WORLD : Bulgaria Eases Religious Curbs

SOFIA, Bulgaria —  The Turkish minority in Bulgaria will be allowed to adopt the Muslim names they were forced to change in an often violent campaign starting in the early 1980s, a senior official announced today.

National Assembly Chairman Stanko Todorov, stepping out of Parliament to meet demonstrating Turks, told the crowd that in the future “everybody in Bulgaria will be able to choose his name, religion and language freely.”

There was consensus among the demonstrators and observers that the crucial decision was made at a meeting of the Central Committee of Bulgaria’s ruling Communist Party. The Communists convened earlier in the day to consider growing opposition demands for speeding up democratic reforms in the country.