Bulgaria

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Bulgaria

• Bulgarian History and Ethnic Divisions

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General Geography
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Geographical/Demographic Data

• Population 7, 707, 500
• Capital Sofia
• Life Expect. 68 yrs.
• Growth rate -1.14
• Religions 85 Orthodox., 13 Muslim, 2 Others

• Ethnic Makeup 85 Bulgarian, 9 Turkish, 6
  Roma,Macedonian, Russian, Armenian, Others.
• Independence (modern) 1908

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Brief History

• Bulgaria is hundreds of years old
• Recognized as state in 681 A.D.
• Made up of Slavic and Central Asian peoples
• Bulgar means one of mixed nationality in Old
  Turkic language

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Brief History (cont.)

• 1453 Ottoman Turks rule country, better part of
  Balkans
• Next 425 years under control of Ottoman Empire

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Brief History (cont.)
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Brief History (cont.)

• Late 19th Century rebellion against Ottomans
• Fight and win independence, 1908
• Gain and then lose territory in Macedonia and
  Thrace through the Treaty of San Stefano and the
  Treaty of Berlin

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Brief History (cont.)

• Bad Decisions
• Leaders sided with losers in WWI and WWII
• Greatly weakened economy
• Becomes satellite state of USSR, becomes
  Communist
• Only Warsaw pact member that was Slavic and
  Orthodox, more support for USSR

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Brief History (cont.)

• Ruled by Communist leaders up until 1991
• 1991 People elect Democratic leader
• Under democracy
• Still high unemployment, environmental problems
  from Communist leadership (command econ.,
  industrial emphasis)

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Ethnicity

• Bulgarians/Orthodox vs. Turks/Muslims?
• Review of ethnic history and cleansing within
  Bulgaria
• Current situations

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Ethnicity

• 4th - 10th centuries
• Independence tolerated under Byzantine Empire
• 15th century Ottoman Rule

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Ethnicity
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Ethnicity
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Ethnicity

• Many Bulgarians flourish under highly organized
  Ottoman Empire rule
• People in rural areas remembered the old ways
  and retained a sense of national Bulgarian pride

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Ethnicity
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Ethnicity
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Ethnicity Ottoman Decline
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Ethnicity

• Still Ottoman (Turkish) control in 1901, yet a
  section is unowned
• Shows anarchy within state, Bulgaria is beginning
  to slip from Ottoman grasp

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Ethnicity

• Mid 17th century
• Ottoman Empire slowly declines
• Power shift within Empire goes from central,
  organized and benevolent to regional control over
  many areas
• Regional dictators much less kind than central
  powers

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Ethnicity

• Increased hatred for Turks among Bulgarians
• Nationalistic feelings aroused by poor treatment
• Kurdzhaliistvo anarchy spreads throughout many
  parts of Bulgaria
• Peasants flee to neighboring countries (Romania,
  Serbia, Macedonia, etc.)

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Ethnicity

• 1878 Bulgarians in nearby countries and within
  Bulgaria try to overthrow of Ottoman rulers
• Revolts unorganized crushed
• More than 30,000 Bulgarians killed

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Ethnicity

• Slaughter draws attention of intl community
• Russian declares war on Ottoman Empire
• Russia wins, frees Bulgaria from Ottoman rule
• 1908 official date of independence

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Ethnic Cleansing

• Statement by Edmund Burke, British Vice Consul in
  Plovdiv at roughly turn of 19th century
• The Russian govt allows the Christians to take
  the law into their own hand and to visit the
  Turkish Community at large with present and
  indiscrim-inate bloodshed, rapine and pilagethe
  evil state of things now prevailing is of an
  incomparably more widespread, harsh, and
  barbarous type that which it is manifestl
  intended as a set off.

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Ethnic Hatred

• Overcompensation visited upon Turks?
• Bulgaria now defines border in terms of religion
  and language
• Turks treated as outsiders
• Pomaks these are Bulgarian-speaking Muslims who
  are treated less harshly than Turks, yet are
  still discriminated against

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Ethnic Hatred

• Oppression and cleansing of Turks lasted many
  years
• Attempt to rid country of stupid and backward
  (feeling of many Bulgarian and Greek people)
  remnants of Ottoman Empire
• Bulgaria becomes a Soviet Communist satellite
  state in 1945

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Ethnic Hatred

• 1986 Todor Zhivkov, last Communist leader,
  passes law stating that all Turks within Bulgaria
  must change names to Bulgarian sounding names
• Many refused chased to Turkey, possessions
  confiscated, some even killed
• One famous of these relocated people was

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Ethnic Hatred

• Naim Suleymanoglu aka Pocket Hercules
• Trained as Bulgarian lifter, was a Turk, so left
  in 1987
• Turkey paid 1mil. in order for him to lift for
  them
• Gold medals in 88, 92 and 96 Olympic Games

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Ethnic Drain?
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Regime Change

• 1991 Bulgarians elect Democratic leader
• New ethnic ideals?
• Not really. Many nationalists still in the
  country.
• Attempted compensation for Bulgarian Turks
  results in huge protests, violence
• Positive Bulg. Turks now have their own
  political party, gaining power in Parliament and
  voting

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Current Situation

• Bulgarian Turks
• Have 40 unemployment
• Mostly have middle-low class jobs
• Tend to live more in rural areas, not as many in
  the cities but have presence in some cities
• Scattered throughout country

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Current Situation

• Stability, no outward aggressions
• Affects of siding with U.S. in Iraq war?
• Long term stability? E.U. 2007 (possible), NATO
  - 2004 memberships
• Only time will tell