In response to the attacks made by Member of Parliament Stanislav Anastasov (Movement for Rights and Freedoms) from the floor of the National Assembly against the Sofia Platform Foundation, alleging that:

"[...] the scandalous NGO Sofia Platform is currently continuing its attempts to erase the authentic appearance of  Site Two on Persin Island - the Belene concentration camp - and to build a completely artificial museum."; 

"[...] attempts to falsify the past have gone so far that Sofia Platform is 'reconstructing' a place of worship on the territory of Site Two, conveniently attempting to erase the fact that the totalitarian communist regime was atheistic [...]."; 

"[...] it tells groups of students and visitors that only Bulgarians were sent to the Belene camp."

We state the following:

1. The Sofia Platform Foundation is an educational organization and has never carried out, has not planned to carry out, and has never participated or planned to participate in any reconstruction projects at the Belene camp. Stanislav Anastasov is confusing the Sofia Platform Foundation with the authors of the camp memorial project, which has received construction permits.
2. The Sofia Platform Foundation has not reconstructed a place of worship at the Belene camp. A prayer room, without religious symbols, already exists on site and it was built  around ten years ago - before the Foundation began its activities there - and on the initiative of former internees and prisoners.
3. It is false that the Sofia Platform Foundation claims that only ethnic Bulgarians were imprisoned in Belene. The stories of Turks and Muslims who suffered under the regime are strongly represented in all of our initiatives, not only through our work on-site in Belene. A non-exhaustive list of such initiatives follows below.

• As early as our 25 Years of Free Bulgaria campaign in 2014, we included, in various formats, the history of the assimilation campaign against Turks, Muslims, Roma, and others (cynically referred to by the communist regime as the "Revival Process"), including an installation by Ergin Çavuşoğlu.
• The artistic project The Great Return by Bayram Bayramali in the village of Oreshari, which we co-organized in 2019, was dedicated to the topic of the Bulgarian communist state's criminal assimilation policy.
• Another of our initiatives—the platform www.belene.camp documents the stories of former camp internees and political prisoners in communist Bulgaria. Two of these eleven stories (nine currently available on the website, with two more forthcoming) are of members of the Turkish community: Mehmed Türker and Ibrahim Kurudzhu.
• At our annual Summer School for young people held in the town of Belene, dedicated to the history of dictatorships and Bulgarian communism, we include in-person meetings with former camp internees or political prisoners. In previous editions, we repeatedly welcomed the late Halil Rasim (may he rest in peace), as well as other representatives of the Turkish and Muslim communities.
• As part of the 10.11 Festival held in November 2025, we discussed the trauma caused by the regime's repression, particularly among Turks and Muslims. The festival also featured the Assimilation and Resistance of Muslim Women exhibition.

For more than 13 years we have sought not merely to reflect on the years of communism, but to honor all of its victims, regardless of their ethnicity or citizenship, and to draw inspiration from the strength of their spirit to build a democratic compass for the present.

The claim that we work against preserving the memory of the victims of communism is contrary to our entire body of work. We have always worked - —and will continue to work - professionally, transparently, and in the interest of honoring the memory and dignity of the victims of the communist regime. Unfortunately, contrary to  allegations made in the statement, this work has consistently failed to receive institutional support.

We do not support the closure of the Commission for Disclosing the Documents and Announcing Affiliation of Bulgarian Citizens to the State Security and the Intelligence Services of the Bulgarian People's Army, the Dossier Commission. We stand ready to work with all organizations and institutions that contribute to preserving the memory of the repressive communist regime, and we oppose the use of this subject as a pretext for attacks against civil society and the wider community dedicated to this cause.