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International Conference <I>Cold War in the Balkans</I>, Plovdiv, Bulgaria

Conference Summary - National Security and the Future, 2(1) 2000.

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
Plovdiv, Bulgaria
18- 20 May 2000

COLD WAR IN THE BALKANS:
HISTORY AND CONSEQUENCES

18 May 2000

9:00 AM Opening Address

President of the Republic of Bulgaria

9:10 AM Welcome Remarks

Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Ministry of Defense
Mayor of the City of Plovdiv

9:30 AM Introdution

Christian Ostermann [Cold War International History Project]

9:40-13:00 Panel I: The Superpowers and the Balkans in the Cold War

Co-Chairs:
Natalia Yegorova [Institute of General History, Moscow]
Rumen Genov [Sofia University]

Panelists:
Richard Crampton [Oxford University, UK] "Destruction as a cause of the Cold War"
Joannis Loukas/Olga Kulieri [Hellenic Naval Academy, Athens] "The Eastern Question and the Cold War"
Vitka Toshkova [Institute of History, Sofia] "The US-Soviet Drive to the Cold War, 1943-1947: The Bulgarian Legacy"
Mihaly Fulop [Caroly Gaspar University, Budapest] "Peace Negotiations and the Beginning of The Cold War in the Balkans, 1945-1947: The Case of Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria"

Break

Vasile Sandru [Black Sea University Foundation, Bucharest] "Romania's Balkan Policy During The Cold War"
Rumiana Todorova [Institute of History, Sofia] "Bulgarian Cold War Era Diplomacy: Persons & Performances"
Dumitru Preda [Diplomatic Archive, Romanian Foreign Ministry] "US-Romanian Relations in Late ‘60s: New Evidence"
Kostadin Grozev [Sofia University] "US Embassy in Sofia Reports on the Situation in Bulgaria, 1960-1968"
Nadja Bojadjieva [University of Plovdiv] "Yugoslavia in the US Balkan Strategy During the Cold War"

Commentary and Discussions:
Chair/Moderator:
Enyo Savov [University of Plovdiv]

Raymond Garthoff [The Brookings Institution]
Stelios Zachariu [Diplomatic Archive, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Greece]
Husametin Yildirim [Attaturk Center for History and Culture, Ankara]
Evgeni Alexandrov [New Bulgarian University, Sofia]
Luben Gotzev [Former Bulgarian Foreign Minister]

13:30-15:00 Lunch

15:00-17:30 Panel II: Balkans and the Cold War: Military Issues
(including break 16:00-16:15)

Co-Chairs:
Vojtech Mastny [Washington]
Nansen Bechar [National Security Parliamentary Committee]

Panelists:
Daniel Nelson [George C. Marshall Center, Garmisch] "Military Burden within Cold War Alliances: An Analytic Perspective"
Natalia Yegorova [Institute of General History, Moscow] "NATO's Estimates of the Eastern Bloc Military Capabilities, 1949-1955"
Jordan Baev/Boyko Mladenov [Cold War Research Group – Bulgaria] "Bulgaria in the Warsaw Pact: New Documentary Evidences"
Dimiter Zafirov [Defense College, Sofia] "Soviet Military Advisers in Bulgaria, 1948-1960"
Stancho Stanchv [General Staff, Bulgarian Armed Forces] "Nikita Khrushchev and Reduction Of Bulgarian Armed Forces, 1955-1962: New Documents"

Presentation of a new CD ROM Documentary Volume Bulgaria in the Warsaw Pact

Commentary and Discussions:

Chair/Moderator:
Dimiter Minchev [President, Bulgarian Association of Military History]

Adm. Pierre Lacoste [Former Chief, French Navy]
Gen. Ihsan Gurkan [Turkish Foreign Policy Institute & Foundation for Middle East and Balkan Studies, Istanbul]
Gen. Atanas Semerdjiev [Former Chief, Bulgarian Armed Forces]
Joannis Loukas [Hellenic Naval Academy, Athens]
Gen. Stoyan Andreev [President, Bulgarian National Center for Strategic Analysis and Research, Sofia]
Serve Roche [Center of Military History of French Army, Paris]

19:00 Cocktail Party on behalf of the Mayor of the City of Plovdiv
Appolonia Club

19 May 2000

9:00-12:30 Panel III: Cold War History and Consequences: Intelligence Issues
(including break 10:45-11:00)

A Critical Oral History Roundtable

Chair/Moderator
T. Boyadjiev [Bulgarian Euro-Atlantic Intelligence Forum]

Richard Kerr [Former Deputy Director, Central Intelligence, USA]
Vadim Kirpichenko [Former Deputy Chief, PGU-KGB, Russia]
"Intelligence Cooperation Within the Blocs and Contacts Between the Blocs in the Cold War Era"

Pierre Lacoste [Former Director, French Intelligence Service]
Markus Wolf [Former Chief, East German Foreign Intelligence Service]
"Analysis of the Efficiency of the Cold War Intelligence"

Brigo Asparuchov [Former Director, National Intelligence Service, Bulgaria]
Miroslav Tudjman [Former Director, Croatian Intelligence Service]
Grozdan Cvetkovski [Analysis Department, National Intelligence Service, Skopje]
"The ‘small countries' Intelligence Services' Role During the Cold War: A Balkan Perspective"

Minko Sladkarov [Intelligence Veterans' Association, Sofia] "Geostrategic importance of the Balkans for the Intelligence"
Julii Georgiev [Former Director, National Security Service, Sofia] "Bulgarian Security Services Viewing toward a Common Europe"
Jordan Nachev [Bulgarian Euro-Atlantic Intelligence Forum, Sofia] "Scientific-Technical Intelligence during the Cold War Years"

Commentary and Discussion

12:30-14:00 Lunch

14:00-17:30 Panel IV: Cold War in the Balkans: The Ethnic and Religious Factor
(including break 16:00-16:15)

Co-Chairs:
Mark Stefanovich [American University, Blagoevgrad]
Ivan Ilchev [Sofia University]

Panelists:
Agop Garabedian [Institute of Balkan Studies, Sofia] "The Cyprus Question within the East-West Confrontation: The Soviet Approach"
Vasile Puscas [University Babes, Cluj-Napoja] "Balkan ethnicity and international crises during The XX Century"
Luchezar Stoyanov [Institute of History, Sofia] "Ethnic & Border Questions: The Communists, Former Status Quo and the Creation of New Nations in the Balkans"
Anton Parvanov [Institute of Balkan Studies, Sofia] "Ethnic-minority issues in the Balkans: Cold War Years Containment and Post-Cold War Explosion"
Gospodinka Nikova [Institute of History, Sofia] "The Muslim Minorities on the Balkans and the Soviet Foreign Policy during the Second Half of the 1940s"

Commentary and Discussion:

Bilal Shimsir [Turkish History Association, Ankara]
Anna Layal [Institute of History, Tirana]
Boriana Buzhashka [Center for History and Political Studies, Sofia]
Apostolos Hristakudis [Institute for Balkan Studies, Sofia]
Ahmed Dogan [Member of Parliament]

18:00 A Tour in Old City of Plovdiv /Optional/
19:00 Presentation of new Volume The Intelligence with Memoirs and Interviews of former Intelligence Chiefs; First issue of an International Journal "National Security and the Future"; Opening of a Documentary Exhibition from the Archive of Contemporary Social History, Athens
20:00 Cocktail Party, Balabanov' House, Old Town

20 May 2000

9:00-12:30 Panel V: Repression and Opposition
(including break 10:30-10:45)

Co-Chairs:
Christian Ostermann [Director, Cold War International History Project, Woodrow Wilson Center, Washington, DC]
Jordan Baev [Cold War Research Group – Bulgaria]

Panelists:
Lubomir Ognianov [Sofia University] "Political Repressions in Bulgaria, 1949-1953"

Zoran Todorovski [Archive of Macedonia, Skopje] "Political Opposition in Macedonia After World War II"

Alexander Stykalin [Institute for Slav and Balkan Studies, Moscow] "Romanian Role in Imre Nagy's Fate"
Natalia Hristova [Institute of History, Sofia] "The Specifics of Bulgarian Dissidents"
Georgia Chernev [Director, Central State Archive, Sofia] "Bulgarian Political Archives: Structure, Content Availability"

Commentary and Discussion:
Georgi Atanasov [Former Bulgarian Prime Minister]
Anastasia Mozer [Member of Parliament, Chairman of Agrarian Union Party]
Ilcho Dimitrov [Former Minister of Science and Education]
Dragomir Draganov [Member of Parliament]
Zheliu Zhelev [Founder of Union of Democratic Forces, Former President of Bulgaria]
Hristos Papuzakis [Editor-in-Chief, Journal "ANTI", Athens]
Vernon Pedersen [American University, Blagoevgrad]

12:30-14:00 Lunch

14:00-18:00 Panel VI: 1989 in the Balkans and the Transition to Democracy: A Roundtable
(With a break from 16:00-16:15)

Co-Chairs:
Dumitru Preda [Diplomatic Archive, Bucharest]
Georgi Genov [University of National and World Economy]

Panelists:
Miodrag Milin [University of Banat, Timisoara] "Timisoara, December 1989, The Beginning of the Revolution in Romania"
Iskra Baeva/Evgenia Kalinova "The Problem of Bulgarian Transition: Immature Right and Unreformed Left"

Commentary and Discussion:

Petar Mladenov [Former Foreign Minister and Head of State]
Zheliu Zhelev [Founder of Union of Democratic Forces, Former President of Bulgaria]
Dimiter Ludjev [Member of Parliament, Chairman, "New Alternative" Party]
Vlado Djafferov [Member of Parliament, Democratic Party]
Ahmed Dogan [Member of Parliament, Chairman, "Rights and Liberties Movement" Party
Juraj Marusiak [Department of Political Studies, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava]
Vasile Sandru [Black Sea University Foundation]

19:00 Farewell Dinner Novotel Plovdiv

Related Program

Cold War International History Project

The Cold War International History Project supports the full and prompt release of historical materials by governments on all sides of the Cold War. Through an award winning Digital Archive, the Project allows scholars, journalists, students, and the interested public to reassess the Cold War and its many contemporary legacies. It is part of the Wilson Center's History and Public Policy Program.  Read more