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The Bulgarian Muslims (Bulgarian: българи-мохамедани; locally called pomak, ahryan, poganets, marvak, poturnak) are Bulgarians of the Islamic faith.[1] They are generally thought to be the descendents of Slavs who converted to Islam during Ottoman rule.[2] Most scholars have agreed that the Muslim Bulgarians are a Religious group of Slav Bulgarians who speak Bulgarian as their mother tongue and do not understand Turkish, but whose religion and customs are Islamic.[3][4][5] Muslim Bulgarians live mostly in the Rhodopes – Smolyan Province, the southern part of Pazardzhik and Kardzhali Provinces and the eastern part of Blagoevgrad Province in Southern Bulgaria. They also live in a group of villages in Lovech Province in Northern Bulgaria. The name Pomak is pejorative in Bulgarian and is resented by most members of the community, especially by non-practising Muslims. The name adopted and used instead is Bulgarian Muslims.[6]
Muslim Bulgarians do not represent a homogenous community. The ones living in Pirin and on the western fringes of the Rhodopes (in the provinces of Pazardzhik and Blagoevgrad) are, however, strongly religious and have preserved the Muslim name system, customs and clothing. Whereas 90% of the community has identified itself as Bulgarian. In the population census in 2001 Muslims with Bulgarian mother tongue are 124,286 but only 12,604 (10,1%) of them considered themselves Turks and 111,682 (89,9%) opted for Bulgarians.[7][8][9] Muslim Bulgarians in the Rhodopes speak a variety of archaic Bulgarian dialects. Under the influence of mass media and school education, the dialects have been almost completely unified with standard Bulgarian among Muslim Bulgarians living in Bulgaria.
See also
Notes
- ^ Бакалов, Георги; Милен Куманов (2003). "Помохамеданчване на българи" (in Bulgarian). Електронно издание "История на България". София: Труд, Сирма. ISBN 9844830679.
- ^ Kristen Ghodsee, "Religious freedoms and Islamic revivalism: some contradiction of American foreign policy in Southeast Europe", East European Studies News (May-June 2007), 5.
- ^ Apostolov Mario, Institute on East Central Europe, Columbia University (1996). "The Pomaks: a religious minority in the Balkans," Nationalities Papers, 24 (4):727.742.
- ^ Histories and Identities: Nation-state and Minority Discourses. The Case of the Bulgarian Pomaks. Ulf Brunnbauer, University of Graz
- ^ The Balkans, Minorities and States in Conflict (1993), Minority Rights Publication, by Hugh Poulton, p. 111.
- ^ Бакалов, Георги; Милен Куманов (2003). "Българи-мохамедани" (in Bulgarian). Електронно издание "История на България". София: Труд, Сирма. ISBN 9844830679.
- ^ .Population by districts and mother tongue -01.03.2001 National Statistical Institute of Bulgaria.
- ^ Population by districts and religion group -01.03.2001 National Statistical Institute of Bulgaria.
- ^ Population by districts and ethnic group - 01.03.2001 National Statistical Institute of Bulgaria.
References
- Raichevsky, Stoyan; Maya Pencheva (translator) (2004). The Mohammedan Bulgarians (Pomaks). Sofia, Bulgaria: Bulgarian Bestseller — National Museum of Bulgarian Books and Polygraphy. ISBN 9549308413.
- * Ghodsee, Kristen (in English). Muslim Lives in Eastern Europe: Gender, Ethnicity and the Transformation of Islam in Postsocialist Bulgaria. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-13955-5. http://press.princeton.edu/titles/9068.html.
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