Bozidar Andreev, a Roma by nationality, at the last Olympic Games in Paris, won a medal representing Bulgaria as a member of its national team. All the media reported that sports news, alluding that he successfully represented his country, where at no point is his nationality mentioned, but he is suddenly a pure-blooded Bulgarian.
But in the meantime, a Roma suspect of theft in a local supermarket in Bulgaria, then the local media mention that he is a gypsy (Migan, mangal). And see interestingly, that suspect for that theft does not associate it with the Bulgarian nation.
This reflects a wider societal issue of selective recognition and systemic bias, where the Roma community is ‘accepted’ as part of the national identity in times of success, but is otherwise marginalized and left with a negative connotation.
