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Attempts to declare Bulgaria's Slavic Muslims Arabs

On 2 January a small group of Bulgarians in the south-central city of Madan protested Israel’s escalating military operation in Gaza. Braving the cold, some 800 to 1,000 people held up signs written in Bulgarian, English, and Arabic. The demonstration was organized by the local mosque's board of governors and was covered widely in the Bulgarian press.

Bulgarian Muslims demand their names back at landmark rally

Bulgarian Muslims demand their names back at landmark rally. The easing of repressive rule by Bulgaria’s new leadership brought thousands of the country's minority Muslims on to the streets at the weekend to demand religious and cultural freedoms, and an investigation into alleged atrocities carried out under the recently deposed Zhivkov regime.

Which orthodoxy , whose islam: Journalistic accounts versus scholary analysis

It was with increasing discomfiture that I read the article “'Secular Orthodoxy’ versus ‘Religious Islam’ in Postcommunist Bulgaria” by Daniela Kalkandjieva.

A case study of identity formation among pomaks in bulgaria, greece and turkey

 “No Balkan Muslim identity is more contested, more wrapped in multiple intertwining twisted webs of myth and history than the Slavic-speaking Muslims or “Pomaks” of the Southern Balkan range” Mary Neuburger, 2000, p. 68.

An introduction to the Pomak Issue in Bulgaria

 The Christian-Orthodox faith, or rather, the affiliation to the culture group of Orthodox Christianity constitutes one of the cornerstones of Bulgarian nationality.

UNHCR Bulgaria : Bulgarian-speaking Muslims (Pomaks)

Profile Bulgarian-speaking Muslims, commonly known as Pomaks, are most probably descendants of Bulgarian Christians who converted to Islam during the period of Ottoman rule, while retaining the Bulgarian language as well as certain Orthodox practices.

Bulgaria nationalists rally in support of Muslims' trial

Hundreds of nationalists rallied in a southern Bulgarian town on Monday in support of the prosecution of 13 religious leaders accused of spreading radical Islam in a case causing communal strains in the Balkan country.

Bulgarian MPs Officially Condemn 'Revival Process'

During its first workday after the winter holiday break, the Parliament condemned with an official declaration the Communist's regime attempt to forcefully assimilate Bulgarian Muslims, known and the "Revival Process."

Bulgaria's Borisov pledges end of impunity following protests

People in Katunitsa insist that their protests following the death of a local teenager are not ethnically motivated, and that they just want to see justice served.

Bulgarian Nationalists Assault Muslims in Front of Mosque

Supporters of the Bulgarian far right Ataka (Attack) party started a brawl in downtown Sofia, assaulting Muslims during their Friday prayer.

Bulgarian Helsinki Committee Rises Against Xenophobic Party

The Bulgarian Helsinki Committee has sent a letter to the country's Chief Prosecutor demanding a thorough investigation of Friday's clashes in downtown Sofia, in which the nationalist Ataka (Attack) party was involved.

The Pomaks Caught in a Three-way Tug-of-War

The Pomaks, an ethnic group that resides in the mountains and valleys along the border between Bulgaria and Greece and has been almost forgotten by the rest of the world for decades, are striving to use the new era of democracy and open borders to bolster their religious and cultural identity.

Religious summer festivals of the Pomaks in the mountainous area of Xanthi

The objective of this paper is to explore the role of the public festivals of the Pomaks of Xanthi in the formulation of their ethnic-cultural identity.

Who is Bulgarian? The Changing Definitions of Nationhood

 The changes in the definitions of the Bulgarian nation generally corresponded and justified the strategies adopted by the Bulgarian state to deal with its Turkish minority, although on a number of occasions they acquired a force of their own.

Pomaks. History of the Slavic people of the Muslim faith – History and modernity

Slavic Muslim representation in the Balkans is not confined to bosnians, so loudly had become in the early 90’s. last century. For several centuries the territory of Greece, Bulgaria and Turkey inhabits the other Slavic peoples of Muslim faith, calling themselves ahryane and outside the society known as Pomaks.