What an initial research reveals is that “Pomak” is an external marker of identity that is actually used by non-Pomaks. It is rarely employed as a practical self-identification by the members of the community, at least until the end of 1990s.( Neuburger, 2000; Demetriou, 2004; Eminov, 1997))  Moreover, there never has been a significant mass movement or tendency on the part of Pomaks to express or pursue rights based on their “Pomakness”.( Neuburger, 2000; Omer, 2004; Poulton, 1994) In a very general sense, Pomak is used for describing the Muslim, non-Roma populations who speak a Slavic dialect and, hence, do not precisely fit into the category of Greek, Macedonian, or Albanian, and not to mention Bulgarian or Turk. (Brunnbauer, 1999; Poulton, 1994) Therefore, as Neuburger neatly points, Pomakness describes“inbetweenness”, rather than an affiliation with the classic concepts of nationality in Southeast Europe. (Neuburger, 2000) The etymological debate around the term "Pomak" is as heated as the debate around their identities as well. Bulgarian resources argue that the name is derive either from pomagach (помагач), which means "helper"  in reference to role of Pomaks as the auxiliary units of the Ottoman army. (Poulton, 1997; Ortakovski, 2000; Demetriou, 2004).  Some other Bulgarian sources also relate the word to an alleged forced conversion to Islam by Ottomans and asserts that the term is derived from the word pomăka  (по мъка), which means "by pain". (Todorova, 1998; Georgieva, 2001) On the other hand, Greek sources claim that name Pomak comes from the Greek word pomax, which means “drinker” by referring to the historical claim that Pomaks came from a wine producer tribe in Greece. (Demetriou, 2004; Seypel, 1989;  Ortakovski, 2000)The last but not the least, Turkish scholars also claim that the name comes from word pomagach but argue that it is a word belonging to Kuman Turks of the region who are ancseters of the current Pomaks. (Cavusoglu,1993;  Huseyinoglu,1974;Kucukcan, 1989) Communities cultivate their identities within history and construct them by interpreting their histories. Throughout the centuries, Pomaks has been subject to many different influences and pressures triggered by diverse political, social and cultural and economic changes. They became Muslims, interacted with the communities around them, evicted from their land, tried to be assimilated into the nationalities surrounding them. Thus, they have very complex and challenging history which makes the question of search for an identity harder. It is quite demanding to pinpoint their roots in the area with a historical accuracy.  Fundamentally, the mutual agreement between the scholars is that Pomaks are a religious minority. They are of a minority who speak a dialect belonging to the Eastern South Slavic diasystem as their mother tongue, but whose religion and customs are Islamic. (Poulton, 1997; Brunnbauer, 1999;Neuburger, 2000, Michail, 2004, Mancheva, 2001) Nonetheless, there is no agreement related to their origins. The most frequent assertion is that they are of Slavic origin that had inhabited the lands since the early ages.  (Georgieva, 2001; Tsvetkova 1963; Dimitrov & Stoykov 1963; Demetriou, 2003)), this version is always challenged by the competing thesis that Pomaks have actually immigrated into Southeast Europe in the 11th  century with many other accompanying Turkic tribes from Siberia and Ukraine and have been assimilated into the Slavic majority of the land. (Omer, 2004; Memisoglu, 1991; Cavusoglu, 1993; Kucukcan, 1999)  The Pomaks are originally a mountainous community residing in the mountain ranges of the Balkan Peninsula from the Eastern Rhodope to the Northern Albanian Mountains. Majority of the population is concentrated in the Rhodope, but with important settlements in Eastern lands of Macedonia and around the Danube districts. Currently, they are living under the borders of different Balkan countries including Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, Albania and Turkey. The actual numbers of Pomaks are difficult to assess because they are not documented as separate minorities in censuses, besides, many would refuse to declare themselves officially as Pomaks. (Neuburger, 2004, Poulton, 1994, Georgieva, 2001, Mancheva, 2001) The approximate estimates are as follows: There are about 750,000 Pomaks in total : around 100,000 in Albania; around 40,000 to 45,000 in Greece and Macedonia; and between 250,000 and 300,000 in Bulgaria and around 300,000 in Turkey. (Poulton, 1997, Cavusoglu, 1991, Michail, 2004, Manka, 1995) What is even harder to estimate is the number of Pomaks in the past due to lack of reliable sources as well as continuously shifting borders and migrating populations of Balkans. The earliest evidence of settlements appears in the Ottoman tax registers from 1499–1502. What these documents reveal is that inhabitants had a mixture of Bulgarian and Turkish-Islamic names.  The registar includes names such as Ali, son of Vladislav, Elias (Ilyas), son of Ismail, and Bahader, son of Georgi, as the residents of the still-existing Teplen village in the Western Rhodopes (Dimitrov & Stoykov 1963). The number of Slavic speaking Muslims in the Rhodope, recorded by various Ottoman documents, grew steadily after the sixteenth century. An extensive study by Kiel, based on several Ottoman registers dating from 1516 to 1865, traces this gradual increase in population.  Under the Ottoman rule, Pomaks have benefited from a considerable amount of autonomy, with an Agha as a community leader who was in charge of domestic affairs of the community . (Kiel, 1998) Besides what has been found in the Ottoman archives, information about the Pomaks is rather limited. Tsvetkova mentions Paul Lucas, a celebrated French traveler of 18th  century, who describes Slavic speaking Muslims in the Rhodope Mountains in 1706 in his notes.