Country: Bulgaria
Group: Bulgarian-speaking Muslims (Pomaks)
Date finalized: 1/30/2022
Team: Ryan Oakley (lead), Laura Haas, Samantha Bradford
Content Warning: Ethnocide, discrimination, genocide
Approximate Time Period: 1908-1990
Since the end of Ottoman rule in Bulgaria in 1908, various regimes have repeatedly forced Bulgarian-speaking Muslims away. Muslims settled throughout the Balkans in the 9th century. By 1396, under the Ottoman Empire, Islam dominated Bulgaria (islamweb.net, 2006). Bulgarian-speaking Muslims (Pomaks) likely descended from Bulgarian Christians who converted to Islam during Ottoman rule but retained the Bulgarian language. Bulgarian authorities refuse to regard this group as a distinct minority, making census figures unreliable. Their population is estimated to be 160,000-240,000 people who live, primarily, in the Rhodope Mountains (Minority Rights Group, 2018).
During the emergence of Bulgarian nationalism in the 19th century, Bulgarian national and ethnic identity based itself on Bulgarian language and Christian Orthodox faith. Because Bulgarian-speaking Muslims speak Bulgarian but are Muslim, the Bulgarian state has viewed them as both different from this idealized Bulgarian identity and as a target for assimilation through religious conversion. In 1912, 1936, 1972, and 1984, various regimes have forced Bulgarian speaking Muslims to convert to Orthodox Christianity and to take Bulgarian names (HAKSÖZ, 2016). In 1912-13, Bulgarian authorities forced religious conversions on the Muslim population and large numbers of Pomaks migrated to Turkey (islamweb.net, 2006). In the 1960s and 1970s, the ruling Communist party forced Muslims to change their names. In the mid-1980s, communist dictator Todor Zhivkov adopted a forced assimilation plan and a campaign of mass deportation. At the height of this campaign, in July of 1989, 31,000 Turks a week crossed the border into Turkey (Kamusella, 2019). After being forced into Turkey, this population is double excluded by Turks, who view them as Bulgarian and since 1990 roughly ⅓ have returned to Bulgaria (Dişbudak & Purkis, 2014).
In 2012 the Bulgarian Parliament officially recognized Zhivkov’s campaign as forced assimilation and ethnic cleansing. However, mainstream Bulgarian academia and society still refer to these events with the dictator’s euphemisms, regard Zhivkov as a good leader, and subscribe to notions of a “Purified Bulgaria” and a pure Bulgarian ethno-national identity (Kamusella, 2019). Lasting inequalities, ethnic suppression, and discrimination still compel Pomaks to emigrate to Turkey (islamweb.net, 2006).
The data quality is rated a 3. Several credible, peer-reviewed sources are available. Where there is potential bias, these accounts are well corroborated. The census data is compromised by the Bulgarian refusal to acknowledge Bulgarian-speaking Muslims as a national minority and the number of deportees suffers from a lack of official figures. Further complicating matters, there is also a complex fluidity between “Turk” and “Pomak” identities.
Sources
1. Dişbudak, C., & Purkis, S. (2014). Forced Migrants or Voluntary Exiles: Ethnic Turks of Bulgaria in Turkey. Journal of International Migration and Integration, 17(2), 371–388. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-014-0411-z
2. HAKSÖZ, C. (2016). The Making of the Rhodopean Borders and Construction of the Pomak Identities in the Balkans. INTERNATIONAL CRIMES and HISTORY Annual International Law and History Journal, 17, 72–74. https://avim.org.tr/images/uploads/Yayin/ust-dergi-sayi-17-tamam_1.pdf#page=48
3. islamweb.net. (2006, September 25). Bulgaria: The sufferings of one million Muslims. Islamweb.Net. https://www.islamweb.net/en/article/136011/bulgaria-the-sufferings-of-one-million-muslims
4. Kamusella, T. (2019, February 25). Words matter. Bulgaria and the 30th anniversary of the largest ethnic cleansing in cold war Europe [Magazine]. New Eastern Europe. https://neweasterneurope.eu/2019/02/25/words-matter-bulgaria-and-the-30th-anniversary-of-the-largest-ethnic-cleansing-in-cold-war-europe%EF%BB%BF/
5. Mijatović, D. (2020). COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS OF THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE. THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE, 28. https://rm.coe.int/report-on-the-visit-to-bulgaria-from-25-to-29-november-2019-by-dunja-m/16809cde16
6. Minority Rights Group. (2018, July). Bulgarian-speaking Muslims (Pomaks)—Minority Rights Group. Minority Rights Group. https://minorityrights.org/minorities/bulgarian-speaking-muslims-pomaks/