Communities, Identities and Migrations in Southeast Europe Collected Articles

Anamnesis electornic books series Communities, Identities and Migrations in Southeast Europe Collected Articles Alexei Kalionski © Author: Alexei Kalionski © Photo on the front cover: Alexei Kalionski © Editor: Iskra Baeva © Design: Andrey Lunin Сдружение “Анамнезис”, София 2014 ISBN 978-619-90188-4-2 Сдружение “Анамнезис”, София 2014 Communities, Identities and Migrations in South- FOREWORD east Europe The articles contained in this collection appeared during the years Collected Articles 1993-2011 in several journals and books, aimed mostly at academic audi- ences. All of them are case-studies corresponding to the broad framework of communities, identities and migrations in specific historical, social and region- al contexts. They reflect various approaches to phenomena that are interre- CONTENTS 4 lated: nomadism and pastoralism, “ethnicity”, pre-modern and modern group identities, state policy towards minorities and refugees, and the attempt at I. THE POMAK DILEMMA 5 combining various types of historical sources and anthropological fieldwork. All of the texts are supplied with up-to-date bibliographies (“further II. ETHNICITY AND MIGRATIONS: THE BULGARIAN CASE, 1830- 22 reading”), for two main reasons: firstly, in order to orientate the readers in the 1915 ongoing research, approaches and discussions and secondly, for educational purposes. The selection of the articles is closely related to several interdisci- III. REFUGEES IN BULGARIA BETWEEN THE TWO WORLD WARS: 59 plinary courses, taught at the University of Sofia “St. Kliment Ohridski” and PROBLEMS OF INTEGRATION aimed at students of history and cultural studies. IV. TRANSHUMANCE AND NOMADISM IN THE MEDITERRANEAN: 99 THE CASE OF SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE, 15th-20th C. V. HOW TO BE KARAKACHAN IN BULGARIA? 116 Sofia ALEXEI KALIONSKI April, 2014 VI. OFFICIAL HISTORY AND LOCAL INTERPRETATIONS 143 THE POMAK DILEMMA I THE POMAK DILEMMA [Published in: La transmission du savoir dans le monde musulman périphérique. Lettre d’ information, Paris, CNRS-EHESS, № 13, mars 1993, 122-130] This text has two main purposes: to trace the stages in the historical development of the identity of the Pomaks/Muslim Bulgarians in Bulgaria, with some observations on ethnocultural aspects, and to attempt to sketch the present state of the Pomak dilemma. “Pomak” is a relatively new name. It appeared in the Ottoman sources not earlier than the 18th century. In the 1850s-1860s it was mentioned more and more frequently in Bulgarian periodicals and in the first descriptive works. Gradually, the interest of Bulgarian intelligentsia was aroused. Simul- taneously, contemporary European ethnography crossed the border between the romantic Philhellenism underlying the traveller’s accounts and the precise cartographic localisations. Up to the end of the 19th century, the language, history and culture of some smaller groups such as Aromanians, Yürüks, Kara- kachans/Sarakatsani, Gagauzes, etc. became classical problems of Balkan studies. Local nationalisms and national states had been already involved in the dispute about the Ottoman heritage. Descriptive ethnographic studies had been used directly as argumentation for the respective aspirations and nationalist programmes. This stimulated both the speculative historiographic or journalistic theories (often only vaguely supported by any evidence) and the researches which claimed to be purely scientific. Discussions concerning Pomaks have always been located between these two approaches. There exist in Bulgaria a solid historical-ethnographic tradition of studying the Pomak community as a whole and also its local groups, regions and villages. Contemporary Bulgarian studies of the Ottoman period between 1960s and the 1980s sum up the documentary sources about the scale and development of the processes of conversion to Islam in the 15th-19th centuries 5 Communities, Identities and Migrations in Southeast Europe THE POMAK DILEMMA and continually search for the Pomaks’ place in the context provided by these There exists a serious discrepancy between local (Christian and Mus- documents. In addition to the publication of documents, there are studies of lim) oral traditions on the one hand, and the Ottoman documentary sources, folklore (with emphasis on the local oral-history traditions), everyday life, and on the other. Legends usually present the conversion of an area (village, com- physical anthropology. Despite many disputable or less studied problems and munity) as the result of a single act of violence on the part of the imperial the strong influence of the specific political set-up during this period, it is safe authorities and agree about the presumable time of this forcible Islamisation to say that it was productive and generally successful for the Bulgarian histori- (the second half of the 17th century). Studies based on the Ottoman tax regis- cal school. ters (mostly from the 15th-16th century) and other sources, without excluding One of the basic terms used in literature for marking this group is Mus- altogether the use of violence and pressure, suggest that the conversion to lim Bulgarians (“Bulgaromohamedani”). Its long scholar circulation from the Islam was rather a long process of complex influences of economic, socio- end of 19th century to the present is obviously connected to the predominant political and cultural-religious factors, which ended in the beginning of the Bulgarian views about their origin and nationality. The argumentation (based 19th century. predominantly on Ottoman sources) usually includes some archeological Some scholars compare the Pomak case with the Bosnian one. In this data, the language, local traditions about the conversion to Islam and last but direction the origin of the Pomaks has been traced in the prozelitism of the not least, the peculiar Pomak syncretism (e.g. traces of their “crypto-Christi- heretics (Paulikians Massalians; Bogomils) who were rejected and persecuted anity” and supposed infuences due to non-orthodox Islamic sects). “Bulgaro- by the official Orthodox church. One of the possible variants of extrapolation mohamedani” is, at the same time, a political term used with a clear intent of this view in ethnogenetic terms is to combine some characteristics of the and continuously promoted in official usage. In different ways, both of these Pomaks’ “physical type” and culture with some not quite clear references to denominations are not very precise and adequate. “Pomaks” was not a com- these heretics (in the 15th-17th centuries). In the Greek literature one of the mon name for all of the local Bulgarian speaking Muslim communities (only in supposed groups, “Achriani”, has been interpreted as ancestors of the pre- the Lovech area and in some regions in the Rhodopes and Macedonia). It is a Slav Balkan (ancient Thracian) population. But to make a connection between common pejorative used especially by Christians and Turks. “Bulgaromoham- the Bulgarian autochtones (“superficially Christianised”), heretics and the Po- edani” is first and foremost a literary term, adopted within the community maks is too risky. The available unambiguous historical material is more than mostly among Pomak intelligentsia. Its relative value lies in the fact that it scanty. This speculative approach usually disregards the Ottoman documents makes a clearer distinction between the local Muslim groups in Macedonia, and the historical context and time. However, at some points, the argumenta- Central North Bulgaria (the Lovech area) and the Rhodopes, who in the 19th tion of this last mentioned thesis is based on the Pomak ethno-cultural model and the 20th century spoke one of the Bulgarian dialects as their native lan- itself. Some of its characteristics seem to be important for the development guage and other smaller non-Turkish groups (such as the Greek “Vallahades” and the present state of the identity of this group. in Southwestern Macedonia, Muslim Vlachs in the Meglen area, “Balis” in Pomaks were predominantly mountain inhabitants with a specific, ar- Herzegovina, etc.). “Pomaks”, to a great extent, was a local name parallel chaic native economy. It was a combination of primitive agriculture and small to “Achriani” (in the Rhodopes), “Torbeshi” (in Northwestern Macedonia), animal husbandry. Before the emergence of some new crops (tobacco, pota- “Apovtsi” (in Kichevo area in Western Macedonia), “Murvatsi” (in Serres area) toes), this farming, very often on the vertical geographical limit of the agri- and others. Further in this text “Pomaks” and “Muslim Bulgarians’ are used as culture, was self-sufficient, but very dependant on the natural environment. synonyms. Famine was a major stress even during the 20th century. 6 7 Communities, Identities and Migrations in Southeast Europe THE POMAK DILEMMA With very few exceptions, Pomak regions remained closed and isolat- the Bulgarian national revival, the Christians became more enlightened, rich ed from the economic development of the neighboring Christian population and consolidated. They succeeded in gaining some economic privileges and in the 18th and the 19th centuries (based on big transhumant sheep breeding, started to make strenuous efforts to obtain a separate church organisation, specialisation of the local handicrafts, textile manufacturing, trade, etc.). Even modern education and other assets. In the case of Pomaks the Christians con- when the local conjuncture was relatively better (e.g. tobacco, timber indus- sidered them a marginal community, frozen at the former pre-national level

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