The Muslim Bulgarians (, ''Bǎlgari-mohamedani'', as of recently also Българи-мюсюлмани, ''Bǎlgari-mjusjulmani'', locally called ''
Pomak
Pomaks (; Macedonian: Помаци ; ) are Bulgarian-speaking Muslims inhabiting Bulgaria, northwestern Turkey, and northeastern Greece. The strong ethno-confessional minority in Bulgaria is recognized officially as Bulgarian Muslims by th ...
'', ''ahryan'', ''poganets'', ''marvak'', or ''
poturnak'') are
Bulgarians
Bulgarians (, ) are a nation and South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Bulgaria and its neighbouring region, who share a common Bulgarian ancestry, culture, history and language. They form the majority of the population in Bulgaria, ...
who follow the faith of
Islam
Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
.
They are generally thought to be the descendants of the indigenous
Slavs
The Slavs or Slavic people are groups of people who speak Slavic languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout the northern parts of Eurasia; they predominantly inhabit Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Southeastern Europe, and ...
who converted to Islam during
Ottoman rule. Most scholars have agreed that the Bulgarian Muslims are a "
religious group of Bulgarian Slavs who speak
Bulgarian as their
mother tongue
A first language (L1), native language, native tongue, or mother tongue is the first language a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tongue'' refers ...
and do not understand
Turkish
Turkish may refer to:
* Something related to Turkey
** Turkish language
*** Turkish alphabet
** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation
*** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey
*** Turkish communities in the former Ottoman Empire
* The w ...
, but whose religion and customs are
Islamic
Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
". Bulgarian Muslims live mostly in the
Rhodopes
The Rhodopes (; , ; , ''Rodopi''; ) are a mountain range in Southeastern Europe, and the largest by area in Bulgaria, with over 83% of its area in the southern part of the country and the remainder in Greece. Golyam Perelik is its highest peak ...
–
Smolyan Province
Smolyan Province (, ''Oblast Smolyan''; former name Smolyan okrug) is a province in Southern-central Bulgaria, located in the Rhodope Mountains, neighbouring Greece to the south. It is named after its administrative and industrial centre — the ...
, the southern part of the
Pazardzhik
Pazardzhik ( ) is a city situated along the banks of the Maritsa river, southern Bulgaria. It is the centre of Pazardzhik Province and Pazardzhik Municipality. It is located in the Upper Thracian Plain and in the Pazardzhik-Plovdiv Field, a ...
and
Kardzhali Province
Kardzhali Province () is a province of southern Bulgaria, neighbouring Greece with the Greek regional units of Xanthi, Rhodope, and Evros to the south and east. It is 3209.1 km2 in area. Its main city is Kardzhali. It is Bulgaria's sout ...
s and the eastern part of the
Blagoevgrad Province
Blagoevgrad Province (, ''oblast Blagoevgrad'' or Благоевградска област, ''Blagoevgradska oblast''), also known as Pirin Macedonia or Bulgarian Macedonia (), (''Pirinska Makedoniya or Bulgarska Makedoniya'') is a province ('' ...
in Southern
Bulgaria
Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...
. They also live in a group of villages in the
Lovech Province
Lovech Province (, former name Okrug, Lovech okrug) is one of the 28 provinces of Bulgaria, lying at the northern centre of the country. It is named after its main city: Lovech. As of December 2009, the population of the area was151,153. in Northern Bulgaria. The name ''
Pomak
Pomaks (; Macedonian: Помаци ; ) are Bulgarian-speaking Muslims inhabiting Bulgaria, northwestern Turkey, and northeastern Greece. The strong ethno-confessional minority in Bulgaria is recognized officially as Bulgarian Muslims by th ...
'' is pejorative in Bulgarian and is resented by most members of the community, The name adopted and used instead of Pomak is ''Bulgarian Muslims''.
Bulgarian Muslims do not represent a homogenous community and have a multitude of ethnic and religious identities. A clear majority of them (127,350 according to the latest census in 2001) declare themselves to be ethnic Bulgarians of Islamic faith. However, a significant percentage, in particular in the Central and Eastern Rhodopes (the
Smolyan
Smolyan () is a List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, town and ski resort in the south of Bulgaria near the border with Greece. It is the administrative and industrial centre of the Smolyan Province. The town is built along the narrow valley of t ...
and
Kardzhali Province
Kardzhali Province () is a province of southern Bulgaria, neighbouring Greece with the Greek regional units of Xanthi, Rhodope, and Evros to the south and east. It is 3209.1 km2 in area. Its main city is Kardzhali. It is Bulgaria's sout ...
) are strongly religious and have preserved the
Muslim
Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
name system, customs and clothing, the Smolyan Province, which is largely populated by Bulgarian Muslims (approximately 117,000 or 71% of the population according to the Ministry of Interior in 1989
), According to the 2001 census, 43 municipalities out of 262 have a Muslim majority. There were five municipalities with a Muslim population over 90 percent:
Chernoochene
Chernoochene (, ); is a village in central southern Bulgaria, part of Kardzhali Province. It is the administrative centre of Chernoochene municipality, which comprises in the northernmost part of Kardzhali Province. The village is located in the E ...
(96.8 percent) has the highest share of Muslims, followed by
Venets (95.9 percent),
Satovcha
Satovcha (, old version: ''Satovitsa'', ''Svatovitsa'') is a village in Southwestern Bulgaria. It is the administrative center of the Satovcha Municipality in Blagoevgrad Province.
Geography
The village of Satovcha is located in the Western Rh ...
(91.3 percent),
Ruen
Ruen (, ; ) is a village in southeastern Bulgaria, part of Burgas Province. It is the administrative centre of Ruen municipality, which lies in the northern part of Burgas Province.
Municipality
Ruen municipality includes the following 41 place ...
(90.9 percent) and
Kaolinovo
Kaolinovo (, ) is a town in northeastern Bulgaria, part of Shumen Province. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Kaolinovo Municipality, which lies in the northern part of Shumen Province. As of December 2009, the town had a populati ...
(90.0 percent)(122,806 or 87.7%
) and that only 58,758 people or 41.9% of the population of the province declared to profess
Islam
Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
in 2001.
Muslims in Bulgaria have slightly better demographic indicators compared to the Orthodox Christians in Bulgaria. The reason for this difference is mostly because of ethnicity most Muslims in Bulgaria have different reproductive traditions and they have a younger age structure compared to the ethnic Bulgarians which leads to higher fertility and birth rates. In provinces with large Muslim concentrations, birth rates are a little bit higher while death rates are lower than the country average. For example: Bulgaria had a total birth rate of 10.5‰ in 1992 while Muslims formed about 13 percent of the total population. However, in provinces with large Muslim populations the birth rate ranged from in 11.0% in Smolyan and 11.6% in Silistra to 13.1% in Razgrad (>50 percent Muslim) and 14.7% in Kardzhali (about 70 percent Muslim).
A small number of Bulgarian Muslims less than 50, from the Central and Eastern Rhodopes, have converted into
Orthodox Christianity
Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to:
Religion
* Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pag ...
or have adopted a Christian identity since 1990.
The use of Bulgarian names among Muslims is common. For example, only one-third of the Muslim Bulgarian population of the region of
Kirkovo
Kirkovo () is a village in Kardzhali Province, southern Bulgaria, near the Greek border. As of 2021 the population stood at 685 residents with 337 males and 348 females.
Landmarks
The Veykata mountain top, the southernmost point in Bulgaria, is ...
, mostly people aged over 60, have Turkish or
Arabic
Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
names.
Unlike the Bulgarian Muslims in the Central and Eastern Rhodopes, who usually have a Bulgarian identity, the ones living on the western fringes of the
Rhodopes
The Rhodopes (; , ; , ''Rodopi''; ) are a mountain range in Southeastern Europe, and the largest by area in Bulgaria, with over 83% of its area in the southern part of the country and the remainder in Greece. Golyam Perelik is its highest peak ...
(in the provinces of
Pazardzhik
Pazardzhik ( ) is a city situated along the banks of the Maritsa river, southern Bulgaria. It is the centre of Pazardzhik Province and Pazardzhik Municipality. It is located in the Upper Thracian Plain and in the Pazardzhik-Plovdiv Field, a ...
and
Blagoevgrad
Blagoevgrad ( ) is List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, а town in Southwestern Bulgaria, the administrative centre of Blagoevgrad Municipality and of Blagoevgrad Province. With a population of almost inhabitants, it is the economic and cultura ...
) largely Identify as Turkish. For example, out of 62,431 self-declared Muslims in the
Blagoevgrad Province
Blagoevgrad Province (, ''oblast Blagoevgrad'' or Благоевградска област, ''Blagoevgradska oblast''), also known as Pirin Macedonia or Bulgarian Macedonia (), (''Pirinska Makedoniya or Bulgarska Makedoniya'') is a province ('' ...
in 2001,
31,857
(more than half) have opted for Turkish ethnicity although the self-declared speakers of Turkish as a mother tongue are only 19,819.
Considering that mother tongue in the Bulgarian census is counted on the basis of a declaration of the respondent and not on actual proof of what language this person speaks at home and that an inquiry of the Ministry of the Interior in 1989 gave only 3,689 ethnic Turks and 56,191 Pomaks for the
Blagoevgrad Province
Blagoevgrad Province (, ''oblast Blagoevgrad'' or Благоевградска област, ''Blagoevgradska oblast''), also known as Pirin Macedonia or Bulgarian Macedonia (), (''Pirinska Makedoniya or Bulgarska Makedoniya'') is a province ('' ...
, it is highly likely that the vast majority of the Turks in the province are actually Pomaks. A similar phenomenon exists in the
Pazardzhik Province
Pazardzhik Province ( ''Oblast Pazardzhik'', former name Pazardzhik okrug) is a province in Southern Bulgaria, named after its administrative and industrial centre: the city of Pazardzhik. The territory is that is divided into 12 municipaliti ...
where there may be between 10,000 and 15,000 Pomaks.
Almost 64% of Muslims in Bulgaria that are ethnically Turks live in Kardzhali, Razgrad, Targovishte, Shumen, Silistra, Dobrich Ruse, and Burgas. They live mostly in rural settlements. Muslims in Bulgaria that are ethnically Roma mainly live in
Shumen
Shumen (, also Romanization of Bulgarian, romanized as ''Shoumen'' or ''Šumen'', ) is the List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, tenth-largest city in Bulgaria and the administrative and economic capital of Shumen Province.
Etymology
The city ...
,
Sliven
Sliven ( ) is List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, the eighth-largest city in Bulgaria and the administrative and industrial centre of Sliven Province and municipality in Northern Thrace. It is situated in the Sliven Valley at the foothills of th ...
,
Dobrich
Dobrich ( ; ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, 9th most populated city in Bulgaria, the administrative centre of Dobrich Province and the capital of the region of Southern Dobrudzha. It is located in the northeastern part of the cou ...
,
Targovishte
Targovishte (, also transliteration, transliterated ''Tǎrgovište'', , ) is a List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, city in Bulgaria, the administrative and economic capital of Targovishte Province.
It is situated at the northern foot of the l ...
,
Pazardzhik
Pazardzhik ( ) is a city situated along the banks of the Maritsa river, southern Bulgaria. It is the centre of Pazardzhik Province and Pazardzhik Municipality. It is located in the Upper Thracian Plain and in the Pazardzhik-Plovdiv Field, a ...
and
Silistra
Silistra ( ; ; or ) is a town in Northeastern Bulgaria. The town lies on the southern bank of the lower Danube river, and is also the part of the Romanian border where it stops following the Danube. Silistra is the administrative center of the ...
. Pomak Muslims mainly live around the Rhodope Mountains, especially in the province
Smolyan
Smolyan () is a List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, town and ski resort in the south of Bulgaria near the border with Greece. It is the administrative and industrial centre of the Smolyan Province. The town is built along the narrow valley of t ...
and the municipalities of
Satovcha
Satovcha (, old version: ''Satovitsa'', ''Svatovitsa'') is a village in Southwestern Bulgaria. It is the administrative center of the Satovcha Municipality in Blagoevgrad Province.
Geography
The village of Satovcha is located in the Western Rh ...
,
Yakoruda
Yakoruda ( ) is a Bulgarian town located in the southwestern part of the country. A part of the Blagoevgrad Province, it is the seat of Yakuroda Municipality which is the north-easternmost in the province. The town lies in the Rhodope Mountains, a ...
,
Belitsa
Belitsa[Town of Belitsa, Municipality Belits ...](_blank)
,
Garmen
Garmen () is a village in Blagoevgrad Province in Bulgaria and is the seat of Garmen Municipality. It is located in southwestern Bulgaria in the Western Rhodope Mountains in the Chech region 75 kilometers southeast of Blagoevgrad and 127 kilomet ...
,
Gotse Delchev
Georgi Nikolov Delchev (; ; 4 February 1872 – 4 May 1903), known as Gotse Delchev or Goce Delčev (''Гоце Делчев''),Originally spelled in older Bulgarian orthography as ''Гоце Дѣлчевъ''. - Гоце Дѣлчевъ. ...
,
Ardino
Ardino (, formerly ) is a town in southern Bulgaria, in the Rhodope Mountains. It is located in Kardzhali Province and it is also close to Smolyan.
It is famous for its textile industry. It has a machine-building factory and a tobacco manufactu ...
,
Krumovgrad,
Kirkovo
Kirkovo () is a village in Kardzhali Province, southern Bulgaria, near the Greek border. As of 2021 the population stood at 685 residents with 337 males and 348 females.
Landmarks
The Veykata mountain top, the southernmost point in Bulgaria, is ...
and
Velingrad
Velingrad ( ) is a town in Pazardzhik Province, Southern Bulgaria, located at the western end of Chepino Valley, part of the Rhodope Mountains. It is the administrative center of the homonymous Velingrad Municipality and one of the most po ...
.
A large part of the population in those areas did not respond to the census questions which makes it difficult to calculate the exact number of Pomaks. In the municipality of Dospat for example, only 4746 people out of 9116 answered the question on their religion and in the municipality of Satovcha only 9562 out of 15444 people did so. Tatar Muslims live in northeastern Bulgaria and the small Arab diaspora is based mainly in the capital, Sofia.
Finally, there are those Bulgarian Muslims who have chosen not to declare their ethnicity in the 2001 Census . The percentage of undeclared in the
Smolyan Province
Smolyan Province (, ''Oblast Smolyan''; former name Smolyan okrug) is a province in Southern-central Bulgaria, located in the Rhodope Mountains, neighbouring Greece to the south. It is named after its administrative and industrial centre — the ...
(9,696 or 6.9%), the
Kardzhali Province
Kardzhali Province () is a province of southern Bulgaria, neighbouring Greece with the Greek regional units of Xanthi, Rhodope, and Evros to the south and east. It is 3209.1 km2 in area. Its main city is Kardzhali. It is Bulgaria's sout ...
(4,565 or 2.8%) and the
Blagoevgrad Province
Blagoevgrad Province (, ''oblast Blagoevgrad'' or Благоевградска област, ''Blagoevgradska oblast''), also known as Pirin Macedonia or Bulgarian Macedonia (), (''Pirinska Makedoniya or Bulgarska Makedoniya'') is a province ('' ...
(4,242 or 1.2%) is well above the national average of 0.8%.
These are most likely to be Muslim Bulgarians who would have opted for another ethnicity, for example "Pomak" or "Muslim", if these were allowed as answers at the census or are unclear themselves about their own ethnic identity.
Due to the multitude of different ethnic and religious identities of the Muslim Bulgarians, it is extremely difficult to calculate the exact number of the members of the community in Bulgaria. An inquiry conducted by the Bulgarian Ministry of the Interior in 1989 estimated their number at 269,000.
A summation of the different groups with different ethnic identities (approximately 130,000 Muslim Bulgarians, approximately 55,000-65,000 Bulgarians, up to 50,000 Muslim Turks, 15,000 to 20,000 undeclared) yields approximately the same number. Despite the multitude of different ethnic the predominant ethnic identity would be Bulgarian (approximately 200,000 or three-quarters of the total population) and the predominant religious identity would be Muslim.
Muslim Bulgarians in the
Rhodopes
The Rhodopes (; , ; , ''Rodopi''; ) are a mountain range in Southeastern Europe, and the largest by area in Bulgaria, with over 83% of its area in the southern part of the country and the remainder in Greece. Golyam Perelik is its highest peak ...
speak a variety of archaic
Bulgarian dialects
Bulgarian dialects are the regional varieties of the Bulgarian language, a South Slavic language. Bulgarian dialectology dates to the 1830s and the pioneering work of Neofit Rilski, ''Bolgarska gramatika'' (published 1835 ...
. Under the
influence of mass media
In media studies, mass communication, media psychology, communication theory, and sociology, media influence and the media effect are topics relating to mass media and media culture's effects on individuals' or audiences' thoughts, attitudes, and ...
and school education, the dialects have been almost completely unified with standard Bulgarian among Muslim Bulgarians living in
Bulgaria
Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...
.
Turkey
Thracian Bulgarians
Thracians or Thracian Bulgarians ( Bulgarian: Тракийски българи or Тракийци) are a regional, ethnographic group of ethnic Bulgarians, inhabiting or native to Thrace. Today, the larger part of this population is concentrat ...
in
East Thrace
East Thrace or Eastern Thrace, also known as Turkish Thrace or European Turkey, is the part of Turkey that is geographically in Southeast Europe. Turkish Thrace accounts for 3.03% of Turkey's land area and 15% of its population. The largest c ...
in
Turkey
Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
, descended from the people and families who converted to
Islam
Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
in order to stay and avoid being deported to Bulgaria.
Bulgarian historian Lyubomir Miletich wrote a book in 1918 detailing these events called the
Destruction of the Thracian Bulgarians in 1913
The Destruction of the Thracian Bulgarians in 1913 (, ''Razorenieto na trakiyskite balgari prez 1913 g.'', also translated as "The Devastation" or "The Ruin of the Thracian Bulgarians in 1913") was the mass extermination and ethnic cleansing o ...
.
See also
*
Islam in Bulgaria
Islam in Bulgaria is a minority religion and the second largest religion in the country after Christianity. According to the 2021 Census, the total number of Muslims in Bulgaria stood at 638,708
*
Pomaks
Pomaks (; Macedonian: Помаци ; ) are Bulgarian-speaking Muslims inhabiting Bulgaria, northwestern Turkey, and northeastern Greece. The strong ethno-confessional minority in Bulgaria is recognized officially as Bulgarian Muslims by th ...
*
Bulgarian Turks
Bulgarian Turks (; ) are ethnic Turkish people from Bulgaria. According to the 2021 census, there were 508,375 Bulgarians of Turkish descent, roughly 8.4% of the population, making them the country's largest ethnic minority. Bulgarian Turks ...
*
Torbesh
*
Greek Muslims
Greek Muslims, also known as Grecophone Muslims, are Muslims of Greeks, Greek ethnic origin whose adoption of Islam (and often the Turkish language and identity in more recent times) dates either from the contact of early Arabic dynasties of th ...
*
Cheveneburi
*
Lazs
The Laz people, or Lazi ( ''Lazi''; ka, ლაზი, ''lazi''; or ჭანი, ''ch'ani''; ), are a Kartvelian ethnic group native to the South Caucasus, who mainly live in Black Sea coastal regions of Turkey and Georgia. They traditionally ...
*
Hamshenis
Notes
References
*
*
{{Authority control
Society of Bulgaria
Muslim communities in Europe
Muslim ethnoreligious groups
bg:Помаци
de:Pomaken
pt:Búlgaros muçulmanos
tr:Pomaklar