Aziz Nazmi Shakir1
1 Muslim Populations
In 1396 the Second Bulgarian Kingdom,2 founded in 1185, became a core part of the recently conquered Balkan territories of the Ottoman State. Subsequently Islam spread mainly through a series of resettlement cam- paigns of Turcoman groups from Asia Minor, aimed at reducing Bulgar- ians’ demographic superiority and by means of gradual conversion of the local Christian population. According to some Turkish historians, Islamisation was helped by the fact that prior to the Ottoman invasion certain strategic regions like Rhodope and Dobrudja were already popu- lated by a considerable number of Turkic colonisers3 and dervishes act- ing as religious missionaries,4 who became natural mediators between the conquerors and the conquered. Another factor that possibly reduced the potential interreligious tensions between the two sides and accelerated the number of conversions was the fact that some of the so-called Chris- tian population belonged to Gnostic sects like Bogomilism,5 which denied the religious authority of the official church. A great many of their follow- ers adopted Islam, for its doctrine seemed much closer to their beliefs. It is also believed that a considerable part of the Bulgarian aristocracy preserved its ruling status by means of adopting the new rulers’ religion. As for the average non-Muslim subjects, adopting Islam meant certain tax
1 Dr Aziz Nazmi Shakir is currently working as an Arabic language instructor at the Fac- ulty of Arts and Social Sciences and School of Languages at Sabanci University, Istanbul. 2 Successor of the First Bulgarian Kingdom (681–1018) to be invaded by Emperor Basil II and subjected for a couple of centuries (1018–1185) to the Byzantine Empire before being re-established by the Asen dynasty laying the foundations of the mentioned Second Bul- garian Kingdom. 3 Memişoğlu, Hüseyin, Bulgaristan’da Türk Kültürü (Turkish Culture in Bulgaria) (Türk Kültürünü Araştırma Enstitüsü Yayınları, Ankara 1995) pp. 9–24. 4 See: Ö. L. Barkan, “Osmanlı İmparatorluğunda bir iskân ve kolonizasyon metodu olarak vakıflar ve temlikler, I: İstila devrinin kolonizatör Türk dervişleri ve zaviyeler”, Vakıflar Dergisi, No. 2, Vakıflar Umum Müdürlüğü Neşriyatı, Ankara 1942, pp. 279–386. 5 A dualist religious sect that flourished in the Balkans between the 10th and 15th cen- turies; for more about Bogomolism see: D. Obolensky, The Bogomils: A Study in Balkan Neo-Manichaeism (Cambridge, 1948), reprint New York, 1978. 144 aziz nazmi shakir exemptions. In most of today’s Bulgarian lands the Ottoman rule lasted until 1878, when as a result of the Russo-Turkish War and in accordance with the subsequent Treaty of Berlin, the greater part of the Ottoman Danube Vilayet was transformed into a new autonomous region called Bulgarian Principality.6 The same treaty gave birth to the semi-autonomous Eastern Rumelian Vilayet, that later, in 1885, was incorporated by the Principality. As a result of the First Balkan War in 1912–1913, significant areas located in the Rhodope region and Western Thrace, populated over- whelmingly by Muslims7 were also attached to the Bulgarian State.8 This process was accompanied by acts of forcible Christianisation of several Pomak9 settlements.10 All these events led to mass exoduses of Muslims and changed the religious and ethnic map of the region. Prior to the Russo-Turkish War, the Muslim population (Turks, Pomaks, Roma, Cir- cassians and Tatars) of the Danube Vilayet numbered 1,120,000 and that of Eastern Rumelia 681,000.11 According to the first official census held in 1887 (i.e. after Eastern Rumelia joined the autonomous Principality) an estimated 676,215 Muslims (comprising 21.44% of the total population) still lived in the country. A dozen years later, in 1900, we see this figure reduced to 643,300, or 17.18%. According to different estimations, the
6 For the history of Islam in Bulgaria in general, see: Желязкова, Антонина, Божидар Алексиев и Зорница Назърска (eds), Мюсюлманските общности на Балканите и в България (Muslim Communities in the Balkans and in Bulgaria) (Sofia: International Cen- tre for Minority Studies and Intercultural Relations (Sofia: IMIR, 1997); Градева, Росица (ред.). История на мюсюлманската култура по българските земи (History of Muslim Culture in Bulgarian Lands) (Sofia: IMIR, 2007). 7 Namely the following settlements: Kırcali (Kardjali), Eğridere (Ardino), Koşukavak (Krumovgrad), Darıdere (Zlatograd), Mestanlı (Momchilgrad), Ortaköy (Ivaylovgrad), Döv- len (Devin), Paşmaklı (Smolyan) and Nevrokop. 8 Last but not least, in 1940, South Dobrudja was taken from Romania and given to Bulgaria. 9 Pomaks: referred by most Bulgarian historians as Българомохамедани (Bulgarian Muhammadans), are concentrated in the central and western Rhodope Mountains in southern Bulgaria; On Pomaks, see: Todorova, Maria, “Identity (trans)formation among the Pomaks in Bulgaria”. In: Kürt, Lásló and Juliet Langman (eds), Beyond Borders: Remaking Cultural Identities in the New East and Central Europe (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1997), pp. 63–82; Memişoğlu, Hüseyin, Balkanlar’da Pomak Türkleri (Pomak-Turks in the Balkans) (Türk Dünyası Araştırmaları Vakfı, İstanbul 1999); Çavuşoğlu, Halim, Balkanlar’da Pomak Türkleri-Tarih ve Sosyo-Kültürel Yapı (Pomak-Turks in the Balkans-History and Socio- cultural Structure) (Ankara: Köksav Yayınları, 1993); Georgieva, Tsvetana, “Pomaks: Muslim Bulgarians”. In: Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, vol. 12, no. 3 (2001), pp. 303–16. 10 For datails see: Стоянова, Пламена, “Покръстването на българите мюсюлмани” (The Baptizing of Bulgarian Muslims), Анамнеза, Год. І, 2006, кн. 3, pp. 1–10. 11 Şimşir, Bilal N., Bulgaristan Türkleri 1878–1985, (The Turks of Bulgaria 1878–1985), Bilgi Yayınevi, 1986, p. 18.