Greeks in Bulgaria

Ethnic map of Southeastern Europe from 1880 (Greeks in blue)

Ethnic map of Bulgaria according to the census results from 1892 (Greek minority areas in yellow)

Greek Orthodox Church of Saint George in Sofia, Bulgaria

Greeks in Bulgaria (Bulgarian: гърци Gǎrci) constitute the eighth-largest ethnic minority in Bulgaria (Greek: Βουλγαρία Voulgaria). They number 1,356 according to the 2011 census, but are estimated at around 25,000 by Greek organizations and around 28,500, including the Sarakatsani, officially by Greece. Today, Greeks mostly live in the large urban centres like Sofia and Plovdiv, but also in the costal zone.

History

Historically, the presence of a Greek population in what is today Bulgaria dates to the 7th century BC, when Milesians and Dorians founded thriving Greek colonies on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast, often on the site of earlier Thracian settlements. Maritime poleis like Nesebar (Μεσημβρία Mesimvria), Sozopol (Απολλωνία Apollonia), Pomorie (Αγχίαλος Ankhialos) and Varna (Οδησσός Odissos) controlled the trade routes in the western part of the Black Sea and often waged wars between each other.

Prior to the early 20th century, there was a small Greek minority in Southeastern Bulgaria, living largely between Varna to the north, Topolovgrad to the west and the Black Sea to the east, with a scattered rural population in the inland regions of the Strandzha and Sakar mountains.. The Greek-inhabited places in Strandzha and Sakar were the town of Topolovgrad and 9 villages: Oreshnik, Kapitan Petko Voyvoda, Sinapovo, Chukarovo, Golyam Manastir, Malak Manastir, Sharkovo, Malko Sharkovo, and Mamarchevo. However, a large part of this population, the so-called Kariots, is regarded by ethnographers (including Konstantin Josef Jireček) as having been only Greek-identifying, but of Bulgarian origin; (see Grecomans). Greek communities also existed in Plovdiv, Sofia, Asenovgrad, Haskovo and Rousse, among others. In 1900, the Greeks in Bulgaria numbered 33,650.

Following the anti-Greek tensions in Bulgaria in 1906 and the population exchange agreements Kalfov-Politis and Mollov-Kafandaris after World War I, the bulk of the Greek-speaking population in Bulgaria was forced to leave for Greece and was substituted by Bulgarians from Western Thrace and Greek Macedonia. Among the few exceptions were some of the Sarakatsani, estimated at 4107 in 2006 and a small group of Greek speakers with Bulgarian self-consciousness. This group, living in Suvorovo and two nearby villages, according to the ethnographer Anastas Angleov: "...They themselves used to say [to their Bulgarian-speaking neighbours]: We are Bulgarians, but we speak Greek...".

Culture

From the 19th century the Greek communities on the coastal areas were thriving as they financed and maintained several religious and cultural buildings and institutions: churches, schools of all grades, libraries and press. Until the early 20th century, there were a total of 117 churches and 8 monasteries maintained by Greeks in Bulgarian territory, while a number of Greek dioceses were located in coastal cities and in particular in Pomorie, Varna, Nesebar and Sozopol. The most prosperous communities were that of Varna, with seven Greek schools that hosted ca. 1,200–1,500 students in 1907, and of Plovdiv, with a total of eight schools. Among them, the Zariphios in Plovdiv, established at 1875, became one of the most well known Greek educational institutions of the region.

Census data

A Greek tombstone from 1775 (Burgas Archaeological Museum)

Year	Greek Population	Percentage of total
1880/1881	54,205	1.92
1887	58,326	1.85
1892	58,518	1.77
1900	70,887	1.89
1905	69,761	1.73
1910	50,886	1.17
1920	46,759	0.96
1926	10,564	0.19
1934	9,601	0.16
1956	7,437	0.10
1965	8.241	0.10
1992	4.930	0.06
2001	3,219	0.04
2011	1,356	0.02

The National Federation of Greeks in Bulgaria claims that according to census figures in 1903 (a year in which no census was held) there were a total of 85,000 Greeks in Bulgaria, distributed as follows:

Locality	"1903 census"
Sofia	687
Plovdiv	5,000
Burgas	21,527
Varna	15,249
Rousse	780
Kavarna	9,000
Golyam Manastir	1,800
Pomorie	6,170
Nesebar	1,750
Byala	1,200
Total (incl. other locations)	85,000

Notable Greeks from Bulgaria

• Apostolos Nikolaidis (1896–1980), athlete and Panathinaikos legend, from Plovdiv
• Michael III of Anchialus, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople
• Jeremias II Tranos, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople
• Parthenius I, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople
• Christos Tsigiridis, (1877–1947) electrical engineer and technological pioneer
• Christos Tsountas (1857–1913), archaeologist, from Asenovgrad
• Kostas Varnalis (1884–1974), poet, from Burgas

Further reading

• Daskalova-Zhelyazkova, Nevena (1989) (in Bulgarian). Karioti. Sofia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. OCLC 21482370. 
• Valchinova, Galya (1998). "Greek Population and Greek Ethnic Identity in Bulgaria. A Contribution to the History of an Unidentified Minority" (in Bulgarian). Historical Future (2). 

See also

• Immigration to Bulgaria
• Greco-Bulgarian relations
• Sarakatsani
• Nestinarstvo
• Zariphios School

External links

• Greek embassy in Bulgaria (Greek) (Bulgarian)