Turkish minority: painful past gives way to peaceful co-existence

The wide spread of nationalist ideas throughout the 19th century imposed the notion that the national state and the ethnic homogeneity were a factor, which favoured progress. Two centuries on, the concept has been revised, at least by Western thinkers, and they seem to be much more in favour of cultural diversity.

Knowing the Other, the peaceful co-existence of various ethnic communities and the mutual exchange among cultures is much more valued and is considered a treasure, a rich resource and a real advantage.
After the Liberation from Ottoman rule that came as the result of a series of hard struggle, the Empire left Bulgaria the legacy of considerable ethnic diversity. Except for the Bulgarians, the big cities had also large Greek, Jewish and Armenian communities, while certain regions of the country were populated mostly by Wallachians and Bulgarian Muslims, and of course, the travelling Gypsies toured the villages offering their trade. But all those years, the Turks represented the country’s second largest ethnicity after the Bulgarians.
According to the latest census carried out in 2011 there are nearly 588 318 people or 8.8% of the entire population who have identified themselves as Turks. But this figure needs further explanation. First of all, the answer to the question about ethnic identity was not compulsory, and secondly, 18 975 people, or 3.2% of those who have identified themselves as Turks have given Bulgarian as their mother tongue. We must not forget the fact that a certain part of the Roma in Bulgaria prefer to pass for Turks, much in the way another part wish to present themselves as Bulgarians. However, nearly two-thirds of the Turkish population is concentrated in the Northeastern parts of the country and the region of Kurdzhali to the southeast.
Relations between Bulgarians and Turks go a long way. In the times of the Ottoman Empire, like in all medieval Muslim states, the Christians paid heavier taxes, and had no political rights. Pretty much in the same vein, the Turks, who remained to live in Bulgaria after the Liberation, became victims of retaliation attacks, and then suffered a number of irrational government policies. The heaviest crisis occurred in the 1980s when the communist state decided to erase the Turkish minority by changing their names and banning the use of the Turkish language. The crisis culminated in the forceful exodus of some 300 000 people in 1989, which became also one of the reasons for the fall of political regime.

Nevertheless the everyday lives of the people in towns and villages with mixed population continued in the vein of co-existence and communication based on mutual respect. The main idea is that both the Christians and the Muslims respect their holidays, preserving at the same time the independence of the community and its cultural stability. Puzzling as it may seem, one of the important factors that have maintained peaceful co-existence is the relatively small number of mixed marriages.
All those years the Turks had been represented at the National Assembly. After the onset of democratic changes in Bulgaria in 1989 they created a party to defend their rights, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, and ever since 2005 ethnic Turks have been part of the Bulgarian governments.
The educational level of the Turkish minority remains poor. But we must not forget the fact that the majority of the university graduates from the Turkish minority choose to go to Turkey, and Istanbul, where they get much higher remuneration for their work.
Another puzzling fact is that Communist Bulgaria in the 1950s and 1960s provided the greatest state support for the Turkish-language culture, by means of schools, publishing of books, media and theatres in the Turkish language. Nowadays there are magazines in Turkish and the children who wish can study the language at state schools.
Another important aspect of the Turkish community is its religious heterogeneity. There are the Alevi, who belong to Suffism, a mysterious variety of Islam influenced strongly by Shiite teachings. They do not attend mosques, but gather in the homes of their spiritual leaders, where they conduct their ceremonies involving a great deal of music, ritual dances, whose ultimate goal is to reach a state of ecstasy.
The presence of the Turkish population in Bulgaria and its rich cultural heritage, valuable architectural monuments from the Ottoman period are a bridge that links Bulgaria to the Orient, and a reminder that he who knows the Other, knows himself better.

Author: Bozhidar Alexiev; English Version: Radostin Zhelev

Source: BNR