BULGARIA WINCES UNDER HOSTILE SCRUTINY FROM ABROAD

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000505120071-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 15, 2010
• Sequence Number: 71
• Publication Date: February 22, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
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Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/15 :CIA-RDP90-005528000505120071-2
11R~ICLE APPEARk~
~ PAGE _ THE BALTIMORE Slil3
22 February 1983
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By Anthony Barbieri, Jr. ~~~~~~ ~~~
Sun Staff Correspondent J ~ ~?
Sofia, Bulgaria - Oa the highest hill of the The Bulgarian official held by the Italians,
nicest suburb of this somewhat sleepy capital Sergei L Antonov, is the Bulgarian connection
city stands the sparkling new Hotel Vitosha, that links the assassination attem t to the
opened two years ago to symbolize Bulgaria's Bulgarian secret service, to its Sovpiet KGB
transformation from Balkan backwater to controllers, and then to the current Soviet
modern socialist state. Communist Part leader, Yuri V. Andro v
Built lovingly by the Japanese, the hotel is who at the time of the shootia was chi f of
strictly for the hard-currency trade -West- the KGB. g
ern businessmen, tourists and skiers. Its 19th While Bul arian officials heatedl
floor gambling casino, its risque nightclub egorically deny any connection hatscever
floor show, and its array of pricey boutiques between the Bul arian overnmen
are all intended to ettract the maxinnum Banns secret service or an Bul anan c tizen
number of dollars and marks and francs from and the to the fret that the whole imbro-
the paying customers. P t. Y
But with the Vitosha, as with Bulgaria's in- glio has given Bulgaria a reputation as the
tended image of itself in general, something a?~h3IIg'go~ sewer of the Soviet bloc. .
misfired along the way. Today, the hotel., ~Yan Traikov, head of the official govern-
stands as a symbol of a different kind. ment news agency, BTA, and since December
To the despair of the country's image- full-time spokesman and official denier of the
makers, the allegations of a Bulaarian,corr Bulgarian connection, said recently that his
;section to the attempted assassination of "anger and disgust" about the charges of a
;Pope John Paul II have placed the spotlight plot against the pope and the accompanying
?not on the modern Bulgaria but on the black allegations of Smuggling, dope dealing and
;arts for which the Balkans were once so justi- gun-running in Sofia has grown into "several
?fiably renowned: terrorism and gunrunning, categories and ~sub-categories of anger and
:drug dealing and smuggling, black marke- disgust.'. ' '
?teering and corruption. He eapresged:astonishment that it would
Western officials contend that much of this be believed "that Soviet-Bulgarian relations
activity is centered in Sofia, and that in Sofia could have such-a vile character," that the
dt is centered at the Hotel Vitosha. Kremlin would order Bulgaria to kill the pope `
? The hotel- does attract large numbers of and that Bulgaria would comply.
businessmen and tourists. But, like top hotels He also said he was dismayed that the ~coa-
'in other Soviet bloc capitals, such as Warsaw, spiracy case would be fabricated and that be-
Bucharest and East Berlin, it also has become cause of it one innocent Bulgarian is in jail
a kind of social club-playbouse for the large, and Italy and two others are wanted.
semipermanent community of Arabs and Cro this list, another Bulgarian govern-
Turks- who find that by playing on Eastern meat official added that he was offended any-
Europe's flourishing black markets they can one would think Bulgaria would have taken on
parlay relatively modest amounts of Western the job and botched it. "If there was really a
currency into a luxurious existence. Bulgarian connection,. the pope would be
The most illustrious alumnus of this Bul- dead," he said.
th
t Ali A
ld i
M
h
h
r
gca,
e
erwor
s
e
me
Bar
an net
Turkish terrorist now serving a life sentence
in Italy for shooting the pope in Rome's St.
Peter's Square May 13, 1981.
Agca suFposedly spent 50 days at the Vita
sha the year before the shooting. There be
was allegedly under the tutelage of Bekir Ce-
lenk, a self-described businesman known
locally as the "godfather of the Turkish
mafia."
Agca has told Italian authorities Mr. Ce- ~
tenk offered him;1.25 million to kill the pope
and has implicated three Bulgarian officials,
one of whom has been arrested in Italy.
Mr. Celenk says he is merely a business ex-
ecutive and denies ever having met Agca, at
the Vitosha or anywhere else. Bulgarian au-
thorities say they don't know whether Mr. Ce-
lenk is a gangster, but until they find out he
will not be allowed to leave Bulgaria.
(When his visitor's jaw dropped at the re-
mark, the official hastily added, "Of course,
I'm only joking. But, you lwow, in something
like this we wouldn't make a mistake.")
In short, says Mr. Traikov, it comes down
to the fact that "unsophisticated" people the
world ever are looking:up from their newspa-
pers each morning and saying, "Oh, those Bul-
garians!.? .
The last time_Bulgaria m_ ade such a splash
in the world was probably 1979, when reports
from London and Paris alleged that its secret
service was wiping out emigre foes with poi-
soned umbrellas.
There also has been the assassination of a~
Turkish diplomat -nothing unusual - and a
student riot -Iraqis against Iraqis -but
nothing major league by Western standards.
~Cy,,,G~NdJZ D
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/15 :CIA-RDP90-005528000505120071-2