No current information on the areas in Bulgaria that have the greatest Roma concentration could be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

However, page 23 of the June 1991 Helsinki Watch Report, Destroying Ethnic Identity: The Gypsies of Bulgaria, states:

The city of Sliven has the largest population of Gypsies in Bulgaria, some 50,000, or one-quarter of the city's population. Gypsies live in several crowded districts, on the outskirts of the city, and are mostly segregated from Bulgarians. Peyo Dachev is Sliven's most densely populated Gypsy district.

A 1995 publication by the Olof Palme International Center in Stockholm, Gypsies (Roma) in the Post-Totalitarian States, states that "The cities with the largest Gypsy population [in Bulgaria] are Sofia and Sliven."

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

Helsinki Watch. Destroying Ethnic Identity: The Gypsies of Bulgaria. June 1991. New York: Helsinki Watch.

Olof Palme International Center [Stockholm]. 1995. "Gypsies (Roma) in the Post-Totalitarian States." [Internet] http://www.palmecenter.se/biblioteket/skrifterrapporter/gypsies [Accessed 17 May 1999]

Electronic sources: IRB databases, Internet, REFWORLD, WNC.

Roma Rights [Budapest]. Fall 1996 - Winter 1998.