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'''Pomaks''' ({{lang-bg|Помаци ''Pomaci''}}, {{lang-el|Πομάκοι ''Pomáki''}}, {{lang-tr|Pomaklar}}) is a term used for [[Slavic Muslims]] inhabiting [[Bulgaria]], northeastern [[Greece]] and northwestern [[Turkey]],<ref>{{cite book|author1=Carl Waldman|author2=Catherine Mason|title=Encyclopedia of European Peoples|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=kfv6HKXErqAC&pg=PA607|year=2006|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=978-1-4381-2918-1|pages=607–|quote=living in the Rhodope Mountains in Thrace in southern Bulgaria, northeastern Greece, and northwestern Turkey.}}</ref> mainly referring to the ca. 220,000 strong<ref>{{cite book|author1=Thomas M. Wilson|author2=Hastings Donnan|title=Culture and Power at the Edges of the State: National Support and Subversion in European Border Regions|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=MS25xxY2LKQC&pg=PA158|year=2005|publisher=LIT Verlag Münster|isbn=978-3-8258-7569-5|pages=158–159|quote=The name ... refers to about 220,000 people in Bulgaria ... Pomaks inhabit borderlands ... between Bulgaria and Greece}}</ref> ethno-confessional minority in Bulgaria known officially as [[Bulgarian Muslims]].<ref>{{cite book|author1=Hugh Poulton|author2=Suha Taji-Farouki|title=Muslim Identity and the Balkan State|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=lQqHjwW6XzcC&pg=PA33|date=January 1997|publisher=Hurst|isbn=978-1-85065-276-2|pages=33–|quote=The Pomaks, known officially in Bulgaria as Bulgarian Muhammadans or Bulgarian Muslims, are an ethno-confessional minority at present numbering about 220,000 people.}}</ref> The term has also been used as a wider designation, including also the Slavic Muslim populations of the [[Republic of Macedonia]] and [[Albania]].<ref name="Ghodsee2009">{{cite book|author=Kristen Ghodsee|title=Muslim Lives in Eastern Europe: Gender, Ethnicity, and the Transformation of Islam in Postsocialist Bulgaria|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=VZ9FmdPZs2YC&pg=PA38|date=27 July 2009|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=1-4008-3135-0|page=38}} {{better source|date=January 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=P. H. Liotta|title=Dismembering the State: The Death of Yugoslavia and why it Matters|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=h_LBmnBl99QC&pg=PA246|date=1 January 2001|publisher=Lexington Books|isbn=978-0-7391-0212-1|pages=246–}}</ref> Their language, a [[Bulgarian dialect]], is referred to in Greece and Turkey as the [[Pomak language]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Turan |first=Ömer |year=2007 |title=Pomaks, Their Past and Present |journal=Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=69–83 |publisher=Routledge |doi=10.1080/13602009908716425}}</ref> The community in Greece is commonly fluent in Greek, and in Turkey, Turkish, while the communities in these two countries, especially in Turkey, are increasingly adopting Turkish as their first language as a result of education and family links with the Turkish people.<ref>[http://www.greekhelsinki.gr/english/reports/pomaks.html] THE POMAKS, Report - Greek Helsinki Monitor</ref><ref>[http://www.minorityrights.org/1533/greece/turks-and-pomaks.html ''The World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples'']</ref> The origin of the Pomaks has been debated;<ref>Vemund Aarbakke, The Muslim Minority of Greek Thrace, University of Bergen, Bergen, 2000, pp.5 and 12 (pp. 27 and 34 in the pdf file). [http://www.batitrakya.org/makaleler/doc_download/18-the-muslim-minority-of-greek-thrace.html]</ref><ref>Olga Demetriou, "Prioritizing 'ethnicities': The uncertainty of Pomak-ness in the urban Greek Rhodoppe", in ''Ethnic and Racial Studies'', Vol. 27, No. 1, January 2004, pp.106-107 (pp. 12-13 in the pdf file). [http://www.azinlikca.net/pdfs/thesis/The_uncertainty_of_Pomakness_in_the_urban_Greek_Rhodoppe.pdf]</ref> they are according to some sources considered descendants of native [[Bulgarians]] or [[Slavs]] who converted to Islam during the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] rule of the [[Balkans]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Richard V. Weekes|title=Muslim peoples: a world ethnographic survey|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=aVdIAAAAMAAJ|year=1984|publisher=Greenwood Pr.|isbn=978-0-313-23392-0|page=612}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Ethnic Politics in Eastern Europe: A Guide to Nationality Policies, Organizations, and Parties|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=m_AcqFSfvzAC&pg=PA243|publisher=M.E. Sharpe|isbn=978-0-7656-1911-2|pages=243–}}</ref>
'''Pomaks''' ({{lang-bg|Помаци ''Pomatsi''}}, {{lang-el|Πομάκοι ''Pomáki''}}, {{lang-tr|Pomaklar}}) is a term used for [[Slavic Muslims]] inhabiting [[Bulgaria]], northeastern [[Greece]] and northwestern [[Turkey]],<ref>{{cite book|author1=Carl Waldman|author2=Catherine Mason|title=Encyclopedia of European Peoples|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=kfv6HKXErqAC&pg=PA607|year=2006|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=978-1-4381-2918-1|pages=607–|quote=living in the Rhodope Mountains in Thrace in southern Bulgaria, northeastern Greece, and northwestern Turkey.}}</ref> mainly referring to the ca. 220,000 strong<ref>{{cite book|author1=Thomas M. Wilson|author2=Hastings Donnan|title=Culture and Power at the Edges of the State: National Support and Subversion in European Border Regions|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=MS25xxY2LKQC&pg=PA158|year=2005|publisher=LIT Verlag Münster|isbn=978-3-8258-7569-5|pages=158–159|quote=The name ... refers to about 220,000 people in Bulgaria ... Pomaks inhabit borderlands ... between Bulgaria and Greece}}</ref> ethno-confessional minority in Bulgaria known officially as [[Bulgarian Muslims]].<ref>{{cite book|author1=Hugh Poulton|author2=Suha Taji-Farouki|title=Muslim Identity and the Balkan State|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=lQqHjwW6XzcC&pg=PA33|date=January 1997|publisher=Hurst|isbn=978-1-85065-276-2|pages=33–|quote=The Pomaks, known officially in Bulgaria as Bulgarian Muhammadans or Bulgarian Muslims, are an ethno-confessional minority at present numbering about 220,000 people.}}</ref> The term has also been used as a wider designation, including also the Slavic Muslim populations of the [[Republic of Macedonia]] and [[Albania]].<ref name="Ghodsee2009">{{cite book|author=Kristen Ghodsee|title=Muslim Lives in Eastern Europe: Gender, Ethnicity, and the Transformation of Islam in Postsocialist Bulgaria|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=VZ9FmdPZs2YC&pg=PA38|date=27 July 2009|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=1-4008-3135-0|page=38}} {{better source|date=January 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=P. H. Liotta|title=Dismembering the State: The Death of Yugoslavia and why it Matters|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=h_LBmnBl99QC&pg=PA246|date=1 January 2001|publisher=Lexington Books|isbn=978-0-7391-0212-1|pages=246–}}</ref> Their language, a [[Bulgarian dialect]], is referred to in Greece and Turkey as the [[Pomak language]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Turan |first=Ömer |year=2007 |title=Pomaks, Their Past and Present |journal=Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=69–83 |publisher=Routledge |doi=10.1080/13602009908716425}}</ref> The community in Greece is commonly fluent in Greek, and in Turkey, Turkish, while the communities in these two countries, especially in Turkey, are increasingly adopting Turkish as their first language as a result of education and family links with the Turkish people.<ref>[http://www.greekhelsinki.gr/english/reports/pomaks.html] THE POMAKS, Report - Greek Helsinki Monitor</ref><ref>[http://www.minorityrights.org/1533/greece/turks-and-pomaks.html ''The World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples'']</ref> The origin of the Pomaks has been debated;<ref>Vemund Aarbakke, The Muslim Minority of Greek Thrace, University of Bergen, Bergen, 2000, pp.5 and 12 (pp. 27 and 34 in the pdf file). [http://www.batitrakya.org/makaleler/doc_download/18-the-muslim-minority-of-greek-thrace.html]</ref><ref>Olga Demetriou, "Prioritizing 'ethnicities': The uncertainty of Pomak-ness in the urban Greek Rhodoppe", in ''Ethnic and Racial Studies'', Vol. 27, No. 1, January 2004, pp.106-107 (pp. 12-13 in the pdf file). [http://www.azinlikca.net/pdfs/thesis/The_uncertainty_of_Pomakness_in_the_urban_Greek_Rhodoppe.pdf]</ref> they are according to some sources considered descendants of native [[Bulgarians]] or [[Slavs]] who converted to Islam during the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] rule of the [[Balkans]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Richard V. Weekes|title=Muslim peoples: a world ethnographic survey|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=aVdIAAAAMAAJ|year=1984|publisher=Greenwood Pr.|isbn=978-0-313-23392-0|page=612}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Ethnic Politics in Eastern Europe: A Guide to Nationality Policies, Organizations, and Parties|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=m_AcqFSfvzAC&pg=PA243|publisher=M.E. Sharpe|isbn=978-0-7656-1911-2|pages=243–}}</ref>


They are not officially recognized as one people with the ethnonym of ''Pomaks''. The term is widely used colloquially for Eastern South Slavic Muslims, considered derogatory.<ref name=pomaks1/> However, it should be noted that in Greece and Turkey the practice for declaring the ethnic group at census has been abolished for decades.{{clarify|date=January 2016}} Different members of the group today declare a variety of ethnic identities: Bulgarian,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nsi.bg/Census/StrReligion.htm}}</ref><ref>Muslim identity and the Balkan State; Hugh Poulton, Suha Taji-Farouki; 1997, p. 102</ref> Pomak,<ref>[http://www.iea.pmf.ukim.edu.mk/EAZ/EAZ_03/EAZ_2004_PDF/EAZ_2003_Iskrenov_Ang.pdf Interview With Mr. Damjan Iskrenov* and Mr. Shikir Bujukov* from the Village of Kochan – Pomaks from Chech, Western Rodop Mountains (Pirin Part of Macedonia), R. of Bulgaria]</ref><ref>[http://www.sofiaecho.com/article/reading-room-3-raw-deal-for-the-pomaks/id_11428/catid_29 READING ROOM 3: Raw deal for the Pomaks]</ref><ref>[http://www.dnes.bg/article.php?id=59620 Помаците искат да бъдат признати като етнос]</ref> [[Muslims by nationality|Muslim]],<ref>[http://www-gewi.kfunigraz.ac.at/csbsc/ulf/pomak_identities.htm ''Histories and Identities: Nation-state and Minority Discourses. The Case of the Bulgarian Pomaks'']. Ulf Brunnbauer, University of Graz</ref> Turkish, Albanian and others.
They are not officially recognized as one people with the ethnonym of ''Pomaks''. The term is widely used colloquially for Eastern South Slavic Muslims, considered derogatory.<ref name=pomaks1/> However, it should be noted that in Greece and Turkey the practice for declaring the ethnic group at census has been abolished for decades.{{clarify|date=January 2016}} Different members of the group today declare a variety of ethnic identities: Bulgarian,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nsi.bg/Census/StrReligion.htm}}</ref><ref>Muslim identity and the Balkan State; Hugh Poulton, Suha Taji-Farouki; 1997, p. 102</ref> Pomak,<ref>[http://www.iea.pmf.ukim.edu.mk/EAZ/EAZ_03/EAZ_2004_PDF/EAZ_2003_Iskrenov_Ang.pdf Interview With Mr. Damjan Iskrenov* and Mr. Shikir Bujukov* from the Village of Kochan – Pomaks from Chech, Western Rodop Mountains (Pirin Part of Macedonia), R. of Bulgaria]</ref><ref>[http://www.sofiaecho.com/article/reading-room-3-raw-deal-for-the-pomaks/id_11428/catid_29 READING ROOM 3: Raw deal for the Pomaks]</ref><ref>[http://www.dnes.bg/article.php?id=59620 Помаците искат да бъдат признати като етнос]</ref> [[Muslims by nationality|Muslim]],<ref>[http://www-gewi.kfunigraz.ac.at/csbsc/ulf/pomak_identities.htm ''Histories and Identities: Nation-state and Minority Discourses. The Case of the Bulgarian Pomaks'']. Ulf Brunnbauer, University of Graz</ref> Turkish, Albanian and others.

Revision as of 14:45, 29 March 2016

Not to be confused with Pomors.
Pomaks
Помаци
Pomaklar
Πομάκοι
Pomaks in the early 20th century
Regions with significant populations
 Turkey350,000[1]- 600,000[2]
 Bulgaria67,350 Muslim Bulgarians (2011 census)[3]
up to 250,000 incl. of Turkish and of no ethnic identity[1]
 Macedonia40,000 Muslim Macedonians
up to 100,000 incl. Turkified[1]
 Greece50,000 in Western Thrace[1]
Languages
Bulgarian and different Bulgarian dialects as part of the wider Bulgarian dialect continuum as native language[4][5][6][7]
Religion
Sunni Islam
Related ethnic groups
Bulgarians, Macedonians, Slavic Muslims

Pomaks ([Помаци Pomatsi] Error: {{Lang-xx}}: text has italic markup (help), [Πομάκοι Pomáki] Error: {{Lang-xx}}: text has italic markup (help), Turkish: Pomaklar) is a term used for Slavic Muslims inhabiting Bulgaria, northeastern Greece and northwestern Turkey,[8] mainly referring to the ca. 220,000 strong[9] ethno-confessional minority in Bulgaria known officially as Bulgarian Muslims.[10] The term has also been used as a wider designation, including also the Slavic Muslim populations of the Republic of Macedonia and Albania.[11][12] Their language, a Bulgarian dialect, is referred to in Greece and Turkey as the Pomak language.[13] The community in Greece is commonly fluent in Greek, and in Turkey, Turkish, while the communities in these two countries, especially in Turkey, are increasingly adopting Turkish as their first language as a result of education and family links with the Turkish people.[14][15] The origin of the Pomaks has been debated;[16][17] they are according to some sources considered descendants of native Bulgarians or Slavs who converted to Islam during the Ottoman rule of the Balkans.[18][19]

They are not officially recognized as one people with the ethnonym of Pomaks. The term is widely used colloquially for Eastern South Slavic Muslims, considered derogatory.[20] However, it should be noted that in Greece and Turkey the practice for declaring the ethnic group at census has been abolished for decades.[clarification needed] Different members of the group today declare a variety of ethnic identities: Bulgarian,[21][22] Pomak,[23][24][25] Muslim,[26] Turkish, Albanian and others.

Population

Bulgaria

Main article: Bulgarian Muslims

The Pomaks in Bulgaria are referred to as Bulgarian Muslims (българи-мюсюлмани Bǎlgari-Mjusjulmani), and under the locally used names Ahryani (pejorative, meaning "infidels"[27]), Pogantsi, Poturani, Poturnatsi, Eruli, Charaklii, etc.[28] They mainly inhabit the Rhodope Mountains in Smolyan Province, Kardzhali Province, Pazardzhik Province and Blagoevgrad Province. There are Pomaks in other parts of Bulgaria as well. There are a few Pomak villages in Burgas Province, Lovech Province, Veliko Tarnovo Province and Ruse Province.[29] Officially no ethnic Pomaks are recorded, while 67,000 declared Muslim and ethnic Bulgarian identity,[3] down from 131,000 who declared Muslim Bulgarian identity at the 2001 census.[30] Unofficially, there may be between 150,000[20] and 250,000[1] Pomaks in Bulgaria, though maybe not in the ethnic sense as one part declare Bulgarian, another part - Turkish ethnic identity. During the 20th century the Pomaks in Bulgaria were the subject of three state-supported assimilation campaigns - in 1912, the 1940s and the 1960s and 1970s which included the change of their Turkish-Arabic names to ethnic Bulgarian ones and in the first campaign conversions from Islam to Eastern Orthodoxy. The first two campaigns were abandoned after a few years, while the second was reversed in 1989. The campaigns were carried out under the pretext that the Pomaks as ancestral Christian Bulgarians who had been converted to Islam and who therefore needed to be repatriated back to the national domain. These attempts were met with stiff resistance by some Pomaks.[31]

Turkey

A Pomak community is present in Turkey, mostly in Eastern Thrace and fewer in Anatolia, where they are called in Turkish Pomaklar, and their speech, Pomakça. The Pomak community in Turkey is unofficially estimated between 300,000[1] and 600,000.[2]

Greece

Medusa Pomak village, Xanthi, Thrace, Greece

Today the Pomaks (Greek: Πομάκοι) in Greece inhabit the province of East Macedonia and Thrace in Northern Greece, particularly the eastern regional units of Xanthi, Rhodope and Evros.[29] Their estimated population is 50,000,[1] only in Western Thrace. Until Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922) and Population exchange between Greece and Turkey in 1923 Pomaks inhabited a part of the regions of Moglena[32] – Almopia (Karadjova), Kastoria[33] and some other parts of Greek Macedonia and the Republic of Macedonia. German sightseer Adolf Struck in 1898 describes Konstantia (in Moglena ) as a big village with 300 houses and two panes, inhabited exclusively by Pomaks. Greek nationalist scholars and government officials frequently refer to the Pomaks as "slavicised" Greek Muslims, to give the impression that they are the descendants of Ottoman-era Greek converts to Islam like the Vallahades of Greek Macedonia.

Republic of Macedonia

The Macedonian Muslims (or Torbeši), are occasionally also referred to as Pomaks, especially in historical context.[34][35][36][37] They are a minority religious group in the Republic of Macedonia, although not all espouse a Macedonian national identity and are linguistically distinct from the larger Muslim ethnic groups in the Republic of Macedonia, Albanians and Turks. However the estimated 100,000 Pomaks in Macedonia maintain a strong affiliation to the Turkish identity.[1]

Albania

Slavic-speaking Muslims, sometimes referred to as "Pomaks", live also in the Albanian region of Golloborda. However these people are also referred to as "Torbeš". They speak the Drimkol-Golo Brdo dialect of the Macedonian language. Part of this people still self-identify as Bulgarians.[38]

Kosovo

The Gorani occasionally are also referred to as Pomaks in historical context.[39][40] They are people who inhabit the Gora region, located between Albania, Kosovo and Macedonia. The general view is that they should be treated as a distinct minority group.[41][42] Part of these people are already albanised.[43] By the last censuses at the end of the 20th century in Yugoslavia they have declared themselves to be Muslims by nationality, like Bosniaks.[44]

Language

Main article: Pomak language

There is no specific Pomak dialect of the Bulgarian language. Within Bulgaria, the Pomaks speak almost the same dialects as those spoken by the Christian Bulgarians with which they live side by side and Pomaks living in different regions speak different dialects.[45] In Bulgaria there is a trend for dialects to give to the standard Bulgarian language and this is also affecting the dialects spoken by the Pomaks and their usage is now rare in urban areas and among younger people. As part of the wider Pomak community, the Torbeshi and Gorani in the Republic of Macedonia, Albania and Kosovo speak Macedonian or Torlakian dialects (incl. the Gora dialect),[46][47][48][49][50][51][52] which are sometimes also considered to be part of the wider Bulgarian dialect continuum.[53][54][55]

Most Pomaks speak some of the Eastern Bulgarian dialects, mainly the Rup dialects in Southern Bulgaria and the Balkan dialects in Northern Bulgaria. The Pomaks living in the Bulgarian part of the Rhodopes speak the Rhodope (especially the Smolyan, Chepino, Hvoyna and Zlatograd subdialects) and Western Rup (especially the Babyak and Gotse Delchev sub-dialects) dialects.[56] The Smolyan dialect is also spoken by the Pomaks living in the Western Thrace region of Greece.

The Pomaks living in the region of Teteven in Northern Bulgaria speak the Balkan dialect, specifically the Transitional Balkan sub-dialect.[57]

The Rup dialects of the Bulgarian language spoken in Western Thrace are called in Greece Pomak language (Pomaktsou). The Pomak language is taught at primary school level (using the Greek alphabet) in the Pomak regions of Greece, which are primarily in the Rhodope Mountains. The Pomaks of Thrace were, together with Muslim Turks and Roma, exempted from the population exchanges provided by the Lausanne Treaty (1923). The treaty made no mention of their language, but declared that their languages of education should be Turkish and Greek. The main school manual used for the teaching the language is 'Pomaktsou' by Moimin Aidin and Omer Hamdi, Komotini 1997. There is also a Pomak-Greek dictionary by Ritvan Karahodja, 1996. The Pomak dialects are on the Eastern side of the Yat isogloss of Bulgarian, yet many pockets of western Bulgarian speakers remain.[citation needed] A large number of them no longer transmit it; they have adopted Turkish as a first language and Greek as a second language.[58] Recently the Community of the Pomaks of Xanthi, has announced its request to be treated equally and therefore to have the right of education in Greek schools without the obligation of learning the Turkish language.[59][60]

History

File:Bulgarian Muslims from Rhodopes (1932).jpg
Bulgarian Muslims from Rhodopes, "National Geographic Magazine", 1932

Pomaks are today usually considered descendants of native Bulgarians who converted to Islam during the Ottoman rule of the Balkans. They started to become Muslim gradually, from the Ottoman occupation (early 15th century) to the end of the 18th century. Subsequently this people became part of the Muslim community of the millet system. At that time people were bound to their millets by their religious affiliations (or their confessional communities), rather than their ethnic origins, according to the millet concept.[61] The word "Pomak" appears first in the Bulgarian Christian-heretical language surrounding of North Bulgaria (the regions of Lovech, Teteven, Lukovit, Byala Slatina). Probably it comes from the expression "по-ямак" ("more than an Yamak", "more important than an Yamak", similarly to "пó юнак", i.e. "more than a hero"). It is quite possible also that the word comes from the dialect expressions "помáкан, омáкан, омáчен, помáчен" (pomákan, omákan, omáchen, pomáchen) in the sense of "provided by an estate or farmland", "farmer", provided by a guaranteed "мáка", an old dialect North-Bulgarian word for property, ownership, farm, estate,[62] contrary the Bulgarian Christians, who, before the Tanzimat reforms in 1839 г. did not have a guaranteed "мáка".[63]

A monk Pachomios Roussanos (1508–1553), who visited the mountain area of Xanthi, mentioned that around 1550 only 6 or 9 villages had turned to Islam.[64][65] Furthermore[clarification needed] the documents[which?] show that not only Islam has been spread in the area at that time, but that the Pomaks participated in Ottoman military operations voluntarily as is the case with the village of Shahin (Echinos).[66]

In North Central Bulgaria (the regions of Lovech, Teteven, Lukovit, Byala Slatina)[67] the Ottoman authorities requested in 1689, after the Chiprovtsi Uprising, for military reasons[clarification needed] Bulgarian Paulicians (Christian heretics) to convert to one of the officially recognized religions in the Ottoman Empire[citation needed]. One part of them converted to the East Orthodoxy (some of them to Catholicism) and became Bulgarian-Christians, while the other part converted to Islam and began to be called Pomaks.[68] So, in North Central Bulgaria Pomaks became those of Bulgarian Christian heretics, for which it was unacceptable or impossible to convert to the East Orthodoxy because of dogmatic, economic, family or other reasons.[clarification needed] [69]

Ethnographic map of European Turkey from the late 19th century, showing the regions largely populated by Pomaks in brown.

The mass turn to Islam in the Central Rhodope Mountains happened between the 16th and the 17th century. According to the Codes of Bishop of Philippoupolis and the Czech historian and slavist Konstantin Josef Jireček in the middle of the 17th century, some Bulgarian provosts agreed to become Muslim en masse. They visited the Ottoman local administrator to announce their decision, but he sent them to the Greek bishop of Philippoupolis Gabriel (1636–1672). The bishop couldn't change their mind. According to the verbal tradition of the Greeks of Philippoupolis[citation needed], a large ceremony of mass circumcision took place in front of the old mosque of the city, near the Government House. After that, the villagers became Muslim, too. According to the verbal tradition[clarification needed] of the Bulgarians, Grand Vizier Köprülü Mehmed Pasha (1656–1661) threatened the Bulgarians of Chepino Valley that he would execute them if they didn't turn to Islam[citation needed]. In 1656, Ottoman military troops entered the Chepino valley and arrested the local Bulgarian provosts, in order to transfer them in the local Ottoman administrator[clarification needed][citation needed]. There, they converted to Islam. Grand Vizier Mehmed Köprülü, after the mass Islamization, destroyed 218 churches and 336 chapels in these areas[citation needed]. A lot of Bulgarians preferred to die instead of becoming Muslim.[70][71] According to recent investigations the theory of forced conversion to Islam, supported by some scientists, has no solid grounds with all or most evidence being faked or misinterpreted.[72][73][74] Muslim communities prospered under the Ottoman Empire, as the Sultan was also the Caliph. Ottoman law did not recognize such notions as ethnicity or citizenship; thus, a Muslim of any ethnic background enjoyed precisely the same rights and privileges.

Tuhovishta's Mosque

Meanwhile, the perception of the millet concept was altered[clarification needed] during the 19th century and rise of nationalism within the Ottoman Empire begun. After the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878), Pomaks in the Vacha valley, apprehensive of retribution for their role in the bloody suppression of the April Uprising two years earlier, rebelled against Eastern Rumelia and established an autonomous state, called Republic of Tamrash. In 1886 the Ottoman government accepted the Bulgarian rule over Eastern Rumelia and that was the end of the free Pomak state. During the Balkan Wars, at August 16, 1913, an Islamic revolt begun in the Eastern Rhodopes and Western Thrace. At September 1, 1913, the "Provisional Government of Western Thrace" (Garbi Trakya Hukumet i Muvakkatesi) was established in Komotini. The Ottoman administration didn't support the rebels and finally under the neutrality of Greek and Ottoman governments, Bulgaria took over the lands on 30 October 1913. The rebels requested support by the Greek state and put Greek major in Alexandroupoli.[75][76][77][78] Bulgaria, after a brief period of control over the area, passed the sovereignty of Western Thrace at the end of World War I. The Provisional Government was revived between 1919-1920 under French protectorate (France had annexed the region from Bulgaria in 1918) before Greece took over in June, 1920.

After the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire following the First World War, the religious millet system disappeared and the members of the Pomak groups today declare a variety of ethnic identities, depending predominantly on the country they live in.

Origin theories

According to some authors, their precise origins remain unknown.[79]

Thracian origin

A specific DNA mutation, HbO, which emerged about 2,000 years ago on a rare haplotype is characteristic of the Greek Pomaks. Its frequency increased as a consequence of high genetic drift within this population. This indicates that the Greek Pomaks are an isolated population with limited contacts with their neighbours.[80] According to some Greek researchers, the DNA tree line of Greek Pomaks suggests that they descend from ancient Thracian tribes.[81]

Paulician and Bogomil origin

The Bulgarian writer Lyuben Karavelov (1834–1879) advocated the view that the Pomaks were descended from Paulicians, an early medieval Christian sect.[82] According to Bulgarian historian Yordan Ivanov and some modern authors, part of the Paulicians converted to Orthodoxy and Islam, the rest to the Catholic faith during the 16th or 17th century.[68][69]

Notable people

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Carl Skutsch (7 November 2013). Encyclopedia of the World's Minorities. Routledge. pp. 974–. ISBN 978-1-135-19388-1.
  2. ^ a b "Türkiye'deki Kürtlerin sayısı!" (in Turkish). 6 June 2008. Retrieved 17 August 2010.
  3. ^ a b 2011 Bulgarian census, p.29 (in Bulgarian)
  4. ^ Ethnologue, Languages of Greece.Bulgarian.
  5. ^ Ethnologue: Languages of the World Fourteenth Edition.Bulgarian.
  6. ^ Encyclopaedia Britannica, Pomak People.
  7. ^ Social Construction of Identities: Pomaks in Bulgaria, Ali Eminov, JEMIE 6 (2007) 2 © 2007 by European Centre for Minority Issues
  8. ^ Carl Waldman; Catherine Mason (2006). Encyclopedia of European Peoples. Infobase Publishing. pp. 607–. ISBN 978-1-4381-2918-1. living in the Rhodope Mountains in Thrace in southern Bulgaria, northeastern Greece, and northwestern Turkey.
  9. ^ Thomas M. Wilson; Hastings Donnan (2005). Culture and Power at the Edges of the State: National Support and Subversion in European Border Regions. LIT Verlag Münster. pp. 158–159. ISBN 978-3-8258-7569-5. The name ... refers to about 220,000 people in Bulgaria ... Pomaks inhabit borderlands ... between Bulgaria and Greece
  10. ^ Hugh Poulton; Suha Taji-Farouki (January 1997). Muslim Identity and the Balkan State. Hurst. pp. 33–. ISBN 978-1-85065-276-2. The Pomaks, known officially in Bulgaria as Bulgarian Muhammadans or Bulgarian Muslims, are an ethno-confessional minority at present numbering about 220,000 people.
  11. ^ Kristen Ghodsee (27 July 2009). Muslim Lives in Eastern Europe: Gender, Ethnicity, and the Transformation of Islam in Postsocialist Bulgaria. Princeton University Press. p. 38. ISBN 1-4008-3135-0. [better source needed]
  12. ^ P. H. Liotta (1 January 2001). Dismembering the State: The Death of Yugoslavia and why it Matters. Lexington Books. pp. 246–. ISBN 978-0-7391-0212-1.
  13. ^ Turan, Ömer (2007). "Pomaks, Their Past and Present". Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs. 19 (1). Routledge: 69–83. doi:10.1080/13602009908716425.
  14. ^ [1] THE POMAKS, Report - Greek Helsinki Monitor
  15. ^ The World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples
  16. ^ Vemund Aarbakke, The Muslim Minority of Greek Thrace, University of Bergen, Bergen, 2000, pp.5 and 12 (pp. 27 and 34 in the pdf file). [2]
  17. ^ Olga Demetriou, "Prioritizing 'ethnicities': The uncertainty of Pomak-ness in the urban Greek Rhodoppe", in Ethnic and Racial Studies, Vol. 27, No. 1, January 2004, pp.106-107 (pp. 12-13 in the pdf file). [3]
  18. ^ Richard V. Weekes (1984). Muslim peoples: a world ethnographic survey. Greenwood Pr. p. 612. ISBN 978-0-313-23392-0.
  19. ^ Ethnic Politics in Eastern Europe: A Guide to Nationality Policies, Organizations, and Parties. M.E. Sharpe. pp. 243–. ISBN 978-0-7656-1911-2.
  20. ^ a b Janusz Bugajski (1994). Ethnic Politics in Eastern Europe: A Guide to Nationality Policies, Organizations, and Parties. M.E. Sharpe. pp. 235–. ISBN 978-1-56324-282-3.
  21. ^ http://www.nsi.bg/Census/StrReligion.htm. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  22. ^ Muslim identity and the Balkan State; Hugh Poulton, Suha Taji-Farouki; 1997, p. 102
  23. ^ Interview With Mr. Damjan Iskrenov* and Mr. Shikir Bujukov* from the Village of Kochan – Pomaks from Chech, Western Rodop Mountains (Pirin Part of Macedonia), R. of Bulgaria
  24. ^ READING ROOM 3: Raw deal for the Pomaks
  25. ^ Помаците искат да бъдат признати като етнос
  26. ^ Histories and Identities: Nation-state and Minority Discourses. The Case of the Bulgarian Pomaks. Ulf Brunnbauer, University of Graz
  27. ^ Basilēs G. Nitsiakos (2008). Balkan Border Crossings: First Annual of the Konitsa Summer School. LIT Verlag Münster. p. 189. ISBN 978-3-8258-0918-8.
  28. ^ Mario Apostolov (1 January 2001). Religious Minorities, Nation States, and Security: Five Cases from the Balkans and the Eastern Mediterranean. Ashgate. ISBN 978-0-7546-1677-1.
  29. ^ a b Raichevsky, Stoyan (2004). "Geographical Boundaries". The Mohammedan Bulgarians (Pomaks). Pencheva, Maya (translator). Sofia: National Museum of Bulgaria. ISBN 978-954-9308-41-9.
  30. ^ "Structure of the population by religion". Census 2001 (in Bulgarian). National Statistical Institute. Retrieved 4 November 2008.
  31. ^ DIMITROV, VESSELIN: "In Search of a Homogeneous Nation: The Assimilation of Bulgaria's Turkish Minority, 1984-1985", London School of Economics and Political Science, UK December 23, 2000
  32. ^ Capidan, Theodor. Meglenoromânii, istoria şi graiul lor, vol. I, Bucureşti, 1925, p.5, 19, 21-22 (Capidan, Theodor. Megleno-Romanians - their history and dialect, Bucharest 1925, vol 1, p.5, 19, 21-22)
  33. ^ Report of the International Commission to Inquire into the Causes and Conduct of the Balkan Wars, published by the Endowment Washington, D.C. 1914, p. 199.
  34. ^ Report of the International Commission to Inquire into the Causes and Conduct of the Balkan Wars, published by the Endowment Washington, D.C. 1914, p.28, 155, 288, 317, Лабаури, Дмитрий Олегович. Болгарское национальное движение в Македонии и Фракии в 1894-1908 гг: Идеология, программа, практика политической борьбы, София 2008, с. 184-186, Поп Антов, Христо. Спомени, Скопje 2006, с. 22-23, 28-29, Дедиjeр, Jевто, Нова Србиjа, Београд 1913, с. 229, Петров Гьорче, Материали по изучаванието на Македония, София 1896, с. 475 (Petrov, Giorche. Materials on the Study of Macedonia, Sofia, 1896, p. 475)
  35. ^ Center for Documentation and Information on Minorities in Europe - Southeast Europe (CEDIME-SE). Muslims of Macedonia. p. 2, 11
  36. ^ Лабаури, Дмитрий Олегович. Болгарское национальное движение в Македонии и Фракии в 1894-1908 гг: Идеология, программа, практика политической борьбы, София 2008, с. 184, Кънчов, Васил. Македония. Етнография и статистика, с. 39-53 (Kanchov, Vasil. Macedonia — ethnography and statistics Sofia, 1900, p. 39-53),Leonhard Schultze Jena. «Makedonien, Landschafts- und Kulturbilder», Jena, G. Fischer, 1927
  37. ^ Fikret Adanir, Die Makedonische Frage: ihre entestehung und etwicklung bis 1908., Wiessbaden 1979 (in Bulgarian: Аданър, Фикрет. Македонският въпрос, София2002, с. 20)
  38. ^ Urgent anthropology Vol. 3 Problems of Multiethnicity in the Western Balkans. Fieldwork Edited by Antonina Zhelyazkova, ISBN 954-8872-53-6.
  39. ^ „Българите в Македония. Издирвания и документи за тяхното потекло, език и народност с етнографска карта и статистика", Българска Академия на Науките С.,1917; стр. 21.
  40. ^ Nova Evropa,Published by Tipografija, 1927, Item notes: v. 16, p. 449-450
  41. ^ Kosovo: the Bradt travel guide, Gail Warrander, Verena Knaus, Published by Bradt Travel Guides, 2007, ISBN 1-84162-199-4, p. 211.
  42. ^ Historical dictionary of Kosova, Robert Elsie, Scarecrow Press, 2004, ISBN 0-8108-5309-4, p. 70.
  43. ^ Bulgarians in the region of Korcha and Mala Prespa (Albania) nowadays, Balkanistic Forum (1-3/2005), South-West University "Neofit Rilski", Blagoevgrad, Pashova, Anastasija Nikolaeva; Issue: 1-3/2005, Page Range: 113-130.
  44. ^ Religion and the politics of identity in Kosovo by Gerlachlus Duijzings, C. Hurst & Co. Publishers, 2000, ISBN 1-85065-431-X, p. 27.
  45. ^ Bulgarian dialectology; Stoyan Stoykov; 4th edition, 2002; p.128
  46. ^ Yearbook of Muslims in Europe, Jorgen S. Nielsen, Samim Akgönül, Ahmet Alibasic, BRILL, 2009, ISBN 90-04-17505-9,p. 221.
  47. ^ The Albanian Question: Reshaping The Balkans, James Pettifer, Miranda Vickers, I.B.Tauris, 2007, ISBN 1-86064-974-2, p. XV.
  48. ^ Encyclopedia of the Stateless Nations: L-R, James Minahan, ISBN 0-313-31617-1, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2002, p. 1517.
  49. ^ Balkan Idols: Religion and Nationalism in Yugoslav States Religion and Global Politics, Vjekoslav Perica, Oxford University Press, 2004, ISBN 0-19-517429-1, p. 75.
  50. ^ Culture and Learning in Islam Different Aspects of Islamic Culture, Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu, UNESCO, 2003, ISBN 92-3-103909-1, pp. 96-98.
  51. ^ Who Are the Macedonians? Hugh Poulton, C. Hurst & Co. Publishers, 2000, ISBN 1-85065-534-0, p. 208.
  52. ^ The Coming Balkan Caliphate: The Threat of Radical Islam to Europe and the West, Christopher Deliso, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007, ISBN 0-275-99525-9,p. 75.
  53. ^ Who are the Macedonians?, Hugh Poulton, C. Hurst & Co. Publishers, 2000, ISBN 1-85065-534-0,p. 116.
  54. ^ When languages collide: perspectives on language conflict, language competition, and language coexistence, Brian D. Joseph, Ohio State University Press, 2003, p. 281, ISBN 0-8142-0913-0.
  55. ^ Albania: from anarchy to a Balkan identity, Miranda Vickers, James Pettifer, C. Hurst & Co. Publishers, 1997, ISBN 1-85065-279-1, p. 205.
  56. ^ Bulgarian dialectology; Stoyan Stoykov; 4th edition, 2002; pp.128-143
  57. ^ Bulgarian dialectology; Stoyan Stoykov; 4th edition, 2002; pp.117-118
  58. ^ Adamou E. & Drettas G. 2008, Slave, Le patrimoine plurilingue de la Grèce - Le nom des langues II, E. Adamou (éd.), BCILL 121, Leuven, Peeters, p. 107-132.
  59. ^ Demetriou, Olga (January 2004). "Prioritizing 'ethnicities': The uncertainty of Pomak-ness in the urban Greek Rhodoppe". Ethnic and Racial Studies (27)., pg. 105–108 [4]
  60. ^ An article in the Greek Newspaper Xronos, printed 17.03.2010
  61. ^ Ortaylı, İlber. "Son İmparatorluk Osmanlı (The Last Empire: Ottoman Empire)", İstanbul, Timaş Yayınları (Timaş Press), 2006. pp. 87–89. ISBN 975-263-490-7 Template:Tr icon.
  62. ^ Bulgarian Etymological Dictionary, Sofia
  63. ^ Мантран, Робер. История на Османската империя. Рива. pp. 472–535. ISBN 978-954-320-369-7.
  64. ^ Greek newspaper "Kathimerini", Column "Exploring the Pomak villages", Athens 12 December 2009
  65. ^ Pomak newspaper "Nat Press", Article "The verbal tradition of Pomaks in Rodope", Komotini 6 September 2009
  66. ^ Цветкова, Бистра (1972). Турски извори за българската история. Том 3:2 (in Bulgarian). София: Българска академия на науките. p. 416. ISBN 0-439-01834-X. OCLC 405458491.
  67. ^ "Gozler, Kemal. Les villages pomaks de Lovca. Publishing House of the Turkish Historical Society, Ankara, 2001," (PDF).
  68. ^ a b Edouard Selian. "The Descendants of Paulicians: the Pomaks, Catholics, and Orthodox".
  69. ^ a b Ivanov, Йордан. Богомилски книги и легенди. (Bulgarian language) С., 1925 (фототипно изд. С., 1970), с. 36 (Jordan. Bogomil Books and Legends, Sofia, 1925, p. 36: http://www.kroraina.com/knigi/ji/ji_uvod_5.htm or in: Ivanov, Ĵ. Bogomil Books and Legends. Paris, Maisonneuve et Larose, 1976. {{cite book}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
  70. ^ Pomak newspaper "Nat Press", Article "People's traditions, proverbs and enigmas of Pomaks", Komotini 6 September 2009
  71. ^ M. G. Varvounis Folk tales of Pomaks in Thrace, Athens 1996
  72. ^ Горчева, Даниела (1 February 2009). "Балканите: съжителство на вековете". Либерален Преглед (in Bulgarian) (21). Archived from the original on 30 August 2010. Retrieved 12 December 2009. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  73. ^ Тодорова, Мария (4 February 2009). "Ислямизацията като мотив в българската историография, литература и кино". Либерален Преглед (in Bulgarian) (21). Archived from the original on 13 July 2011. Retrieved 12 December 2009. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  74. ^ Ethnologia Balkanica
  75. ^ in turkish: Biyiklioglou Tevfik, "Trakya' da millî mücadele" Ankara 1956
  76. ^ in German: Peter Soustal, "Thrakien (Thrake, Rodope und Haimimontos)" Wienn 1991
  77. ^ in greek: General Administration of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, "Thrace" Komotini 1994
  78. ^ in turkish: Aydinli Ahmet, "Bati Trakya faciasinin icyuzu" Istanbul 1972
  79. ^ Fred de Jong, "The Muslim Minority in Western Thrace", in Georgina Ashworth (ed.), Muslim Minorities in the Eighties, Sunbury, Quartermaine House Ltd., 1980, p.95
  80. ^ HbO-Arab mutation originated in the Pomak population of Greek Thrace, Haematologica, Vol 90, Issue 2, 255-257, 2005 by Ferrata Storti Foundation
  81. ^ The origin of Greek Pomaks is based on HbO-Arab mutation history
  82. ^ Любен Каравелов. Мемоари. Павликяни и семейният бит на българите. (Lyuben Karavelov. Memoirs. Paulicians and the family life of the Bulgarians). http://www.znam.bg/com/action/showBook?bookID=979&elementID=935883124&sectionID=5

Further reading

External links

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