the party was officially established in 1990, but the official website of the party traces the roots of the foundation to 1983 when an illegal terrorist group "turkish national freedom movement" was established, which committed over 50 fire-raisings, bomb attempts and murders on regular citizens until 1989 as a rebellion against the assimilation policies of todor zhivkov's communist regime. after he had been set free out of the jail in 1989, ahmed dogan, a former member of the bulgarian communist secret service (the committee for state security), established the party. he headed it from its official establishment on 4 january 1990 until 19 january 2013, when a disgruntled bulgarian turk attacked him with a gas pistol. ahmed dogan has been openly recorded promoting changes of the international boundaries in accordance with the ethnic borders, clarifying that there are either peaceful and political means for this or military and aggressive. the ethnic or religious minority parties are not allowed according to article 11, paragraph 4 of the constitution of bulgaria, but the constitutional court denied to ban the party in 1992.