Pomaks

Pomaks
Помаци
Pomaklar
Πομάκοι

Total population
600,000 est.
Regions with significant populations
Bulgaria  Turkey  Greece
Languages
Bulgarian, Turkish, Greek.
Religion
Sunni Islam, Alevism
Related ethnic groups
Gorani, Macedonian Muslims and Bulgarians

Pomaks (Bulgarian: Помаци), are a Muslim population group native to some parts of Bulgaria, specifically southern Bulgaria, Turkey, specifically western Turkey, Republic of Macedonia, Greece specifically in its northern provice of Thrace, Kosovo, and Albania. Members of the group today declare a variety of ethnic identities, Bulgarian, Greek,^[1] and Pomak^[2][3][4] or Muslim.^[5] They are usually considered descendants of native Bulgarians who converted to Islam during the Ottoman rule of the Balkans,^[6] although some alternative narratives of their historical identity have been proposed^[7] and, according to some authors, their precise origins remain unknown.^[8] Pomaks speak dialects of the Bulgarian language as their mother tongue^{[9][10][11][12]}, they are fluent in Turkish in Greece and Turkey and they also speak Greek in Greece.^[13][14]

Population

Bulgaria

Ethnographic map of European Turkey from the late 19th. century, showing the regions largely populated by Pomaks in brown.

A mosque in Madan in the Rhodopes, a region largely populated by Pomaks

The Pomaks in Bulgaria are referred to as Bulgarian Muslims (българи-мюсюлмани bălgari-mjusjulmani), or under the ethnographic names Ahryani, Torbeshi, etc. They mainly inhabit the Rhodope Mountains in 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.^[15] According to the 2001 census there are 131 531 Muslim Bulgarians in Bulgaria.^[16] 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 some Pomaks.^[17]

Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

The Macedonian Muslims, or Torbeš, are occasionally also referred to as Pomaks, especially in historical context^{[18][19][20][21]}. They are a minority religious group in the Republic of Macedonia, although not all espouse a Macedonian national identity and are linguistically distinct from the larger Muslim ethnic groups in the Republic of Macedonia, Albanians and Turks.

Albania

Slavic-speaking Muslims, sometimes referred to as "Pomaks", live also in the Albanian region of Golo Brdo. However these people are also referred to as "Torbeš". They speak the Drimkol-Golo Brdo dialect of the Macedonian/Bulgarian language. Part of this people still self-identify as Bulgarians.^[22]

Kosovo

The Gorani occasionally are also referred to as Pomaks in historical context.^[23][24] They are people who inhabit the Gora region, located between Albania, Kosovo and Macedonia. The general view is that they should be treated as a distinct minority group.^[25][26] Part of these people are already albanised.^[27] By the last censusses at the end of 20th century in Yugoslavia they have decleared themselves to be Muslims by nationality.^[28]

Greece

Today the Pomaks (Greek: Πομάκοι) in Greece inhabit the prefectures of Xanthi, Rhodope and Evros.^[15] with estimated numbers of 30-35,000 [5] Until Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922) and Population exchange between Greece and Turkey in 1923 Pomaks inhabited a part of the regions of Moglena^[29] – Almopia, Kastoria^[30] and some other parts of Macedonia, Greece. German sightseer Adolf Struck in 1898 presents of Konstantia (in Moglena ) as a big village with 300 houses and two panes, inhabited exclusively by Pomaks. The Pomaks of Thrace were exempted from those exchanges together with Muslim Turks and Roma; the Lausanne Treaty (1923) made no mention of their language but declared that their languages of education should be Turkish and Greek. Some Pomaks still transmit their native dialect (called pomatsko in Greece) to their children and also speak Turkish and Greek, but a large part of them no longer transmit it; they have adopted Turkish as a first language and Greek as a second language.^[31]

Turkey

Today the Pomaks are present in Turkey, in both Eastern Thrace and in Anatolia where they are referred to as Pomaklar and their language as Pomakça. There are 324.000 Pomaks in Turkey.

History

Pomaks started to become Muslim gradually, from the Ottoman occupation (early 15th century) to the end of the 18th century. It is remarkable that monk Pachomios Roussanos (1508–1553), who visited the mountain area of Xanthi, mentioned that around 1550, only 6 or 9 villages had turned to Islam.^[32][33]. But according to Ottoman registers from the 15th and 16th century 3/4 of the population of Western Thrace has been of Muslim faith . Further more the documents show that not only Islam has been spread in the area at that time, but that the Pomaks have even participated in Ottoman military operation voluntarily as is the case with the village of Shahin (Echinos).^[34]

The mass turn to Islam in the Central Rhodope Mountains happened between the 16th and the 17th century. According to the Codes of Bishopy of Philippoupolis and the Czech historian and slavist Konstantin Josef Jireček in the middle of 17th century, the Pomak provosts agreed to become Muslim massly, in order to survive. They visited the Ottoman local administrator to announce their decision, but he sent them to the Greek bishop of Philippoupolis Gabriel (1636–1672). The bishop couldn't change their mind, because they were determined to cooperate with the Ottomans against the Bulgarians, which had caused them many troubles during the Bulgarian pricipality. According to the verbal tradition of the Greeks of Philippoupolis, a large ceremony of mass circumcision took place in front of the old mosque of the city, near the Government House. After that, the villagers became Muslim, too. According to the verbal tradition of the Bulgrians, Grand Vizier Köprülü Mehmed Pasha (1656–1661) threatened the Pomaks of Chepino Valley (in northwestern Rodopi) that he would execute them if they didn't turn to islam. In 1656, Ottoman military troops entered the Chepino valley and arrested the provosts of Pomaks, in order to transfer them in the local Ottoman administrator. There, they were forced to succumb. Grand Visier Mehmed Köprülü, after the mass islamization, destroyed 218 churches and 336 chapels in the areas of Pomaks. The ruins of that destruction remain until today, in many places. That fact is still in the memories of the Pomak communities. A lot of Pomaks preferred to die instead of becoming Muslim and they used to jump in a precipice. Precipices of Pomak sacrifice are mentioned in many Pomak towns and villages, such as Gulem Kamen in Glafki, Momtsi Kamen in Oraio, Tserven Kamen in Mandaena Xanthi, Marina peak in Aeora Xanthi, Neviasta rock in Smoljan, Momin Kamen in Zlatograd, in Pachni, in Kotani and in Shiroka Laka^[35][36]. But according to recent investigations the theory of forced conversion to Islam, supported mainly by some Bulgarian scientists from the era of communism, has no solid grounds with all or most evidence being faked or misinterpreted.^[37][38]

During the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878), Pomaks in the Vacha valley rebelled against Bulgaria and established a autonomous state, called Republic of Tamrash. In 1886 the Ottoman government accepted the Bulgarian rule over Eastern Rumelia and that was the end of the free Pomak state. During the Greek Struggle for Macedonia, many Pomaks participated on the Greek and Turkish side, against Bulgaria. Ali Zeir Chavouz from Drama, was one of the main Pomak fighters and took place in many battles against Bulgarians and Ottoman army^[39]. After the Second Balkan War, Pomaks rebelled against Bulgaria (which occupied Western Thrace). At 16 August 1913, the revolution begun in Kosukavak (Krumovgrad nowadays), Mastanli (Momchilgrad nowadays) and Kardzhali. The rebels also occupied Komotini, Xanthi and Dedeagats (Alexandroupoli nowadays). At 1 September 1913, the "Provisional Government of Western Thrace" (Garbi Trakya Hukumet i Muvakkatesi) was established in Komotini. The Ottoman administration didn't support the rebels and finally under the neutrality of Greek and Ottoman governments, Bulgaria took over the lands in 30 October 1913. The rebels (even though, they were Muslim) requested support by the Greek state. It is remarkable that they put Greek major in Alexandroupoli^{[40][41][42][43]}. In 1918, 8 Pomak, Bulgarian parliament deputies appeal to the leaders of Greece and France to protect of their ethnic and religious minority from the Bulgarian policies^[44].

After the World War II, with their representatives in the Paris Peace Treaties, 1947, certain Pomaks of Bulgaria brought back the request for union with Greece. The director of a radio station in Wasington, DC Albert Verner, introduced the issue like this, "One more minority issue came up today in Wasington in the face of Pomaks, which they are an ancient Greek tribe, mentioned before the era of Alexander the Great [...] Pomaks request to the United Nations Security Council and to the United States Department of State a referendum to liberate from Bulgaria and to enjoy the freedom of Pomaks in Greece". The press wrote, "Passed Saturday in the Pensilvania Hotel, a press conference took place, to the representatives of the American and Greek press, by Mr. Chamdi Choussein, former Rodopi deputy and Chaki Souleiman, representatives of Thrace Pomaks. They asked union with Greece". The efforts of Pomaks didn't have result because there had been already the Yalta Conference, where the three great powers of that era, shared the nations in Europe^[45].

Alternative origin theories

Thracian origin

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 an isolated population with limited contacts with their neighbours. The DNA tree line of Pomaks suggests the hypothesis that Pomaks are descendants of ancient Thracian tribes.^{[46][47][48][49]}

Cuman or Pecheneg origin

According some historians some of the Pomaks in the Rhodope Mountains are successors of the Cumans that converted to Islam in the end of the 11th or the beginning of the 12th century after establishing contact with missionaries from North Africa and the Middle East.^[50] This theory is further backed by the fact that in the 9th century many Muslims moved from Bulgaria to Hungary and were ordered expelled by Pope Nicholas I in 866, yet enjoyed many freedoms and were even allowed to serve in the military and in border guard units during the 11th and 12th century. Many researchers are of the opinion that these were Cumans or Pechenegs.^[51]

Further reading

• Georgieva, Bozhidara (June 2009). "Who are the Pomaks?". Vagabond (33). http://www.vagabond.bg/index.php?page=live&sub=19&open_news=1489. 
• Raichevsky, Stoyan (2004). Mohammedan Bulgarians. Pencheva, Maya (translator). Sofia: Natl Museum of Bulgaria. ISBN 978-954-930-841-9. 
• Арденски, Владимир (2005) (in Bulgarian). Загаснали огнища. София: ИК „Ваньо Недков“. ISBN 978-954-8176-96-5. 
• Груев, Михаил; Кальонски, Алексей (2008) (in Bulgarian). Възродителният процес. Мюсюлманските общности и комунистическият режим. София: Институт за изследване на близкото минало; Фондация „Отворено общество“; Сиела. ISBN 978-954-280-291-4. 
• Ghodsee, Kristen (21 January 2009). "Identity Shift". Transitions Online. ISSN 1214-1615. http://www.tol.cz/look/TOL/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=4&NrIssue=305&NrSection=3&NrArticle=20319. 
• Bulgarian Helsinki Committee. "The Human Rights of Muslims in Bulgaria in Law and Politics since 1878", Sofia, November 2003
• Ghodsee, Kristen (2009). Muslim Lives in Eastern Europe: Gender, Ethnicity and the Transformation of Islam in Postsocialist Bulgaria. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-13955-5. http://press.princeton.edu/titles/9068.html. 
• Горчева, Даниела (2009-02-01). "Балканите: съжителство на вековете" (in Bulgarian). Либерален Преглед (21). http://www.librev.com/index.php/bg/component/content/article/article/23-discussion-bulgaria/457-2009-06-16-06-32-51. 
• Тодорова, Мария (2009-02-04). "Ислямизацията като мотив в българската историография, литература и кино" (in Bulgarian). Либерален Преглед (21). http://www.librev.com/index.php/bg/component/content/article/article/23-discussion-bulgaria/460-2009-06-16-06-32-27. 
• Мехмед, Хюсеин (2007) (in Bulgarian). Помаците и торбешите в Мизия, Тракия и Македония. София. http://pomak.webs.com/ptmtm/pomaks.html. 

References