Bulgarian National Alliance

The Bulgarian National Alliance, also called the Bulgarian National Union, is a Bulgarian far-right informal organization headquartered in Sofia, founded in 2000 by Boyan Rasate, which claims to be a successor to the fascist Union of Bulgarian National Legions, led by general Hristo Lukov.

History


The long-time leader of the organization is Boyan Stankov, who goes under the pseudonym Rasate, host of National Guard (Национална гвардия) on the Balkan Bulgarian Television channel. In 2010, he stepped down as leader. In his place, Zvezdomir Andronov, Asen Krastev and Nikolai Nikolaev were elected co-leaders.

In August 2007, after riots and demonstrations in the Krasna Polyana district in Sofia, BNA "Edelweiss" announced that they would create a "national guard" – an organization to protect Bulgarians, mainly from "Gypsy terror".

Former leader Boyan Rasate headed the list of the Bulgarian National Union - New Democracy (BNU-ND) for the early parliamentary elections on October 5, 2014. On this occasion, BNA "Edelweiss" issued a public statement emphasizing that the they are not related to the BNS-ND party and that BNA "Edelweiss" does not "explicitly or implicitly" support any of the political parties participating in the elections.

The organization cooperates in joint initiatives with the nationalist IMRO – Bulgarian National Movement and Blood & Honor.

The organization has been registered as a non-profit legal entity for private benefit since 2001

Criticism
The Bulgarian National Alliance has been criticized for holding fascist and neo-Nazi views. The organization claims to be the successor to the Union of Bulgarian National Legions (UBNL), an ultranationalist pro-fascist, and pro-Nazi organization in Bulgaria, active from 1932 to 1944 and is considered the most powerful fascist movement in Bulgarian history.

Due to the group's organization in the annual Lukovmarsh, аnd also due to other events, the Bulgarian National Alliance is regarded as a proponent of neo-fascist, neo-Nazi, racist and homophobic ideologies.