toward political democracy and a market economy while
combating inflation, unemployment, corruption, and crime. Today, reforms
and democratization keep Bulgaria on a path toward eventual integration
into NATO and the EU - with which it began accession negotiations in 2000.