Pomak Borderlands: Muslims on the edge of nations

Nationalities Papers

Volumn 28, Issue 1, 2000, Pages 181-198

  Neuburger, Mary ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 0039879098     PISSN: 00905992     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/00905990050002506     Document Type: Review

References (72)

1. B. Dimitrova, "Touch," The Last Rock Eagle: Selected Poems of Blaga Dimitrova (London: Forest Books, 1992), p. 20.
2. I am well aware of the debates surrounding the term "Pomak," which has become increasingly "politically incorrect" in historical and contemporary Bulgarian academic parlance for various reasons, such as the lack of use of the term by "Pomaks" themselves, and the purported "derogatory nature" of the term. However, I still prefer the term to "Bulgarian-Muslims" or "Bulgaro-Mohammedans," which imply a kind of essential "Bulgarianness" in the identities of this population which is far from established.
3. Sega, 1-7 February 1996, p. 27.
4. The following figures for Pomak populations in the various Balkan states (with the exception of Turkey) are offered by Hugh Poulton, The Balkans: Minorities and States in Conflict (London: Minorities Rights Group, 1993) (note that some states have more precise figures than others): Bulgaria (1990) 268,971 (p. 111); for Greece there seem to be no figures after 1912, when the population was 40, 921 (p. 175); Macedonia (1981) 39,555 (p. 39); for Albania there seem to be no accurate figures and a range of estimates from 3,000-4,000 (the Hoxha regime) to 100,000 (according to Macedonian figures) (pp. 201-202).
5. See, for example, Ali Eminov, (New York: Routledge, 1997), p. 110.
6. Again, in the post-1989 period a small movement, the Movement for Christianity and Progress, has emerged around Father Boris Sariev (of Pomak descent) which seeks to Christianize Pomaks, thus presumably returning them to the fold of the Bulgarian nation. Ibid., p. 67.
7. See Eminov's discussion of this issue, Turkish and Other Muslim Minorities of Bulgaria, p. 109.
8. In the post-socialist period, Kamen Burov, Pomak mayor of Zhiltusha in the Eastern Rhodopes, has asserted the existence of a separate "Pomak" minority and has even lobbied in international circles for the recognition of such a group. The extent of his support at home is unclear, but surely minimal. See M. Todorova, "Identity (Trans)formation among Pomaks in Bulgaria," in L. Kürti and J. Langman, eds, Beyond Borders: Remaking Cultural Identities in the New East and Central Europe (New York: Westview Press, 1997), p. 69.
9. For Turkish sources that claim Pomaks as Turks, see Halim Cavusoglu, Balkanlar'da Pomak Türkleri: Tarih ve Sosyo-Kültürel Yapi (Ankara: KOKSAV, 1993), and Huseyin Memisoglu, Pages of the History of Pomac Turks (Ankara: Safak Maatbasi, 1991). An example of a Serbian source that lumps the Muslims of the "South" (i.e., Macedonia) in with the Muslims of Bosnia and Hercogovina as "belonging to our national tree" is Dragishe Lapchevitza, O Nashima Muslimanima (Belgrade: Getse Koina, 1925). Also see Poulton for some discussion of Pomaks in Albania (pp. 201-203), Macedonia (pp. 55-56), Greece (pp. 175-176), and Bulgaria (pp. 111-115). A more thorough discussion of Bulgarian sources follows.
10. For Turkish sources that claim Pomaks as Turks, see Halim Cavusoglu, Balkanlar'da Pomak Türkleri: Tarih ve Sosyo-Kültürel Yapi (Ankara: KOKSAV, 1993), and Huseyin Memisoglu, Pages of the History of Pomac Turks (Ankara: Safak Maatbasi, 1991). An example of a Serbian source that lumps the Muslims of the "South" (i.e., Macedonia) in with the Muslims of Bosnia and Hercogovina as "belonging to our national tree" is Dragishe Lapchevitza, O Nashima Muslimanima (Belgrade: Getse Koina, 1925). Also see Poulton for some discussion of Pomaks in Albania (pp. 201-203), Macedonia (pp. 55-56), Greece (pp. 175-176), and Bulgaria (pp. 111-115). A more thorough discussion of Bulgarian sources follows.
11. For Turkish sources that claim Pomaks as Turks, see Halim Cavusoglu, Balkanlar'da Pomak Türkleri: Tarih ve Sosyo-Kültürel Yapi (Ankara: KOKSAV, 1993), and Huseyin Memisoglu, Pages of the History of Pomac Turks (Ankara: Safak Maatbasi, 1991). An example of a Serbian source that lumps the Muslims of the "South" (i.e., Macedonia) in with the Muslims of Bosnia and Hercogovina as "belonging to our national tree" is Dragishe Lapchevitza, O Nashima Muslimanima (Belgrade: Getse Koina, 1925). Also see Poulton for some discussion of Pomaks in Albania (pp. 201-203), Macedonia (pp. 55-56), Greece (pp. 175-176), and Bulgaria (pp. 111-115). A more thorough discussion of Bulgarian sources follows.
12. In the Macedonian case the recognition of nationhood and gaining of a national republic within the Yugoslav federation in the post-1945 era served as a similar vehicle for propelling Macedonian claims, as Serbian claims to Muslims this far south and elsewhere were eclipsed by Yugoslav political realities. The Macedonians, however, were still allowed to claim Macedo-Slavic-speaking Muslims (in the Macedonian case, normally called Torbeshi). See, for example, Niyazi Limanoski, Izlamskata Religija and Izlamiziranite Makedontsi (Skopje: Makedonska Kniga, 1989).
13. For a thorough discussion of Balkan and Great Power pretensions in the area see H. Wilkinson and E. Barker, Macedonia: Its Place in Balkan Power Politics (London: Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1950); and S. Danchenko and I.Viazemskaia, Rossiia i Balkani: Konets XVII-1918 (Moscow: Akademiia Nauk SSSR, 1990).
14. For a thorough discussion of Balkan and Great Power pretensions in the area see H. Wilkinson and E. Barker, Macedonia: Its Place in Balkan Power Politics (London: Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1950); and S. Danchenko and I.Viazemskaia, Rossiia i Balkani: Konets XVII-1918 (Moscow: Akademiia Nauk SSSR, 1990).
15. S. Shishkov, Pomatsi v Trite Bûlgarski Oblasti: Trakiia, Makedoniia i Miziia (Plovdiv: Pechatnitsa "Makedonia," 1914), p. 3.
16. See Shishkov (1914), and S. Shishkov, Bulgaro-Mokhamedani: Istoriko-Zemepisen I Narodouchen Pregled c Obrazi (Plovdiv: Turgovska Pechatnitsa, 1936).
17. Significantly, Pomak women as purveyors of the practices and properties of the Muslim hearth were in many ways at the heart of the ethnographic projects of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. For a focus on the question of Muslim women see Mary Neuburger, "Difference Unveiled: Bulgarian National Imperatives and the Re-dressing of Muslim Women in the Communist Period: 1945-89," Nationalities Papers, Vol. 1, 1997, pp. 169-181.
18. V. Georgiev and S. Trifinov, Pokrûstvaneto na Bulgarite Mokhamedani 1912-1913: Dokumenti (Sofia: Akademichno Izdatelstvo "Prof. Marin Drinov," 1995), p. 8.
19. Ibid., pp. 60, 101, 163.
20. While non-Bulgarian sources tend to agree that said conversions were forced upon the Pomak population writ large, Bulgarian sources vary in their assessment of these events. Pre-1945 sources tend to assert that Pomaks voluntarily embraced Christiantiy after being "liberated" by their Bulgarian brothers. Bulgarian sources from the socialist period do contend that the conversions of 1912-1913 were forced and supply this as evidence that the Pomaks were alienated early on from the Bulgarian cause by "bourgeois Fascist" mistakes, as opposed to the presumably correct path of the socialist regime.
21. Georgiev and Trifinov, pp. 443.
22. Boncho Asenov, Vuzroditelniyat Protses I Durzhavna Sigurnost (Sofia: GEYA-INF, 1996).
23. See Nikolai Michev and Petur Koledarov, Promenite v Imenata i Statuta na Selishtata v Bûlgariia: 1878-1972 (Sofia: Nauka i Iskustvo, 1973).
24. Rodopa, 1 December 1925, p. 1.
25. Ibid., p. 55.
26. SODA (Smolyan Okrûzhen Dûrzhaven Arkhiv), Smolyan Regional Government Archive, Smolyan, Bulgaria (F-26K, O-1, E-2, L-8-9: 1939).
27. P. Marinov, ed., Sbornik Rodina, Vol. 1 (Smolyan: Izdaniye na "Rodina," 1939), p. 20.
28. Marinov, Sbornik Rodina, Vol. 1, p. 13.
29. SODA (F-26K, O-1, E-29, L-1: 1937).
30. M. Stoyanova, "Kûm Istoriiata na Dvizhenieto 'Rodina' v Istochni Rodopi,̂ Izvestiia na Muzeite ot Yuzhna Bûlgariia, 16 (October 1990), p. 244; SODA (F-26K, O-1, E-29, L-1: 1937).
31. SODA (F-26k, O-1, E-31, L-3: 1938).
32. SODA (F-26k, O-1, E-31, L-3: 1938).
33. Marinov, Sbornik Rodina, Vol. 1, p. 19; SODA (F-26k, O-1, E-31, L-1: 1938).
34. Marinov, Sbornik Rodina, Vol. 1, p. 34.
35. Ibid.
36. SODA (F-26K, O-1, E-2, L-6: 1939).
37. Marinov, Sbornik Rodina, Vol. 2, p. 18.
38. Ibid., p. 19.
39. Ibid., p. 20.
40. Elsewhere I look more fully at the question of de-veiling among Pomak and Turkish women in Bulgaria and elaborate the theory that while some of these women (primarily elites in urban settings) did wear heavier black garments that we might consider to be veils, most simply tied their headscarves in an idenifying manner - draped across the chin instead of tied under or behind it. See Neuburger, "Difference Unveiled."
41. P. Marinov, ed., Sbornik Rodina, Vol. 4, p. 13.
42. TsIDA (F-142, O-2, E-128, L-82: 1944).
43. TsIDA (F-471, O-1, E-1084, L-4: 1942).
44. SODA (F-42K, O-15, E-10, L-319: 1942).
45. Marinov, Sbornik Rodina, Vol. 4, p. 54.
46. Khristov, Khristo. Iz Minoloto na Bûlgarite Mokhamedani v Rodopite. (From the Past of Bulgarian Mohammedans in the Rhodopes) Sofia: Izdatelstvo na Bûlgarskata Akademiia na Naukite, 1958 (1958), pp. 136, 144.
47. TsIDA (F-142, O-2, E-128, L-85: 1944).
48. Marinov, Sbornik Rodina, Vol. 4, p. 28.
49. Ibid., p. 28.
50. TsIDA (F-142, O-2, E-128, L-79: 1944).
51. TsIDA (F-142, O-2, E-128, L-80: 1944).
52. TsIDA (F-264, O-1, E-440, L-6: 1941).
53. SODA (F-26K, O-1, E-31, L-12: 1942).
54. For example the BCP created in 1947 and dissolved in 1950 a Pomak seminary called Mehmed Sinap. Its demise was justified by fears of its "injurious influence on the consciousness of Bulgaro-Mohammedans ... the existence of a special school for them upholds the mistaken conviction that they are some kind of a minority and something separate from Bulgarians." TsIDA (F-165, O-3, E-307, L-7: 1950).
55. TsIDA (F-28, O-1, E-399, L-76: 1946).
56. TsIDA (F-165, O-1, E-38. L-1: 1946).
57. TsIDA (F-165, O-1, E-38, L-20: 1946).
58. TsIDA (F-165, O-1, E-38, L-20: 1946).
59. TsIDA (F-146, O-5, E-605, L-1: 1945).
60. PDA (F-959k, O-1, E-944, L-2: 1969).
61. PDA (959K-1-110-1958, 85).
62. See Neuburger, "Difference Unveiled."
63. Foreign Policy Institute, The Tragedy of the Turkish Minority in Bulgaria (Ankara: Foreign Policy Institute, 1989), p. 56.
64. G. Alhaug and Y. Konstantinov, Names, Ethnicity and Politics: Islamic Names in Bulgaria 1912-1992 (Oslo: Novus Press, 1995), pp. 29-31.
65. PDA (F-959k, O-1, E-225, L-260: 1974).
66. PDA (F-959k, O-1, E-225, L-261: 1974).
67. PDA (F-959k, O-1, E-225, L-261: 1974).
68. PDA (F-959k, O-1, E-226, L-37: 1974).
69. PDA (F-959k, O-1, E-226, L-37: 1974).
70. PDA (F-959k, O-1, E-226, L-40: 1974).
71. See, for example, K. Karpat, ed., The Turks of Bulgaria: The History, Culture, and Political Fate of a Minority (Istanbul: ISIS Press, 1990).
72. According to an article in Sega, Pomaks have reverted to Bulgarian names especially since 1993 in search of employment opportunities both in Bulgaria and in Germany, for example, where their Turkish names purportedly were a barrier to obtaining employment. Sega, 1-7 February 1996, p. 22.