| Pomaks Помаци Pomaklar Πομάκοι |
|---|
| Total population |
|
500,000est. |
| Regions with significant populations |
| Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey |
| Languages |
| Bulgarian language Turkish language |
| Religion |
| Islam |
Pomaks (Bulgarian: Помаци, Greek: Πομάκοι, Turkish: Pomaklar) are a Bulgarian-speaking Muslim population group native to some parts of Bulgaria, specifically southern Bulgaria, and the adjacent parts of Greece and Turkey. Members of the group today declare a variety of ethnic identities, Bulgarian, Turkish, Pomak or simply Muslims by nationality.[1] Historically they are usually considered descendants of Bulgarians who converted to Islam during the Ottoman rule of the Balkans,[2] although some alternative narratives of their historical identity have been proposed[3] and, according to some authors, their precise origins remain unknown.[4]
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The Pomaks in Bulgaria are referred to as Muslim Bulgarians Bulgarian Muslims, Mokhammedan Bulgarians or under the ethnographic names Ahryani, Torbeshi, etc. They inhabit mainly the Rhodope Mountains - Smolyan Province, Kardzhali Province, Pazardzhik Province and Blagoevgrad Province. There are Pomaks in other parts of Bulgaria as well. There are a few Pomak villages in Burgas Province, Lovech Province, Veliko Tarnovo Province and Ruse Province.[5] According to the 2001 census there are 131 531 Muslim Bulgarians in Bulgaria.[6]Since the start of the 20th century the Pomaks in Bulgaria were the subject of state-supported assimilation which included the change of their Turkish-Arabic names to ethnic Bulgarian ones and conversions from Islam to Eastern Orthodoxy. The Bulgarian state redefined the Pomaks as ancestral Bulgarians who therefore needed to be repatriated back to the Bulgarian national domain. These attempts were met with stiff resistance by the Pomaks.[7]
Our days the Pomaks in Greece inhabit the prefectures of Xanthi, Rhodope and Evros.[5]
Today the Pomaks are present in Turkey, in both Eastern Thrace and in Anatolia. Since their settlement there many of them have lost their identity and were assimilated to the Turks.[8]
A specific DNA mutation which emerged about 2,000 years ago on a rare haplotype is characteristic of the Pomaks. Its frequency increased as a consequence of high genetic drift within this population. This indicates that the Pomaks are isolated population having limited contacts with the neighbours. The DNA tree line of Pomaks implyies the hypothesis, that Pomaks are descendants of ancient Thracian tribes.[9][10]