Mustafa Shibiloglu, shortened form: Shibil, (Turkish: Mustafa Şibil/Şibiloğlu, lit. Mustafa son of Shibil), was a notable

Muslim Roma Muslim Romani people or Muslim Roma are people who are ethnically Romani and profess Islam. They may also be known as Muslim Gypsies, with some Roma preferring to use the term, not perceiving it as derogatory. They primarily live in the Balkan ...

born in

Ottoman Bulgaria The history of Ottoman Bulgaria spans nearly 500 years, beginning in the late 14th century, with the Bulgarian–Ottoman Wars, Ottoman conquest of smaller kingdoms from the disintegrating Second Bulgarian Empire. In the late 19th century, Bulgar ...

in the village Gradets, to a Turkish Roma Drandari Musician Family.

Life

During the

Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

(1853-1856), with the help of the

Kirdzhalis The Kirdzhalis have been a social phenomenon in the Rumelia, European possessions of the Ottoman Empire since the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Although they are often artistically depicted as brigands or ''bandits in the field'', from the l ...

(of which he was a member), he opposed Ottoman sovereignty and robbed the Orthodox Christian Bulgarian population. He gained local power in the

Balkan Mountains The Balkan mountain range is located in the eastern part of the Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It is conventionally taken to begin at the peak of Vrashka Chuka on the border between Bulgaria and Serbia. It then runs f ...

around

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 ...

Panayot Hitov Panayot Ivanov Hitov () (November 11, 1830 – February 22, 1918) was a Bulgarian ''haidoutin (hajduk)'', national revolutionary and voivoda. Born in 1830 in Sliven (known as İslimiye at the time), he became a haidoutin in Georgi Trankin's band ...

described him as "well built, tall, fair-skinned and broad-shouldered". Shibil was in love with Radka, a Bulgarian woman. Shibil's other wife was Jenda, who was also a Bulgarian woman. Mustafa Shibil held the title of Agha and lived like a Sultan in

, with many

homes A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or more human occupants, and sometimes various companion animals. Homes provide sheltered spaces, for instance rooms, where domestic activity can be p ...

and a big herd of goats. It is said that the people around him feared him.

Death

Mustafa Shibil was killed sometime between 1856 and 1870.

Legacy

Several Turkish Roma families 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 ...

and those who emigrated to

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 ...

claim to be descendants of Mustafa Shibil, especially the musician Roma groups in Bulgaria. The titular character of ''Shibil'' by

Yordan Yovkov Yordan Stefanov Yovkov () (November 9, 1880 – October 15, 1937) was a prominent Bulgarian writer from the interwar period. Biography Born in the village of Zheravna, Yovkov studied at First Sofia Men’s High School, from which he graduated i ...

is a fictionalized version of Mustafa Shibil. This story was adapted into a film twice.

References

1870 deaths Year of birth unknown Year of death uncertain {{Bulgaria-bio-stub