E/CN.4/1988/45 page 18 Status of Women and jurists, with whom he spoke about various matters relating to his mandate and, in particular, the practical application of the provisions of the 1981 Declaration in Ireland. C. Visit to Bulgaria 25. As part of his activities, the Special Rapporteur visited Bulgaria from 12 to 16 October 1987 at the invitation of the Bulgarian Government. This invitation was extended by Mr. Lyuben Popov, Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs and Chairman of the Committee on questions relating to the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and religious faiths in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The purpose of this visit was, in general, to determine to what extent Bulgaria was complying with the provisions of the 1981 Declaration and, in particular, with regard to members of the Muslim community in Bulgaria, in which connection a number of allegations of incidents and measures inconsistent with the provisions of the Declaration had been brought to the Special Rapporteur's attention. 26. During his visit, the Special Rapporteur met with officials, leaders and members of the main religious communities, members of Parliament, writers, journalists and several private individuals. He visited places of worship belonging primarily to the Orthodox and Muslim faiths in the cities of Sofia, Pazardjik, Plovdiv and Hakovo and in the village of Fotino, and met with local religious leaders in these places. He also visited several Orthodox monasteries and temples, as well as a Catholic church and a synagogue. 27. During this visit, the Special Rapporteur heard statements by Bulgarian authorities which described the general situation in Bulgaria with regard to religion and belief and emphasized some aspects of this situation, such as the guarantee, by the Constitution and other legislative provisions, of freedom of conscience and religion; the separation of Church and State; the freedom of every denomination to perform its religious rites without discrimination according to its own precepts and canons; non-discrimination against the various religious communities; and the existence of harmonious inter-faith relations. 28. In the light of the discussions he held with various eminent persons and of the information he obtained on the historical and political context of the development of the main religions practised in Bulgaria, the Special Rapporteur is of the opinion that account has to be taken of this context in order to make a proper assessment of the position of the Orthodox and Muslim religions in this country. 29. The Special Rapporteur noted that the Bulgarian Orthodox Church was usually regarded as having played a key historical role, initially in the formation of Bulgarian national sentiment and subsequently during centuries of foreign domination, in the preservation of the national culture and identity. However, the Muslim religion, which was brought to Bulgaria in the fifteenth century during the Ottoman conquest, appears to be largely identified with the problems created by five centuries of foreign domination. Questions of a purely religious nature have thus become part of a latent bilateral dispute between two peoples, two ethnic groups, namely, the Bulgarians and the Turks. This may help to shed light on the underlying reasons for the Bulgarian authorities' insistence on refusing to recognize the Turkish ethnic nature of the Muslim community of Bulgaria and on supporting the historical theory of