The Bulgarian Turks in Turkey represent a community of Bulgarian Turks who immigrated over the years from

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 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 ...

. They are notable in Turkey for being descendants of Balkan Turks who had to escape persecution. And moreover, part of them continue to be dual citizens of Bulgaria and Turkey, which makes them a natural bridge between the two countries.

Origins

Bulgarian Turks are descendants of Asian settlers who came across the narrows of the

Dardanelles The Dardanelles ( ; ; ), also known as the Strait of Gallipoli (after the Gallipoli peninsula) and in classical antiquity as the Hellespont ( ; ), is a narrow, natural strait and internationally significant waterway in northwestern Turkey th ...

and the

Bosporus The Bosporus or Bosphorus Strait ( ; , colloquially ) is a natural strait and an internationally significant waterway located in Istanbul, Turkey. The Bosporus connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara and forms one of the continental bo ...

following the Ottoman conquest of the

Balkans The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

in the late 14th and early 15th centuries, as well as Bulgarian converts 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 ...

who became Turkified during the centuries of Ottoman rule in Bulgaria. It has also been suggested that some Turks living today in Bulgaria may be direct ethnic descendants of earlier medieval Pecheneg, Oğuz, and

Cuman The Cumans or Kumans were a Turkic nomadic people from Central Asia comprising the western branch of the Cuman–Kipchak confederation who spoke the Cuman language. They are referred to as Polovtsians (''Polovtsy'') in Rus' chronicles, as " ...

Turkic tribes.Nicole 1990, pp.45Norris, ''Islam in the Balkans'', pp. 146-47. The Turkish community became an ethnic minority when the Principality of Bulgaria was established after the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878.

File:Turkish Refugees from the district of Tirnova coming into Shumla.png, Turkish refugees from the Tirnova district coming into Shumla. The Illustrated London News 1 September 1877. File:Distribution of clothing to Turkish Refugees at Shumla.png, War Distribution Clothing Turkish Refugees Shumla. The Illustrated London News 17 November 1877. File:Turkish refugees from Eastern Rumelia in 1885.jpg, Turkish refugees from Eastern Rumelia in 1885. The Illustrated London News, author: Richard Caton Woodville, Jr.

History of resettlement in Turkey

Notable Bulgarian Turks from Turkey

* Naim Süleymanoğlu * Halil Mutlu * Ahmet Fikri Tüzer * Neriman Özsoy * Yıldız İbrahimova * Hakan Yıldız * Hulusi Kentmen * Şaziye Moral * Ali Osman Sönmez * Gülhan Şen * Ciguli * Şoray Uzun

References

{{Bulgarian diaspora Ethnic groups in Turkey * * Demographics of the Ottoman Empire European diaspora in Turkey Bulgarian people of Turkish descent

Origins

History of resettlement in Turkey

Notable Bulgarian Turks from Turkey

See also

References