Hostname: page-component-5c6d5d7d68-sv6ng Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-08-16T08:04:28.406Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Bulgaria: Minorities, Democratization, and National Sentiments

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Petya Nitzova*
Affiliation:
University of Oklahoma, USA

Extract

English-speakers and Bulgarian-speakers seem to read the term “minority” differently. While in English it is more a demographic term, meaning part of the population which is numerically smaller and distinctive from the largest group (the majority of the country), to Bulgarians the term has inalienable political connotations: “minority” is an ethnic or religious group, the rights of which are protected by international agreements and law with far reaching consequences.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © 1997 Association for the Study of Nationalities 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Notes

1. Ilchev, Ivan and Perry, Duncan M., “Bulgarian Ethnic Groups: Politics and Perceptions,” RFE/RL Research Report, No. 12, 19 March 1993, p. 35.Google Scholar

2. Republika Bulgaria. Statisticheski godishnik (1993), Ñǐǒèÿ, ñ. 53. Republic of Bulgaria. Statistical Yearbook (Sofia, 1993), p. 53.Google Scholar

3. Crampton, R. J., “The Turks in Bulgaria 1878–1944,” International Journal of Turkish Studies, Vol. 4, No. 2, 1989, pp. 2743.Google Scholar

4. Popovic, Alexandre, L'Islam balkanique: Les musulmans du sud-est europeen dans la periode post-ottomane (Wiesbaden: Harrasowitz, 1986), pp. 66106.Google Scholar

5. Maruschiakova, E.. V. Popov. Tziganite v Bulgaria, Ñǐǒèÿ (1993).Google Scholar

6. Jong, Frederick De, “Notes on Islamic Mystical Brotherhoods in Northeastern Bulgaria,” Der Islam: Zeitschrift fur Deschichte und Kultur der islamichen Orients, Bd. 63, H. 2, pp. 303–8; Nitzova, Petya. “Qizilbash,” in Harris, I., Mews, S., Morris, P. and Shepherd, J., eds, Contemporary Religions: A World Guide (London: Longman Current Affairs, 1992), p. 284.Google Scholar

7. Etnicheskiyat konflikt v Bulgaria 1989 (Sofia: Sotziologicheski archiv, 1989).Google Scholar

8. Ilchev, Ivan and Perry, Duncan M., “Bulgarian Ethnic Groups,” pp. 3541.Google Scholar

9. Aspekti na etnokulturnata situatziya v Bulgaria i na Balkanite, Tzentar za izsledvane na demokratziyata i fondatziya Fridrih Nauman (Sofia: 1992), v 2 t.Google Scholar

10. Etnicheskata kartina v Bulgaria (Sofia: Izdatelstvo Klub 90, 1993).Google Scholar

11. Vrazki na savmestimost i nesavmestimost mezdu hristiyani i myusyulmani v Bulgaria (Sofia: Fondatziya [Mezdunaroden tzentar po problemite na maltzinstvata i kulturnite vzaimodeistviya], 1994).Google Scholar

12. see: Michel, Thomas F., “The Turkish Minority in Bulgaria,” Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, Vol. 1, No. 2, December 1990, pp. 269279; Dobrev, Ivan, “The Turkish Minority in Bulgaria: A Clarification,” Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations, the same issue, pp. 280–285. The most thorough and detailed account of these events is found in, Poulton, Hugh, Minorities and States in Conflict (London: Minority Rights Group, 1993), pp. 129–163.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

13. Nedeva, Ivanka, “Democracy Building in Ethnically Diverse Societies: The Cases of Bulgaria and Romania,” in Cuthbertson, Ian M. and Leibowitz, Jane, eds, Minorities: The New Europe's Old Issue (New York: Institute for EastWest Studies, 1994), pp. 134135.Google Scholar

14. Ashley, Stephen, “Ethnic Unrest During January,” RFE/RL Report on Eastern Europe, No. 6, 9 February 1990, pp. 411; Perry, Duncan M., “Ethnic Turks Face Bulgarian Nationalism,” ibid., No. 11, 15 March 1991, pp. 5–7.Google Scholar

15. Nedeva, Ivanka, “Democracy Building,” pp. 137138.Google Scholar

16. Taft, William H., “In Bulgaria, Democracy Eases Ethnic Tensions,” The Wall Street Journal, 19 March 1993.Google Scholar

17. 24 chasa, 28 December 1994.Google Scholar

18. Nitzova, Petya, “Islam in Bulgaria: A Historical Reappraisal,” Religion, State and Society, Vol. 22, No. 1, 1994, pp. 97102.Google Scholar

19. 35.5% of the whole population have declared themselves pious, of whom Bulgarians are 33%, 67% are Turks and 45% are Roma. See, Vrazki na savmestimost i nesavmestimost, pp. 198203.Google Scholar

20. Kontinent, No. 301, 30 December 1994.Google Scholar

21. Ibid., No. 20, 24 January 1995.Google Scholar

22. Hutchinson, John and Smith, Anthony D., eds, Nationalism (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1994), pp. 122124, 162–164.Google Scholar

23. Szayna, Thomas S., Ethnic Confict in Central Europe and the Balkans. A Framework and US Policy Options (Stanford: RAND, 1994), pp. 1012.Google Scholar

24. Hupchick, Dennis P., Culture and History in Eastern Europe (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994), pp. 146155.Google Scholar

25. Szayna, Thomas S., Ethnic Conflict, p. 30.Google Scholar

26. The greatest Bulgarian national author of all times Ivan Vazov created a novel entitled Under the Yoke, which has been for almost a century part and parcel of the Bulgarian national narrative and an extended metaphor of Bulgarian susceptabilities vis-à-vis the Turks.Google Scholar

27. Nedeva, Ivanka, Bulgaria's Relations with Greece and Turkey and the Idea of Trilateral Cooperation (Sofia: Free Initiative Foundation, 1993), pp. 1217.Google Scholar