Turks in Bulgaria

Turks in Bulgaria 2

Human rights

Bulgaria's constitution and various international treaties required it to grant minorities, including the Turkish population, equal treatment before law (however, the Tarnovo constitution also required, discriminatorily, direct government control over all minority religious communities). This was pursued inconsistently.[33] All in all, Turks and other Muslims were able to freely maintain their own cultural life during most of the time until WWII, but with periods of gross human rights violations, including a major onslaught during the right-wing authoritarian regime in the last decade of that period. Other abuses included denied access to public service and refusal of tax relief and agricultural loans as a way to encourage emigration[34], as well as state appointment of Muslim muftis.

The condition of Turks and Bulgarian Muslims worsened gravely after the 1934 coup d'etat and the establishment of Boris III's quasi-dictatorship[35] and remained so until the Communist takeover. Muslim minority teachers were deprived of pensions and the participation of the Muslim community in political and cultural life was minimized. As mentioned above, there was an immediate assault on Turkish-language press and by 1941 all Turkish-language newspapers were banned. This was justified with the claim that it promoted Kemalist ideas[36]. In general, pro-Kemalist organizations were systematically dissolved, as Kemalism was regarded as a form of pan-Turkism that turned the Bulgarian Turks into a fifth column of Turkey.[37] Ironically, emigration to Turkey was nevertheless banned during this until the early 1940s, when the government decided to issue emigration permits en masse in order to get rid of the "fifth column". Turkey, on the other hand, was very reluctant to admit any huge immigration from Bulgaria. At the same time, the overall conditions worsened even more, as the pro-Nazi regime closed all Muslim minority schools as well as schools with a significant number of Muslim or Turkish members, shut down mosques and even medical centres in predominantly Muslim areas, and systematically distributed smaller wartime foodstuff portions to Turks and Muslims than to ethnic Bulgarians.[38]

The Turks were not targets of violent assimilation attempts during most of this period, although Bulgarian-speaking Muslims (Pomaks) were targetted in two such state-organized campaigns - once during the Balkan wars (which was later revoked by the Liberal Party government elected also with Pomak votes), and once in 1942[39], by the notorious “Bulgarian-Mohammedan Cultural-Educational and Charitable Association - Rodina”. This also involved a ban on Pomak-Turkish intermarriage and coercive replacement of the Pomaks' Muslim names with Christian ones.[40]

Initial Improvements (1944-1956)

After the Communist takeover in 1944, the new regime declared itself in favour of all minorities and inter-ethnic equality and fraternity (in accordance with the classic doctrine of proletarian internationalism) and annulled all the "fascist" anti-Muslim decisions of the previous government.[41] This included restoring the Pomaks' Muslim names, banning the "Rodina" organization[41], re-establishing the closed Turkish minority schools and founding new ones. The new constitution had many provisions regarding minority protection and in particular guaranteed the right to mother tongue education and free development of culture for all national minorities. [41] Further legislation required new Turkish minority textbooks to be issued and allocation of air time for radio broadcasts in Turkish.[42] For the first time since the ban by the previous regime, Turkish-language newspapers and magazines and Turkish-language editions of Bulgarian press were launched, starting in 1945, including Vatan ("Fatherland"), Isik ("Light"), Halk Gencligi, Yeni Isik and Yeni Hayat ("New Life").[43] In 1947, even an "affirmative action"-like policy was implemented, as Turkish minority members were accepted to higher education institutions without an entrance examination; such practices would continue in later years, as special efforts were made to further the active involvement of Muslims in the Communist Party and in the political life of the country; but this special treatment may have been motivated also by the hope that such integration could encourage their cultural assimilation as well.[44][45] However, the emigration of Turks and Pomaks to Turkey was periodically banned starting in 1949; Turkey also obstructed immigration from Bulgaria with tough requirements[46]. Also, Turks and other minorities were not admitted into military service for some time, and even after the official decision to allow it in 1952, their admission would still require them to meet certain undefined political criteria.[47]

The Assimilation Policy (1956-1989)

The Imaret Mosque, Plovdiv, Bulgaria, also known as the Sehabüddin Pasha Mosque, built in 1444; during the late 1980s, the grounds of the mosque were turned into rubbish tip; this photography was taken in 1987. Today, this mosque is a branch of the Archeological Museum, and a popular tourist destination [32]

Starting in 1956, the regime gradually began to embark on a long-term assimilation policy towards Muslims and/or Turks in Bulgaria, which was routinely pursued with more or less intensity until the end of Communist rule and culminated in two periods of intensive campaigns, each lasting several years.[48] The most wide-ranging and public one, directed against the Turks, took place in 1984-1985[49] and was officially called "the Revival Process" (a term also used, though more rarely, for the other large campaign, which was organized against the Pomak identity in 1971-1974[50]). One of the main aspects of these campaigns were the forced name-changing episodes of the country’s Muslim population, as well as efforts to obliterate traditional clothing, prohibit Muslim customs and deny the use of Turkish language.[51] Apart from these violent episodes, the long-term policy was expressed in various other facts: for example, Turkish-language publications were closed down one by one, and by 1981 only a single newspaper (Yeni Isik) survived, until it ceased to be published in 1985. Significantly, the new "Zhivkov constitution" of 1971 replaced the term "national minorities" with "nationals of non-Bulgarian origin".

Campaign against the Pomaks

The assimilation policy targeted first the Bulgarian speaking Muslim population the Pomaks, continuing the practice of the pre-Communist regime. Some of the methods used by “Rodina” where adopted by the Communist regime and the Pomaks were systematically targeted mainly in 1964 and 1970-1974. There are numerous examples of the brutality employed during these forced assimilation operations such as the events in March 1972 in the village of Barutin (Барутин) where police and state security forces violently crushed a demonstration against the assimilation policies of the regime by the majority Muslim population killing 2 civilians and inflicting gunshot wounds on scores of others.[52] In March 1973 in the village of Kornitsa (Корница) situated in the mountainous region of South-West Bulgaria the local Muslim population resisted the forced name changing and attempted to demonstrate against the government’s suppressive actions. As a response the Bulgarian security forces killed 5 villagers and wounded scores of civilians.[53] By 1974, 500 of the 1,300 inmates of the notorious Belene labour camp were Pomaks who had resisted pressure to change their names[54].

The "Revival Process"

The assimilation attempts culminated between 1984-1989 when the target became Bulgaria’s Turkish community. The zero percent annual increase in birth rate among Christian Bulgarians is the primary reason which caused the Bulgarian government to force 900,000 people, 10 percent of the country's population, to change their names. The people affected were all ethnic Turks. By 1984 the Roma and the Pomaks had already been forced to give up their Turkish or Muslim names for Bulgarian names. The government had been encouraging the educated Turks to voluntarily adopt Bulgarian names.

In June 1984, the Politbureau voted a policy named “For the further unification and inclusion of Bulgarian Turks into the cause of socialism and the policies of the Bulgarian Communist Party". The plan was to re-name all Islamic minorities with Slavic names, ban the wearing of distinctive Turkish clothing, to forbid the use of the Turkish language and close down the mosques. The assimilation campaign was sold to the ethnic Bulgarian majority as an attempt for national “revival” and was called by the authorities the “The Revival Process”. [55] The ideology behind the term, originally used for the less publicized attempts at assimilation of the Pomaks in the early 1970s, was that the targeted minority had "originally" been Bulgarian before its conversion or assimilation during the period of Ottoman rule. Thus, the assimilation was supposedly justified by its being a restoration of the population's original, "real" identity.

As it was later to turn out the regime was misled by its own agents among the Turkish minority and taken aback when the Turkish minority refused to submit to the aims of the assimilation campaign. The regime found its self in a position where they had to use violence. [56]

American writer-reporter Robert Kaplan who visited Bulgaria in 1985 describes the forced Bulgarization of Bulgaria's Turkish minority as follows:

It usually happened in the middle of the night. The number of army half-tracks and the blinding glare of searchlights would disturb the sleep of an ethnic Turkish village. Militiamen would then burst into every home and thrust a photocopied form in front of the man of the house, in which he was to write the new Bulgarian names of every member of his family. Those who refused or hesitated, watched as their wives or daughters were raped by the militiamen. According to Amnesty International and Western diplomats, the militiamen beat up thousands and executed hundreds. Thousands more were imprisoned or driven into internal exile.[57]

On December 24th 1984 Bulgarian police and security forces fired the first shots against the Turkish community in the village of Mlechino (Млечино). While Mlechino (Млечино) being under siege by Bulgarian security forces some 200 Turkish villagers from the smaller near by towns attempted to break the siege and protest for the return of their passports and reinstatement of their Muslim names. This pattern repeated in many areas in Bulgaria populated with Turks. People from smaller towns and villages attempted to march and enter larger towns and villages to find a government official with greater jurisdiction who would be able to explain why were the Turks being targeted and when would they be able to reinstate their Muslim names and receive back their original identification documents. Often these larger towns of central administration were unreachable since they were besieged by Bulgarian security forces.[58]

On the 25th of December 1984 close to the town of Benkovski (Бенковски) some 3000 Turkish protesters from the near by smaller villages confronted Bulgarian security forces and demanded to have their original identification papers back. The Bulgarian security forces managed to disperse the crowd claiming that they have no idea where their identification papers were and urged them to go back to their villages and inquire from the local mayors. The large police presence was explained with undergoing security forces “exercise manoeuvres”. After returning to their towns and discovering that the local municipality didn't have their passports and ID documentation the crowd headed back, this time more decisively, towards the town of Benkovski (Бенковски) on the next day (26th of December 1984). The Bulgarian police and security forces were prepared and awaiting with some 500 armed men in positions. When the crowd of 2000 Turkish villagers approached the Bulgarian security forces opened fire with automatic weapons wounding 8 people of which 3 women and killing 4. One of the killed was a 17-month old baby Türken[citation needed]. The killed were from the villages of Kayaloba (Каялоба), Kitna (Китна) and Mogiljane (Могиляне). Judging from the wounds of the dead and wounded the police and security force had been aiming at the mid-section of the bodies. The captured demonstrators were faced down on the snow for 2 hours and blasted with cold water coming from the fire fighting trucks. In a report by Atanas Kadirev the head of the Ministry of Interior Forces (МВР) in Kardzhali (Кърджали) it is stated “It was interesting that they were able to absorb all the water from the fire fighting trucks in a standing position”. The temperature that day was minus 15 degrees Celsius.[59][60]

On the same day the 26th of December 1984 the Turkish community in the village of Gruevo (Груево) situated in the Momchilgrad (Момчилград) county resisted the entry of security forces vehicles into the village by burning truck tires on the main road. The villagers were temporarily successful, but the security forces returned later that night with reinforcements. The electricity to the village was cut. The villagers organised at the village entrance but were blasted with water mixed with sand coming from the hoses of the fire fighting trucks. Some of the security forces opened fire directly at the villagers and several civilians were wounded and killed. The wounded from bullets attempted to seek help from hospitals but were refused medical treatment. There are reports of incarcerated Turks commiting "suicide" while held for police questioning.[61][62] In demonstrations in Momchilgrad (Момчилград) at least one 16 year old youngster was shot and killed and there are reports of casualties also in Dzhebel (Джебел). According to the Bulgarian “Ministry of Interior” during these few Christmas days there have been some 11 demonstrations in which approximately 11 000 Turks participated. A large number of the arrested protesters were later sent to the “Belene labour camp” at the gates of which it is written “All Bulgarian citizens are equal under the law of the National Republic of Bulgaria”[63]

One of the most notable confrontations between the ethnic Turk population and the Bulgarian State Security apparatus and army was in the village of Yablanovo (Ябланово) during January 1985 where the Turkish population resisted the tanks of the 3rd Bulgarian Army for 3 days. When the village was overrun by the Bulgarian Army the town hall was made a temporary Command Centre and became the scene of terrifying acts of brutality in the name of “Bulgarisation”. The torture and violation of the captured resisting Turks was later continued in the underground cellars of the Ministry of Interior (МВР) in the city of Sliven. The interrogation methods applied on the captured villagers were depicted with the torture of “Jesus Christ before his crucifixion”.[64] Over 30 people are reported killed during the events in Yablanovo (Ябланово).[65]

The regime’s violence did achieve its immediate aims. All Turks had been registered with Slavic names, Turkish was forbidden in public and the mosques abandoned. This however was not the end of the matter but the beginning of the revival of the Turkish identity where the oppressed minority strongly re-defined itself as Muslim and distinct. Bulgarians came to be seen as occupiers and oppressors and protest demonstrations took place in some of the bigger villages in the southern and northern Turk enclaves. Moreover, the Turkish community received the solidarity of Bulgarian intellectuals and opponents of the regime.[66]

Terrorist attacks

As a response to the Bulgarian government policies, several terrorist attacks were committed by an underground Turkish organisation (TNFM, a Turkish National Liberation Movement). The first attack was on August 30rd 1984, when one bomb exploded on Plovdiv's railway station and another one in the Varna airport on a date when Todor Zhivkov was scheduled to visit the two towns.[67] One woman was killed and 41 were wounded.[68] On March 9th 1985, an explosive device was planted on the Sofia-Burgas train[69] and exploded on Bunovo station in a car that was specifically designated for mothers with children, killing seven people (two children) and wounding nine[69]. The perpetrators, three Turkish men from the Burgas region, were arrested, sentenced to death and executed in 1988.[70][67] Certain publicists, such as Bulgarian politician and lawyer Yanko Yankov, have suggested that the three men were actually associates of the Bulgarian State Security Service, drawing the conclusion that the terrorist acts were provocations, organized by the regime.[71]

Apart from these acts, the ethnic Turks in Bulgaria used nonviolent ways to resist the regime's oppression. Notably, intellectuals founded the movement later called the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF). It used civil disobedience and focused on providing information to the outside world of the physical persecution and suppression suffered by the Turks in Bulgaria. The activities of the MRF consisted of peaceful demonstrations and hunger strikes with the goal of restoring civil liberties and basic human rights.

The "Big Excursion"

In May 1989 there were disturbances in regions inhabited by members of the Turkish minority. In the so called “May events” of 1989 emotions reached the boiling point and tens of thousands Turkish demonstrators took to the streets in the north-eastern and south-eastern provinces. The demonstrations were violently suppressed by police and the military forces.[72]On the 6th of May members of the Turkish community initiated mass hungers strikes and demanded the restitution of the their Muslim names and civil liberties in accordance with the country’s constitution and international treaties signed by Bulgaria. The participants were member of the “Democratic League” and the “Independent Association”. The regime responded with mass detentions and the deportation of activists to foreign countries such as Austria and Turkey. Individuals were driven to the Yugoslav, Romanian or Turkish borders presented with a tourist passport and extradited without even having a chance of contacting their families first. The mass demonstration in major cities and the regions like Razgrad, Shumen, Kardzhali and Silistra continued systematically all through May 1989.[73] It is estimated that up to 50 people were killed during the clashes with Bulgarian security forces. The Bulgarian government has put the death toll only at 7.[74] On 10 May 1989 travel restrictions to foreign countries were partly lifted. Todor Zhivkov gave a speech on 29 May 1989, in which he demanded that Turkey open its borders in order to receive all "Bulgarian Muslims", who wanted to live there. There followed an exodus[75] of over 300,000 Turks to Turkey, which became known as "The Big Excursion" because . In fact the mass exodus was planned by the regime already in the mid 80’s. The Bulgarian Communist Party leadership estimated that by conducting the assimilation campaign and then opening the border to Turkey they could reduce the population of the Turkish community in Bulgaria by 60%. In order to initiate the exodus towards Turkey 1989 the first wave of refugees was forcefully extradited from Bulgaria. These first deportees consisted of the prisoners of the Belene labour camp their families and other Turkish activists. People were given 24 hours to gather their luggage before being driven to the border with Turkey in special convoys. Under psychological pressures and fear these were followed by hundreds of thousands. During the protests in May the Turkish population effectively abandoned their workplaces in the industrial and agricultural sector. The loss of hundreds of thousands of workers had severe consequences on the production cycle and the whole Bulgarian economy.[76].

Turks in Post-Communist Bulgaria

Collapse of Zhivkov regime and civil liberties given to Turks

On November 10, 1989 Bulgaria's Communist regime was overthrown. On December 29 a decision was made on the governmental level and later on, on March 1990 a law was ratified on allowing the Turks of Bulgaria to re-adopt their Turkish surnames. Until the first of March of the coming year for about 600 thousand applications were received on the above mentioned issue. In the same year the institutition of the Spiritual leader of the Turks of Bulgaria, the Mufti was founded. In 1991 the new Constitution was adopted granting the citizens of non-Bulgarian origin a wide range of rights, lifting the legislative ban of teaching in Turkish. In January of the same year another law was adopted allowing the Turks to change their names or «strike out» their Slavonic endings like «ov», «ova», «ev», «eva» within three years[33].

As in other parts of Eastern Europe, the repeal of single-party rule in Bulgaria exposed the long-standing grievances of an ethnic minority. The urban intelligentsia that participated in the 1990 reform movement pushed the post-Zhivkov governments toward restoring constitutionally guaranteed human rights to the Turks. But abrogation of Zhivkov's assimilation program soon after his fall brought massive protests by ethnic Bulgarians, even in Sofia.

In January 1990, the Social Council of Citizens, a national body representing all political and ethnic groups, reached a compromise that guaranteed the Turks freedom of religion, choice of names, and unimpeded practice of cultural traditions and use of Turkish within the community. In turn the Bulgarian nationalists were promised that Bulgarian would remain the official language and that no movement for autonomy or separatism would be tolerated. Especially in areas where Turks outnumbered Bulgarians, the latter feared progressive "Islamification" or even invasion and annexation by Turkey--a fear that had been fed consciously by the Zhivkov assimilation campaign and was revived by politicians in post-Communist Bulgaria. Because radical elements of the Turkish population did advocate separatism, however, the non-annexation provision of the compromise was vital.

The Bulgarian governments that followed Zhivkov tried to realize the conditions of the compromise as quickly as possible. In the multiparty election of 1990, the Turks won representation in the National Assembly by twenty-three candidates of the predominantly Turkish MRF (The Movement for Rights and Freedoms). At that point, ethnic Bulgarians, many remaining from the Zhivkov regime, still held nearly all top jobs in government and industry, even in the predominantly Turkish Kurdzhali Province. Nevertheless, parts of Bulgarian society felt threatened by the rise of the MRF. In 1990 that faction collided with a hard-line Bulgarian group, the National Committee for Defense of National Interests--an organization containing many former communists instrumental in the Zhivkov assimilation program. In November 1990, Bulgarian nationalists agitated about establishing the Razgrad Bulgarian Republic [77][78][79] in a heavily Turkish region to protest the government's program of restoring rights to the Turks. In the first half of 1991, intermittent violence and demonstrations were directed at both Turks and Bulgarians in Razgrad.

These conditions forced the government to find a balance between Turkish demands and demonstrations for full recognition of their culture and language, and Bulgarian nationalist complaints against preferential treatment for the ethnic minority. In 1991 the most important issue of the controversy was restoring Turkish language teaching in the schools of Turkish ethnic districts. In 1991 the Popov government took initial steps in this direction, but long delays brought massive Turkish protests, especially in Kurdzhali. In mid-1991 continuing strikes and protests on both sides of the issue had brought no new discussions of compromise. Frustration with unmet promises encouraged Turkish separatists in both Bulgaria and Turkey, which in turn fueled the ethnocentric fears of the Bulgarian majority-- and the entire issue diverted valuable energy from the national reform effort.

Some developments noted by the US Department of State 2000 report include the fact that Turkish-language classes funded by the government continued, and that on 2 October 2000 Bulgarian national television launched Turkish-language newscasts[80].

Since 1992, the Turkish language teachers of Bulgaria have been trained in Turkey. At the initial stage only textbooks published in Turkey were used for teaching Turkish, later on, in 1996, Bulgaria's Ministry of Education and Science began publishing the manuals of the Turkish language. A number of newspapers and magazines are published: the «Müslümanlar» («Muslims»), «Hak ve Özgürlük» («Right and freedom»), «Güven» («Trust»), «Jır-Jır» («Cricket», a magazine for children), «Islam kültürü» («Islamic culture»), «Balon», «Filiz». In Turkey summer holidays for the Turkish children living in Bulgaria are organized. During the holidays the children are taught the Koran, Turkish literature, Turkish history and language [81][34].

The Movement for Rights and Freedoms

With 120,000 members, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) was the fourth largest political organization in Bulgaria in 1991, but it occupied a special place in the political process. The leader of the movement, Ahmed Dogan, was imprisoned in 1986 for opposition to the Zhivkov policy of assimilating ethnic Turks. Founded in 1990 to represent the interests of the Turkish ethnic minority, the MRF gained twenty three seats in the first parliamentary election that year, giving it the fourth-largest parliamentary voting bloc. Its agenda precluded mass media coverage or building coalitions with other parties, because of the strong anti-Turkish element in Bulgaria's political culture. By mid-1991, the UDF had held only one joint demonstration with the MRF; their failure to reconcile differences was considered a major weakness in the opposition to the majority BSP. In early 1990, the MRF protested vigorously but unsuccessfully its exclusion from national round table discussions among the major Bulgarian parties.

In 1991 the MRF broadened its platform to embrace all issues of civil rights in Bulgaria, aiming "to contribute to the unity of the Bulgarian people and to the full and unequivocal compliance with the rights and freedoms of mankind and of all ethnic, religious, and cultural communities in Bulgaria." The MRF took this step partly to avoid the constitutional prohibition of political parties based on ethnic or religious groups. The group's specific goals were ensuring that the new constitution protect ethnic minorities adequately; introducing Turkish as an optional school subject; and bringing to trial the leaders of the assimilation campaign in the 1980s. To calm Bulgarian nationalist resentment, the MRF categorically renounced Islamic fundamentalism, terrorism, and ambitions for autonomy within Bulgaria. Political overtures were made regularly to the UDF, and some local cooperation occurred in 1991. Although the MRF remained the fastest growing party in Bulgaria, however, the sensitivity of the Turkish issue caused official UDF policy to keep the MRF in isolation.

Participation in Bulgarian politics

The Bulgarian Turks take part in the country's political life. Back in the end of 1984 an underground organization called «National Liberation Movement of the Turks in Bulgaria» was formed in Bulgaria which headed the Turkish community's antigovernmental movement. On January 4, 1990 the activists of the movement registered an organization with the legal name «Movement for Rights and Freedom» (MRF) (in Bulgarian: Движение за права и свободи: in Turkish: Hak ve Özgürlükler Hareketi) in the Bulgarian city of Varna. At the moment of registration it had 33 members, at present, according to the organization's website, 68 thousand members plus 24 thousand in the organization's youth wing [35]. As a result of elections held in 2001 and 2005, the MRF was included in the coalition government. At the parliamentary elections held on June 17, 2001, the MRF got 21 deputy mandates by 7.45% of votes. In the parliament, there was also an independent Turkish deputy, Osman Ahmed Oktay. The Turkish party formed a coalition government in a non-Turkic country. Mehmet Dikmen, Minister of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment represented the MRF. Filiz Huseynova, presently working at the European Parliament, held the post of the State Minister for minorities. Earlier she was the Deputy Mayor on humanitarian issues in her native town Silistra; she was appointed Minister on July 17, 2003. On June 25, 2005 the parliamentary elections were held. The party's success was very impressive: it won 14.07% of the votes, 34 MRF members entered the parliament; two of them were Bulgarians. A new coalition was formed which at this time consisted of three parties: the Bulgarian Socialist Party, «National Movement of Simeon II» and the MRF. In the budget of 2008, MRF directed a large parts of the subsidies for agriculture to tobacco growers (which are predominantly Turks, Pomaks, and Romani) leaving staple crops, like wheat, without subsidies for buying the seed for sowing. This evoked protests by farmers in the regions of Vratsa, Knezha, and Dobrudzha. During the May 2007 Bulgarian European Parliament elections the Movement for Rights and Freedom (MRF) gained 20,26% of the vote and currently has 3 MEPs in the European Parliament. Another political party founded in 1998 and representing a smaller fraction of the Turkish minority in Bulgaria is the «National Movement for Rights and Freedoms» (NMRF) (offshoot from MRF). The party is headed by Güner Tahir and has on several occasions formed an alliance with the MRF during nationwide local elections.[83] During the 1999 local elections the NMRF gained some 80 000 votes. [84]

Historical Turkish names of cities, towns, villages and geographical locations

Over 3200 locations in Bulgaria are currently identifiable by their Turkish names alongside their official Bulgarian designation.
Bulgarian Name ↓ Turkish Name ↓ Comments ↓
Ardino Eğridere
Devin Devlen
Haskovo Hasköy
Hitrino Şeytancık
Isperih Kemallar
Iglika Kalaycı
Ivaylovgrad Ortaköy
Kadievo Kadıköy
Kardzhali Kircaali
Kazanlak Kızanlık
Krumovgrad Koşukavak
Kubrat Kurtbunar
Lovech Lofça
Mihailovski Kaykı
Momchilgrad Mestanlı
Omurtag Osman Pazar
Plovdiv Filibe Named after Alexander the Great's father Philip II of Macedon in ancient times this city was also known as Phillipopolis.
Pazardzhik Tatar Pazarcık
Razgrad Hezargrad
Rousse Rusçuk
Silistra Silistre
Smolyan Paşmaklı
Stara Zagora Eski Zağra
Svilengrad Mustafa Paşa
Targovishte Eski Cuma
Zlatograd Darıdere
Zhivkovo Kızılkaya
Buzludzha Buzluca Peak in the Central Stara Planina
Dobrudja Babadağ Deriving from Baba Sari Saltik
Hainboaz Hain-Boğaz Hainboaz mountain pass, known in Bulgaria as the Pass of the Republic
Stara Planina Koca Balkan Literally meaning "Great Mountain" this is the mountain that gives its name to the entire region and the Balkan Peninsula. Its Bulgarian name means "Old Mountain".
Sredna Gora Orta Balkan Literally means "Middle Mountain".

Distribution of Turkish dialects in Bulgaria

There are two main dialects; the first one is spoken in every area in south-east Bulgaria and is also used in the neighbouring countries (Greece and Turkey). It can be identified from the second one by looking at the "present continuous time"; it has the suffix forms -yirin, -yisin, -yiri. In formal Turkish they are -yorum, -yorsun, -yor. In the second dialect, used near Kurdzhali, the forms are; -værin, -væsin, -væri.[citation needed]

Notable Turks in Bulgaria

* Yuksel Kadriev - Popular news reporter of the Bulgarian TV
* Yıldız İbrahimova - Jazz Singer
* Silviya Katsarova (Silver Nuri) - Pop Singer
* Ivailo Marinov (Ismail Mustafov) - World and Olympic medalist in boxing.
* Salim Salimov - Boxer
* Mehmed Fikretov 2008 European Weightlifting Championships bronze medallist
* Husein Mehmedov (Hüseyin Mehmedov) - Olympic medalist in wrestling
* Naim Süleymanoğlu - World and Olympic champion in weightlifting.
* Halil Mutlu - World and Olympic champion in weightlifting.
* Nejdet Zalev - Olympic medalist in wrestling
* Said Chifudov - Olympic medalist in wrestling
* Lyutvi Ahmedov (Lütfü Ahmedov) - Olympic medalist in wrestling
* Osman Duraliev - Olympic medalist in wrestling
* Hasan Isaev - Olympic medalist in wrestling
* Nermedin Selimov - Olympic medalist in wrestling
* Ismail Abilov - Olympic medalist in wrestling
* Osman Nuri Peremeci – Intellectual and historian
* Mehmed Talat Paşa - Minister and in 1917 Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire.
* Ömer Fahreddin Paşa - Commander of the Ottoman Army and Governor of Medina.
* Ahmed Cevdet Paşa - Famous Ottoman statesman, historian, and lawmaker.