Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-19T17:08:08.320Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Bulgarian ethnic model: post-1989 Bulgarian ethnic conflict resolution

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Benedict E. DeDominicis
Benedict E. DeDominicis*
Affiliation:
International Studies Office, The Catholic University of Korea, Korea
*
*Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Bulgarian majority and Turkish minority relations have remained peaceful in the post Communist era despite a significant potential for civil strife. These antagonisms were a product of Bulgaria's historical political development. The most recent episode of forced assimilation policies under the Communist regime was a critical grievance contributing to the democratic transition in 1989. Unlike in neighboring Yugoslavia, communal ethnic conflict did not escalate to violence with political liberalization and the emergence of democratic political competition. A critical factor in the political formula for maintaining interethnic peace in Bulgaria has been Turkey's comparatively constrained behavior as a “motherland state” with regard to the Turkish Diaspora in Bulgaria.

Keywords

BulgariaMuslimTurkeyminority; nationalism
Type
Articles
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 39 , Issue 3 , May 2011 , pp. 441 - 460
Copyright
Copyright © 2011 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

Anagnostou, Dia. “Nationalist Legacies and European Trajectories: Post-communist Liberalization and Turkish Minority Politics in Bulgaria.” Journal of Southeast European and Black Sea Studies 5.1 (2005): 89–111. Print.Google Scholar
Arman, Murat Necip. “The Sources of Banality in Transforming Turkish Nationalism.” CEU Political Science Journal 2.2 (1997): 133–51. Print.Google Scholar
Press, Associated. “Radical Islam on rise in Balkans, raising fears of security threat to Europe.” 18 Sept. 2010. Web. 20 Jan. 2011. <http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/09/18/radical-islam-rise-balkans-raising-fears-security-threat-europe/>..>Google Scholar
Babuna, Aydin. “The Bosnian Muslims and Albanians: Islam and Nationalism.” Nationalities Papers 32.2 (2004): 271–86. Print.Google Scholar
BBC Monitoring Service. “Bulgaria: Ethnic Turks’ leader investigated for inciting national hatred.” Text of report by Bulgarian news agency BGNES website. BBC Monitoring Service, UK. 17 Mar. 2006. Web. 20 May 2006. <http://www.monitor.bbc.co.uk>..>Google Scholar
BBC Monitoring Service. “Bulgaria: Turkish ethnic party issues warning over ‘brazen provocation'.” BBC Monitoring Service, UK. 22 Feb. 2006. Text of report in English by the Bulgarian news agency BTA. Web. 29 May 2006. <http://www.monitor.bbc.co.uk>..>Google Scholar
BBC Monitoring Service. “Bulgarian ethnic Turk official views meeting with Turkish president.” BBC Monitoring Service, UK. 23 Feb. 2006. Bulgarian news agency BTA monitoring service website, Sofia in Bulgarian. 23 Feb. 06. Web. 29 May 2006. <http://www.monitor.bbc.co.uk>..>Google Scholar
BBC Monitoring Service. “Wahhabism said spreading among Albanians in Macedonia, Kosovo,” 20 Nov. 2005. Text of commentary by Islamic theologian Zekeria Idrizi: “Careful: ‘Wahhabists’ marching in Albanian lands.” Koha Ditore (Kosovo Albanian newspaper) 15 Nov. 2005. Web. 29 Jan. 2006. <http://www.monitor.bbc.co.uk>..>Google Scholar
Bell, John. “FAQ server: Bulgaria, The Macedonian Question.” Web. 6 Jun. 2006. <http://stason.org/TULARC/travel/bulgaria/16-12-The-macedonian-Question.html>..>Google Scholar
Bishku, Michael B. “Turkish-Bulgarian Relations: From Conflict and Distrust to Cooperation.” Mediterranean Quarterly 14.2. (2003): 77–94. Print.Google Scholar
Bookman, Milica Z. Ethnic Groups in Motion: Ethnic Competition and Migration in Multiethnic States. [Location]: Frank Cass, 2005. Print.Google Scholar
Broun, Janice. “Rehabilitation and Recovery: Bulgaria's Muslim Communities.” Religion, State & Society 35.2 (2007): 105–38. Print.Google Scholar
Brubaker, Rogers. Ethnicity without Groups. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 2006. Print.Google Scholar
“BULGARIA: More 11% of Bulgarians Want Bulgaria to Become a NATO Member.” [sic] 22 Oct. 2001, (reporting the 11% increase from the year previously). Web. 6 Jun. 2006. <http://www.seeurope.net>..>Google Scholar
Telegraph Agency, Bulgarian. “Bulgarian Ambassador in Russia Delivers Verbal Note.” 9 Apr. 1996. Web. 1 Jun. 2006. <http://www.b-info.com/places/Bulgaria/news/96- 04/apr09.bta>..>Google Scholar
Bell, John. “Bulgaria Will Present a Note to Russia on President Yeltsin's Statement.” 8 Apr. 1996. Web. 1 Jan. 2006. <http://www.b-info.com/places/Bulgaria/news/96-04/apr08.bta>..>Google Scholar
CEDIME-SE (Center for Documentation and Information on Minorities in Europe - Southeast Europe). “Minorities in Southeast Europe: Turks of Bulgaria.” Dec. 1999 Web. 20 Jun. 2006. <http://www.greekhelsinki.gr/pdf/cedime-se-bulgaria-turks.doc>..>Google Scholar
Cochrane, Nancy and Reid Hamm, Shannon. “Bulgarian Retail Food Markets in Transition.” Global Food Markets. May-Aug. 1996. Web. 23 Jan. 2011. http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/foodreview/may1996/may96g.pdf.Google Scholar
Cottam, Martha L., and Cottam, Richard W. Nationalism and Politics: The Political Behavior of Nation States. Boulder, CO: Lynne Reinner, 2001. Print.Google Scholar
Crampton, R.J. Bulgaria. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2007. Print.Google Scholar
Creed, Gerald W. “The Bases of Bulgaria's Ethnic Policies.” The Anthropology of East Europe Review: Newsletter of the East European Anthropology Group 9.2 (1990): 12–17. Print.Google Scholar
Curtis, Glenn E. ed. Bulgaria: A Country Study. “The Economy: Economic Policy and Performance.” Washington: GPO for the Library of Congress, 1992, Web. 4 Feb. 2011. <http://countrystudies.us/bulgaria/35.htm>..>Google Scholar
Daĭnov, Evgeni. “European Economies in Transition.” Faculty Development in International Business, International Business Center, Katz Graduate School of Business U of Pittsburgh. Elieff Center, American U in Bulgaria. 25 May 2006. Seminar.Google Scholar
Detrez, Raymond. Historical Dictionary of Bulgaria. Lanham, MD: Rowan & Littlefield, 2006. Print.Google Scholar
Ekici, Nuray. “The Diaspora of the Turks of Bulgaria in Turkey.” Berlin: European Migration Centre. Web. 20 June 2006. <http://www.emz-berlin.de/projekte_e/pj41_pdf/ekici.pdf>..>Google Scholar
Eminov, Ali. Turkish and other Muslim Minorities of Bulgaria. New York: Routledge, 1997. Print.Google Scholar
Eminov, Ali. “Nationality Policy in the USSR and in Bulgaria: Some Observations.” The Anthropology of East Europe Review: Newsletter of the East European Anthropology Group 9.2 (1990). Web. 19 Jun. 2006. <http://condor.depaul.edu/~rrotenbe/aeer/aeer9_2.html>..>Google Scholar
Engström, Jenny. Democratization and the Prevention of Violent Conflict: Lessons Learned from Bulgaria and Macedonia. Aldershote, UK: Ashgate Publishing, 2009. Print.Google Scholar
Times, Financial. “OBSERVER: Turkish delight,” Financial Times, 20 Jan. 2005. Web. 27 May 2006. <http://ft.com>..>Google Scholar
Ghodsee, Kristen. Muslim Lives in Eastern Europe: Gender, Ethnicity, and the Transformation of Islam in Postsocialist Bulgaria. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 2010. Print.Google Scholar
Ghodsee, Kristen, and Filipov, Christian. “Cultural Rights in the Age of the ‘War on Terror'.”. Human Rights Dialogue: “Cultural Rights” (Spring 2005) 22 Apr. 2005. Carnegie Council. Web. 20 Jan. 2011. <http://www.carnegiecouncil.org/resources/publications/dialogue/2_12/section_2/5146.html>..>Google Scholar
Watch Committee, Helsinki. Destroying Ethnic Identity: The Expulsion of the Bulgarian Turks. US Helsinki Watch Report, 1989. Print.Google Scholar
Horowitz, Donald. Ethnic Groups in Conflict. Berkeley, CA: U of California P, 1985. Print.Google Scholar
Icduygo, Ahmet, and Kaygusuz, Ozlem. “The Politics of Citizenship by Drawing Borders: Foreign Policy and the Construction of National Citizenship Identity in Turkey.” Middle Eastern Studies 40.6 (2004). Print.Google Scholar
ICG “Sandzak” International Crisis Group. “Serbia's Sandzak: Still Forgotten.” Europe Report 162 (8 Apr. 2005). Web. 3 Jun. 2006. <http://www.crisisgroup.org>..>Google Scholar
ICG. “Macedonia: Wobbling Towards Europe.” Europe Briefing 41. Skopje/Brussels. Web. 12 Jan. 2006. <http://www.crisisgroup.org>..>Google Scholar
“Ivan Kostov: Now is the Right Time to Invest in Property.” Demokratsia, 4 January 2000.Google Scholar
Ivanov, Andreĭ. “Minority Nationalism in the Balkans: the Bulgarian Case.” Institute for Market Economics. Web. 21 Jun. 2006. <http://ime-bg.org/pdf_docs/papers/minority.pdf>..>Google Scholar
Karajkov, Risto. “The Young and the Old: Radical Islam Takes Root in the Balkans.” Web. 3 May 2006. <http://www.worldpress.org/Europe/2335.cfm>..>Google Scholar
Kichukova, Miglena. “The Leader of the Attack Party.” Diss. American U in Bulgaria, 2006. Unpublished.Google Scholar
Koinova, Maria. “Minorities in Southeast Europe: Muslims of Bulgaria.” Center for Documentation and Information on Minorities in Europe - Southeast Europe (CEDIME-SE). Dec. 1999. Web. 20 Jun. 2006. <www.greekhelsinki.gr/pdf/cedime- se-bulgaria-turks.doc>..>Google Scholar
Ivanov, Andreĭ. “Why Do Ethnonational Conflicts Reach Different Degrees of Violence? Insights from Kosovo, Macedonia, and Bulgaria during the 1990s.” Nationalism & Ethnic Politics 15.1 (2009): 84–108. Print.Google Scholar
Kolarova, Rumyana. “Tacit Agreements in the Bulgarian Transition to Democracy: Minority Rights and Constitutionalism.” Print. The U of Chicago Roundtable, 1993, Symposium: The Rights of Minorities in East European Constitutionalism. Print.Google Scholar
Kolev, Alexander. “Why Bulgaria Remained Peaceful and How This Helps Us Understand Nationalist Conflict in Post-Communist Eastern Europe.” Web. 23 May 2006. <http://socsci2.ucsd.edu/~aronatas/scrretreat/Kolev.Alex.doc>..>Google Scholar
Library of Congress Country Studies. “Bulgaria.” Web. 29 Dec. 2009. <http://memory.loc.gov/frd/cs/bgtoc.html>..>Google Scholar
Marshall, Monty G., and Robert Gurr, Ted. Peace and Conflict 2005. Center for International Development and Conflict Management. Web. 26 Jun. 2006. <http://www.cidcm.umd.edu/publications/publication.asp?pubType=paper&id-15>..>Google Scholar
Marushiakova, Elena, and Popov, Vesselin. “Muslim Minorities in Bulgaria.” Berlin: European Migration Centre, Web. 28 Jun. 2006. <http://www.emz-berlin.de/projekte_e/pj41_pdf/Marushiakova.pdf>..>Google Scholar
Melone, Albert P. Creating Parliamentary Government: The Transition to Democracy in Bulgaria. Columbus, OH: Ohio State UP, 1998. Print.Google Scholar
Mutafchieva, Vera. “The Turk, the Jew and the Gypsy.” Relations of Compatibility and Incompatibility between Christians and Muslims in Bulgaria. Ed. Zhelyazkova, Antonia. Sofia: International Centre for Minority Studies and Intercultural Relations Foundation. 1994. Print.Google Scholar
NATO Economic Colloquium. “Economic Developments in Cooperation Partner Countries.Google Scholar
From a Sectoral Perspective.” 30 Jun., 1-2 Jul. 1993. Brussels. Web. 23 Jan. 2011. <http://www.nato.int/docu/colloq/1993/eco935.txt>..>Google Scholar
Neuberger, Mary. The Orient Within: Muslim Minorities and the Negotiation of Nationhood In Modern Bulgaria. Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP, 2004. Print.Google Scholar
OMRI Daily Digest 70.9 April 1996, “Southeastern Europe: Bulgarian Political Roundup.” 1 Jun. 2006. <http://www.b-info.com/places/Bulgaria/news/96-04/apr09.omri>..>Google Scholar
Palchev, Ivan. Akhmed Doğan and the Bulgarian Ethnic Model. (translated from the Bulgarian by Maya Pencheva). National Museum of Bulgarian Books and Polygraphy. Philadelphia, PA: Coronet Books, 2002. Print.Google Scholar
Perlez, Jane. “Looted by Its Own Officials, Bulgaria Faces the Day of Economic Reckoning.” New York Times. 28 Oct. 1996. Web. 1 Jun. 2006. <http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0913F73C5D0C7B8EDDA90994DE494D81&n=Top%2fNews%2fWorld%2fCountries%20and%20Territories%2fBulg aria>. and New York Times Web. 1 Jun. 2006. <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/bulgaria/ind ex.html?offset=150&&inline=nyt-geo>..+and+New+York+Times+Web.+1+Jun.+2006.+.>Google Scholar
Poulton, Hugh. The Balkans: Minorities and States in Conflict. London: Minority Rights Group, 1993. Print.Google Scholar
Project on Ethnic Relations. The Bulgarian Ethnic Experience. 29-30 Jun. and 18 Dec. 2001. Sofia, Bulgaria. Web. 9 Jun. 2006. <http://www.per-usa.org>..>Google Scholar
Rechel, Brend. “State Control of Minorities in Bulgaria.” Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics 23.3 (2007): 352–70. Print.Google Scholar
Saideman, Stephen A. “Is Pandora's Box Half Empty or Half Full? The Limited Virulence of Secessionism and the Domestic Sources of Disintegration.” The International Spread of Ethnic Conflict: Fear, Diffusion and Escalation. Eds. David A. Lake and Donald Rotchild. Princeton UP, 1998. Print.Google Scholar
Saideman, Stephen A. The Ties that Divide. New York: Columbia UP, 2001. Print. Shanduorkov, George. “Terrorism in Bulgaria.” Prehospital Disaster Medicine 18.2 (2003): 66–70. Print.Google Scholar
Silber, Laura, and Little, Alan. Yugoslavia: Death of a Nation. London: Penguin. 1997. Print.Google Scholar
News Agency, Sofia, “Bulgarian Man Sets Himself on Fire over Turkish-Language News on National TV,” 10 Nov. 2009. Web. 23 Jan. 2011. <http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=109833>..>Google Scholar
Spechler, Dina Rome, and Martin, C. “A Reassessment of the Burden of Eastern Europe on the USSR.” Europe-Asia Studies 61.9 (2009): 1645–57. Print.Google Scholar
Stamatov, Peter. “The Making of a “Bad” Public: Ethnonational Mobilization in Post- Communist Bulgaria.” 20 Jun. 2006. <http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/kokkalis/GSWl/GSWl/12%20Stamatov.pdf>..>Google Scholar
Vassilev, Rossen V. “Bulgaria's Ethnic Problems.” East European Quarterly 36.1 (2002): 103–25. Print.Google Scholar
Vassilev, Rossen V. “Post-Communist Bulgaria's Ethnopolitics.” The Global Review of Ethnopolitics 1.2 (2001): 37–53. Print.Google Scholar
Waltz, Kenneth Neal. Man, the State and War: A Theoretical Analysis. New York City: Columbia UP, 1954. Print.Google Scholar
Warhola, James W., and Boteva, Orlina. “The Turkish Minority in Contemporary Bulgaria.” Nationalities Papers 31.3 (2003): 255–79. Print.Google Scholar
Yanakiev, Cdr. Yantsislav and Christo Domozetov. North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Office of Information and Press, “Final Report NATO-EAPC Institutional Research Fellowship, 1988-2000: Public Perceptions of Euro-Atlantic Partnership: Issues of Security and Military (The Case of Bulgaria),” Sofia. Jun. 2000. Web. 25 Jul. 2010. <http://www.nato.int/acad/fellow/98-00/yanakiev.pdf>..>Google Scholar
Zagorov, Orlin. The Truth. Sofia: Sofia P, 1987. Print.Google Scholar
Zhelyazkova, Antonina. “The Islamic Communities on the Balkans, and the Complexes of the Balkan Historiographers.” Kultura, 12 July 1996.Google Scholar
Zhelyazkova, Antonina. “Introduction.” Relations of Compatibility and Incompatibility between Christians and Muslims in Bulgaria. Ed. Zhelyazkova, Antonia. Sofia: International Centre for Minority Studies and Intercultural Relations Foundation, 1994. Print.Google Scholar