Country: Bulgaria

Group: Bulgarian-speaking Muslims (Pomaks)

Date Finalized: 04/12/22

Team: Maki Davidson (lead), Ash Pessaran, Blake Coram, Samantha Bradford, Jocelyn Chen

Content Warning: lethal violence

Approximate Time Period:1877-1980

Bulgarian-speaking Muslims, also known as Pomaks, are a group of Muslims possibly descended from Christian Bulgarians who converted to Islam under the Ottoman Empire. They are concentrated in the Rhodope Mountains and their population is estimated to be from 160,000 to 240,000 people, which is about 2.3-3.5% of the total population of Bulgaria (Minority Rights Group, 2021). In 1877-1878, non-Muslim ethnic Bulgarians committed acts of violence against the Pomaks. Mosques and churches were looted and destroyed during the First Balkan War (Mojzes, 2011). One source states that during Christian crusades in 1878, soldiers that passed through the Balkan Peninsula killed many Muslims in the area (Islamweb, 2006). Claiming a Pomak identity was discouraged or even politically prevented by Bulgarians by means of police brutality, political reform, and tragic deaths (Minority Rights Group, 2021). Many were either interned or brutally killed, and their bodies were thrown into local rivers or mine shafts (Trupia, 2021). There were assimilation campaigns in 1912-1913 and 1936 led by the Bulgarian government which led to lethal violence being used against the Pomaks (Minority Rights Group, 2021). In March of 1972, under another assimilation campaign to change their names to names associated with Bulgarian Orthodox Christianity, Bulgarian police officers committed violent acts of brutality against Pomaks who tried to resist (TRT, 2018). Another assimilation campaign led by the Bulgarian government resulting in lethal violence happened in 1984 (Minority Rights Group). There are no recently reported incidents of lethal violence; however, the discrimination by Bulgarians against Pomaks affects them still in the present. The Pomaks have no official political representation outside the local level, and are often portrayed as anti-social and anti-Bulgaria by populist politicians (Minority Rights Group, 2021).

Data Quality: Data quality is 2/3. There is clear evidence that the Pomaks in Bulgaria were discriminated against and some evidence for lethal violence. While there is plenty of information about the general discrimination against the Pomaks, lethal violence is not well documented, so the extent to which they experienced lethal violence is unclear past first hand accounts. One source, Islamweb, is a site made by a Qatari government agency that has the explicit goal of promoting Islam (Government of Qatar), so this source may not be as reliable as others.

Sources

  1. Government of Qatar. (2016, August 29). The Ministry of Endowment and Islamic Affairs. Ministry of Transport and Communications. https://www.motc.gov.qa/en/news-events/news/ministry-endowment-and-islamic-affairs
  2. Islamweb. (2006, September 25). Bulgaria the sufferings of One Million Muslims. Islamweb. https://www.islamweb.net/en/article/136011/bulgaria-the-sufferings-of-one-million-muslims
  3. Minority Rights Group (2021, February 5). Bulgarian-speaking Muslims (pomaks). Minority Rights Group. https://minorityrights.org/minorities/bulgarian-speaking-muslims-pomaks/
  4. Mojzes, P. (2011). Balkan genocides : Holocaust and ethnic cleansing in the twentieth century. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/lib/asulib-ebooks/reader.action?docID=914978
  5. Myuhtar-May, F. (2014). “2 Nationalism and Violence: The Case of Pomak Christianization (Pokrŭstvane) in Bulgaria, 1912–1913”. In Identity, Nationalism, and Cultural Heritage under Siege. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. doi: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004272088_003
  6. Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT). (2018). Pomaks – the Muslims in Bulgaria. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IGSO-cPxqg&t=150s&ab_channel=StraitTalk.
  7. Trupia, F. (2021, February 21). Debunking victimhood: Short stories of Pomak Uprisings in Communist bulgaria . Lossi 36. https://lossi36.com/2021/02/24/debunking-victimhood-short-stories-of-pomak-uprisings-in-communist-bulgaria/#