The Turks in Bulgaria have lived in the Balkans since the end of the 14th century, after the Ottoman Empire began to establish its existence on the Rumelian lands. Then in the 16th century social changes in Anatolia led to large groups of ethnic Turks to settle in Bulgaria and elsewehere in the Balkans. The Balkans is the historic and geographic name used to describe a region of south-eastern Europe. ... This 14th-century statue from south India depicts the gods Shiva (on the left) and Uma (on the right). ... Imperial motto (Ottoman Turkish) Devlet-i Ebed-müddet (the Eternal State) The Ottoman Empire at the height of its power (1683) Official language Ottoman Turkish Capital Sogut (1299-1326), Bursa (1326-1365), Edirne (1365-1453), İstanbul (1453-1922) Imperial anthem Ottoman imperial anthem Sovereigns Padishah of the Osmanli Dynasty... (15th century - 16th century - 17th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century was that century which lasted from 1501 to 1600. ... Asia Minor lies east of the Bosporus, between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. ...

According to Ottoman state policy many people from Anatolia were settled into Bulgaria and the Balkans as well. Today, Turks of Bulgaria live compactly in two rural areas in the Northeast (Deliorman/Ludogorie) and the Southeast (the Eastern Rhodopes) (Troebst, 1994; Bachvarov, 1997). Besides the ethnic Turks who are Muslims there are other Muslims in Bulgaria. Historical evidence shows that most of the Muslims in Bulgaria originated from outside the Balkans, while the rest were converts from the indigenous population .

In the period between 1985 and 1989, the communist government of Bulgaria led by Todor Zhivkov, attempted to forcefully assimilate the country's Turkish minority. After the introduction of the new laws in 1985, the Bulgarian government banned Turkish education and sought to erase Turkish culture and identity. Turkish names were forcibly changed to Slavic ones and some 200,000 ethnic Turks emigrated permanently to Turkey in light of heavy persecution. These laws were removed after the change to democracy in the early months of 1990. However, not all Turks could revert to their original names because of constraints applied by the Bulgarian government. This article is about the year. ... 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Todor Zhivkov Todor Khristov Zhivkov (Cyrillic: Toдор Xpиcтoв Живков; pronounced TO-dor KHRIS-tov ZHIF-kof) (September 7, 1911–August 5, 1998) was the Communist leader of Bulgaria from March 4, 1954 until November 10, 1989. ... This article is about the year. ...

See also

• Gagauz

The Gagauz are a Turkic people minority of southern Moldova (in Gagauzia) and of southwestern Ukraine (in Budjak) that numbers around 250,000. ...

Source

• ingilish.com