Bulgaria, then and now







J'ai commencé un certificat en Études de l'Europe de l'Est dans une université berlinoise, pour approfondir mes connaissances sur ma passion de ce coin du monde. Voici l'un des essais que j'ai écrit pour un cours, et je trouvais que ça faisais une belle conclusion sur ma période bulgare, agrémentée de mes photos préférées du pays.

Note: There is absolutely no judgements in this essay, only facts that I tried to write as objectively as possible. I would note dare express an opinion on an extremely complex legacy that is not mine

Bulgaria







I knew I would love Bulgaria before I even crossed the border. I held promises of its beauty with me: the martenitsa bracelet from my friend, the small flacon of rose perfume, the Roo bars.

When I entered, I had tears that blocked for a moment the view of the more-than-green scenery. For me, this was a liberation from the weeks of uncertainty I was leaving behind. Bulgaria was a promised land, a gentle welcome, a fascinating place to explore.

I can’t help but feeling frustrated as I write this. I knew that I could not write an exhaustive analysis of Bulgaria, but the more I red, the more I found new sources, thousands of essays on subjects I could not even imagine that were a piece of the country, the more helpless I felt. Bulgaria is unknown, and its history so rich. I could research and write for a lifetime about it, and scratch only a little more than the surface. Because of a lack of time, resources, and because you can always find more, this is absolutely not complete. This is my current analysis of how some, but not all, events in the recent past of Bulgaria are affecting its present.


When analyzing present days practices and challenges of Eastern European countries based on their recent history, Bulgaria poses an interesting view on how past events affects today’s everyday life. Elements of its rich history, particularly from the last decades, are still shaping Bulgarians’ mentality, economy and politics. After an overview of the timeline of the communism era, this essay will address how life was during this time, dwelling on people’s struggles, housing, labour camps, religion, Turkish minority. It will then cover the transition years after the fall of communism, focusing on how the change was coped with, including corruption, squat shops and the effort to meet the requirements of a membership from EU. Legacies of communism and how Bulgaria deals with the past will conclude this survey of recent history.




The communist years

Communism in Bulgaria was officially instituted in 1948, following the Red Army presence at the end of the Second World War. All political parties were either dissolved or merged into the Bulgarian Communist Party. In the early 1950s, Bulgaria was undergoing policies of ‘Stalinization’: heavy industrialization, collectivization of farms, nationalization. The ‘de-stalinization’ period, where censorship and isolationism became less severe, coincided with the beginning of Bulgaria’s longest ruling, that of Todor Zhivkov, prime minister from 1953 until 1989. During this time, the emphasis was still on the industrialization of the country, and economic treaties solidified the relationship with Soviet Union. The 1980s were years of revival of Bulgarian nationalism, with measures that touched the Turkish minorities. The fall of communism in Bulgaria was brought by the increasing dissatisfaction of the population with the system, and the wind of change instilled by Soviet Union’s Gorbachev that swept across Eastern Europe, which led to the resignation of Zhivkov [1].

Bulgaria’s communism was characterised by a closeness with the Soviet Union’s, deeming it ‘the most loyal Soviet ally in the Soviet bloc [2]. Monuments in Bulgaria highlight this relationship, like the Park Monument of the Bulgarian-Soviet Friendship near Varna. Both countries were seen as brothers, especially given the fact that they had ethnic and religious ties. They thus developed economic ties, where Bulgaria exported its products and massively imported oil and gas, rendering it dependant on the Soviet Union. Communism was not imposed by the Soviets. Unlike other countries in the Eastern Bloc, for example Hungary, there were no Soviet troops, and the party did not suffer any sort of shared uprising against it [3], with the exception of an aborted coup d’état directed at Zhirkov, in 1965 [4]. Bulgaria was therefore considered as very stable, foreshadowing a quiet fall of the regime.


When people reminisce about the communism years, several recollections are outlined. Surely the collective experiences were a big part of life, as people had to enrol in communist youth organizations or agricultural brigades [5], based on the intent of creating a sense of community and camaraderie through a shared support of the communism way.

Some aspects appear bittersweet, like the lack of choices for consumers in shops. There would be only one brand of yoghurt, one brand of dishwashing liquid [6]. Some stress about how the quality of the products was then better [7].

The evocation of full employment is one of the positive aspects people remember, although the usefulness of some jobs or the working conditions might have been doubtful. As one famous saying of this time goes: ‘‘we pretend to work and they pretend to pay us’’ [8].


Panelka in Stara Zagora


“Panelka”, massive blocs erected in the cities, are the communist trademark in the landscape. A distinct trait of the regime was the goal of modernization of the country, implicating a massive industrialization and urbanization. Like most Eastern European countries after the Second World War, Bulgaria was mostly an agricultural nation. In order to keep up with the industrialization projects in the cities and provide housing for the workers, the social class deemed the most important by the Party, blocs of dormitories and flats had to be built. Dimitrovgrad, the first city based on this model, was named after the first communist Prime Minister, Georgi Dimitrov [9]. By the mid-1960s, the urban population surpassed for the first time the rural population (51.7%) [10]. 




As the limited resources of the rather poor country were mostly used for the development of industries, this soon led to a housing shortage. Housing committees were created to deal with the problem [11], following a system of list to attribute flats to families, although the regulations could easily be violated with small acts of corruption, like using privileged contacts [12]. Panelkas did mean some improvements together with the modern way of life, like having a phone line. Deeply attached to their roots despite the system’s need for industrialization, Bulgarians found ways to import their traditional way of living to the cities. The common areas between the blocs were turned into gardens, with tables to socialize and celebrate. The kitchens in the flats were turned into family rooms, the cooking taking place on the balconies [13]. 

Improvised garden


Labour camps are one of the darkest sides of Communist Bulgaria yet they are mostly forgotten or at least not mentioned when people talk about that time. The labour-educational commune of Belene, said to be the largest communist camp, was established in 1949 on a Danube island, following the example of Soviet’s gulags. Internment files of the Ministry of Interior tell that this camp hosted ‘‘individuals who, for political, security or other reasons, could not be taken to court, […] former MPs, activists of oppositional parties, members of the former elites (‘ex-people’), peasants who refused to join the collectives, and other ‘counter-revolutionaries’ who ‘spread hostile rumours’, ‘conducted enemy agitation’, ‘expressed resentment for the undertakings of the people's power’, had a ‘negative attitude to the people's power’ or ‘hostile utterances’, or whose kin were ‘traitors of the fatherland’ ” [14]. Closed in 1953 during the de-Stalinization, the camp was opened again in 1956 (after the Hungarian Revolution) until 1959. The prison, on the other hand, was active from the beginning and still exists now. Testimonies on what happened on the island include violence in various ways, hunger, dehumanizing toil [15].

Officials would use camps as a threat to citizens. Furthermore, the system provided the public with explanations so that people could themselves justify the co-existence with camps and normalize their existence, instead of being revolted: “if someone has committed an offence, it is only just that he be punished”, which turned into “if someone was punished, there must have been some reason for this” [16]. This translates to a whole phenomenon of acceptation of how life was during communism, and trying to make the best out of it instead of trying to change it.


Sveti Aleksander Nevski Cathedral, Sofia


The Bulgarian Orthodox Church was a key in preserving Bulgarian culture and traditions under the communism regime. At the beginning, the ideology commanded an atheist state, but it proved better to tolerate and control to a certain extent the church instead of trying to eradicate it, as people were deeply attached to their roots. People who were openly practicing faced restrictions in their education, career possibilities, advancement, and political implications. Religious rituals like baptism and marriage were preserved, but seen as having only a historical significance for the Bulgarian national identity [17].


One of the best known features of the Bulgarian communism regime is the question of the Turkish minority. Bulgaria has a long history with Turkey, dating back to the Ottoman Empire, which ruled over most of the Balkans territories and in Bulgaria up until 1878, where the Russian Army helped defeat them. This period is remembered in the collective memory as one of oppression, where Bulgarians were treated as slaves and suffered many abuses, forced conversions, economic disadvantages [18]. Folks songs, stories and poems of this time, about janissaries (Bulgarians boys taken and turned into soldiers for the Ottoman army), about women kidnapped and brought to Ottoman men, or about the courage of Bulgarians who rose against the Ottomans and stoically endured a dramatic fate, attest of this affliction and how Bulgarians viewed Ottoman as oppressors [19] [20] [21] [22] [23]. This is no surprise that Bulgarian held a grudge against Turkish people that stayed in the country after the fall of the Empire, although other sources stated that the Ottoman Empire was actually one of tolerance and peace [24]. The debates over this are still heated to this day.

 In the first communist years, the Soviet punished the Bulgarians for having remained allied with the Axis power in the Second World War until after the Red Army entered the country. They had policies applied that would benefit the linguistic and religious rights of the minorities in Bulgaria, mainly, the Turks. This allowed them to have schools and to write and publish books in Turkish, which made Bulgaria “the second-largest center of Turkish-language literature and publishing after Turkey itself” [25]. However, the Soviets made sure that Bulgarian Turks would be isolated from the influence of capitalist Turkey by standardize their language according to the communist needs [26]. As a reward for Bulgaria’s proven loyalty, the Soviets ended this program at the beginning of the 1970s.

In the 1980s, Turks accounted for a small but significant percentage of the population that contravened the rising Bulgarian nationalist movement, which intended to reach ethno-linguistic and ethno-religious homogeneity [27]. The years 1984-1985 marked the attempts of the forced assimilation of the Turkish minority. It is estimated that 800 000 Turks had to change their name to a Slavic one, so that the 1985 census would show that only Bulgarians lived in Bulgaria [28]. They received new identity documents. Speaking Turkish in public was forbidden, and Turkish books were removed from the libraries [29] [30]. Children now attended Bulgarian schools and were told that they were Bulgarians [31]. This was portrayed by the Party propaganda as a voluntary decision by the Turkish minority [32]. Rendering a part of the population inexistent proved to be impossible. The tensions grew between them and the state, which culminated with the decision of a forced mass emigration to Turkey [33], or what is know as the biggest ethnic cleansing since the Second World War [34]. In the summer of 1989, thousands of Turks were brought to the border with Turkey in a chaotic manner, leaving their belongings behind and trying to prepare for an unexpected emigration [35] [36]. In August, Ankara closed its borders after taking more than 300 000 people [37]. At this time, since the regime was already starting to fall apart, most Turks were able to return home.

One of the reasons why the situation was so tense between the Party and the Turkish minority during the communism time, apart from the resentment regarding the not so distant Ottoman rule and the desire to have a homogenous population, is the ideological opposition between socialist Bulgaria and capitalist Turkey. History books in schools during the Cold War emphasized the cruelty of the Ottoman Empire [38], so the violations against Turks’ rights would seem justified.



The transition years

The fall of the communist regime happened quietly. Unlike most East European countries, there was no revolution that made it happen, although by that time, people were getting tired of the system. With the changes brought by Gorbachev and the falling parties around, it was only a matter of time before it would touch Bulgaria. It happened on November 1989th, with Zhivkov announcing his resignation from the Bulgarian Communist Party, which was then dissolved [39]. However, the new political parties elected in the 1990s were virtually the same members of the communist party [40], trying to take advantage of the situation [41] by keeping the power in their hands. Since no political parties other than the Bulgarian Communist Party were allowed, there was ironically no one else who had experience in politics at that time anyway.

The relationship between Bulgaria and its communist past kept changing, from despising it to praising it, from the demolition of the tomb of Georgi Dimitrov, to the erection of Zhivkov’s statue [42].

Among the first changes, the Turkish minority regained its rights [43], and Western languages were introduced in the school curriculum [44]. The Church regained its properties, like the breathtaking Rila Monastery, one of Bulgaria's trademarks today.

Rila Monastery


Squat shops are a perfect example of the effects of the transition from a communist system to a capitalist one. Found in cities like Sofia or Stara Zagora, they are convenient stores, but set in basements looking on the streets, so that people have to squat in order to buy. In the years after the fall of the regime, the rent was too high for people to open stores, so they creatively settled for their basement to fit in the new consumerism-oriented society. They represent the first private-owned businesses [45].

Nationalization allowed the government to control the economy, the medias, the schools curriculum. It was involved even in private aspects of life, such as the length of hair for boys[46]. This, coupled with the oppressive measures against the Turkish minority and failed propaganda, made people hungry for change and led to high hopes on what democracy would bring to the country.

The first years looked promising, with the opening to the West, newly acquired freedom to travel and an application for NATO and the EU membership on the way. Bulgaria had to undergo over 200 directives and regulations in order to apply for EU, mostly on the sectors of agriculture, free movements of goods and environment [47]. Bulgaria gained its membership in 2007.


 
Nesebar, one of the oldest cities in Europe, Black Sea


Today

The economic difficulties and general frustrations expressed about the present day situation might outrun the positive aspects of the new regime. The first difficult years, supposed to be a price to pay to access better days, seem to linger [48].

Corruption is a strong legacy of communism, instilled by the necessity in that time of having good connections in order to get privileges. It was largely happening then, and still is now, in a never-ending cycle of a “general culture of tolerance and acceptance of corruption, as inevitable and as a part of the political and economic landscapes” [49]. The dichotomy of the situation now, and especially during the economic crisis of the transition years, is that small acts of corruption, like bribing, were viewed as a way to survive, and to get back at the system who was known for its massive corruption. To this day, people still perceive government institutions as deeply corrupted [50]. In fact the financial aid of the EU was stopped when it was discovered that the 430 million of euros were stolen presumably by a mafia-like organization [51]. Bulgaria is not yet a part of the Schengen area, due to its difficulties to deal with the corruption, crimes and the debatable press freedom [52].

Bulgaria is member of NATO since 2004, alongside Turkey. The relations between the two countries are getting better, with the free movement of people and goods increasing [53]. In most cities, especially the ones with a large population of Turks like Razgrad or Kardzhali, mosques are in sight. 

 
Mosque in Razgrad

On the other hand, the Turkish minority is still subject to the bad perception that dates back to the Ottomans. Turks are less employed, and recent surveys show that Bulgarians still have trouble trusting them [54]. In history books and museums, there are almost no mention of the peaceful aspects of the Ottoman Empire, or of what Turks endured during communism [55]. Cities with Turkish names were renamed in a process of bulgarianism that brings tensions [56].


Turkish tea, Plovdiv


Bulgaria might in fact have a way of erasing or forgetting traumatic events of the recent past. In Belene, the village next to the labour camp and prison, there are no commemorative signs that would inform visitors. In general, traces of what happened, crimes that party members might have committed, any evidences are hard to find [57]. Orders were mostly given on the phone so there was no proof. Zhivkov himself admitted that his name would not be found related to orders about prisoners [58]. Moreover, papers that could condemn the party were promptly destroyed after the fall of the regime.


Interviews and stories from people that lived communism and the transition years are a precious source of information, although it must be treated with care, given that the individual memory might have been influenced by the public memory, subject to changing discourses about communism in the years of the transition [59]. The situation in the present days might give an altered view on how life was during the communism era. The difficulties faced today, together with the disillusion with how the democracy was supposed to make life better, mostly trigger the memories of the good sides of the old regime.

Nostalgia is frequently expressed, especially among older people. They remember the positive aspects communism brought: better structures, guaranteed jobs, social security, safety in the cities [60] [61]. “Some people say: ‘yes, the old regime was oppressive, but at least there was law and order.’ ” [62]

Ivelina Dimitrova, a resident in Stara Zagora, describes quite accurately the difference between life during communism years and now: “Before, we had money, but there was nothing to buy; now we have such of varieties of goods, but we don’t have enough money to buy them.” Indeed, before, even with money, there was no choice for the consumers. It could take years to move up the waiting lists and get a flat or a car, because of the shortages that show how communism failed to deliver on its basic promise and secure a better life [63].

In a short story by Miroslav Penkov, the protagonist longs for the time when a baker would give him pastries because the bakery was state-owned so he didn’t care about the profit [64].



Kalina Vladimirova, from Dupnitsa, recalls that under communism, there was no freedom of speech, no other possible way to think beside what the regime dictated, and surveillance to find any potential dissident. To this can be added the compulsory collectivization of the farms to the list of negative aspects people are still happy to have left behind.



 
Chipka Monument


Standing on one peak of the Stara Planina range of mountains crossing the center of Bulgaria, the Chipka monument commemorates the battle against the Ottoman army in 1878, where Bulgarians regained their independence after centuries under the Ottoman Empire. A Russian flag attests of the help of the Red Army for this fight, almost like a prophecy of how the Soviet ideology would then come to Bulgaria. 

 
Russian flag


From the Valley of Roses, on a clear day, it is possible to see, next to this monument, a spaceship-looking structure. The Buzludzha Memorial House served as a public museum and a host for Bulgarian Communist Party’s events in the last years of the regime. On the top, a giant red star was meant to be seen across the country when lit [65]. 

 
Buzludzha

This view sums up the major events of Bulgaria’s past decades: the liberation from the Ottoman regime, followed by the communism era. Its end, and the years of uncertainty that it triggered can be seen in the abandon of the former symbol of the communism grandeur. Most valuables were stolen from the building and the walls are covered in graffitis. The most striking one, today removed, stated “Never forget your past” over the main doors. Was it a last attempt to retrieve the communism days, as they are indeed part of Bulgaria’s history and culture? Or was it to outline the burden Bulgarians have to carry today because of their communist past? Either way, Buzludzha still stands and officials are unsure what to do with it, metaphorically portraying the uncertainty of today in Bulgaria.





Folk songs

Вземи огин, запали ме

Сън ако беше ти можех да се събудя,
но и на яве теб искам.
Песен да беше ти можех да те забравя,
но като звук до мен идваш.

Припев:
Вземи огин,
запали ме,
направи ме пепел,
че не мога мило либе без тебе.

Рана да беше ти можех да оздравея,
нож да ме бе пробол искам.
Жив да не бях сега, за да не гледам тебе,
как ти при някой друг идваш.

Take fire, burn me

If you were a dream I could have woken up,
but even in my waking hours I would still want you.
If you were a song I could have forgotten you,
but yet you would come to me like a sound.

Take a fire,
burn me,
turn me into ash,
because I can't be without you my precious love.

If you were a wound I could have healed,
I wish a knife had stabbed me.
I wish I wasn't alive, so I don't see
how you go to someone else.


Plovdiv

Райна Попгеоргиева

Айде, провикна се турския
паша от Панагюрище,
Айде, вий идете и я уловете
Райна Попгеоргиева!

Нито я колете, нито я бесете,
най при мене доведете я!
Ази да я питам, питам и разпитвам
кой уши байряка,
кой уши байряка, кой му тури
знака "Смърт или свобода"

Айде, провикна се Райна Попгеоргиева
от Панагюрище
Щете ме колете, щете ме бесете,
аз уших байряка!
Аз уших байряка,
аз му турих знака,
"Смърт или свобода"!

Rayna Popgeorgieva

'Go along' shouted the Turkish pasha
from Panagyurishte
'Go along and catch her
Rayna Popgeorgieva'

Neither slay her, nor hang her
But bring her back to me
I want to ask her, ask her and question her
Who sewed the flag?
Who sewed the flag and who sewed on its sign
"Death or Freedom"

Come on! shouted Rayna Popgeorgieva
From Panagyurishte
Slay me if you want, hang me if you want
I sewed the flag!
I sewed the flag
and I sewed on its sign
"Death or Freedom"
Blagoevgrad
                  


Боят настана

Боят настана, тупкат сърца ни,
ето ги близо наште душмани.
Кураж, дружина, вярна сговорна,
ний не сме вече рая покорна!

Нека пред света да се покажем,
нека му гордо, братя, докажем,
че сме строшили мръсни окови,
че сме свободни, а не робове!

Дружно, братя българи, в боя да вървим!
Дружно, братя българи, враг да победим!
О, майко моя, Родино мила,
ний не сме вече рая покорна!

С гняв и дързост днес да издигнем глас,
времето няма все да чака нас.
Нека във битка славна влезем ний,
нашта десница Бог ще подкрепи!

The fight begins

The fight begins, our heart's beats strongly,
our enemy is close.
Courage my faithful friends,
we are not under foreign domination anymore!
Let's show ourselves to the world,
brothers, let's prove to the world,
that we already broke our dirty shackles,
that we are free and we are not slaves!
Together my bulgarian brothers, we will stand in the fight!
Together my bulgarian brothers, we will beat our enemy!
Oh my mother, my precious motherland,
we are not slaves!
We will raise our voices with anger and audacity,
because the time will not waiting for us.
Let's go into a glorious battle,
and God will help us!

Plovdiv

Излел е Дельо Xайдутин


Излел е Дельо хайдутин,
Хайдутин ян кесаджие,
С Думбовци и с Караджовци.
Заръчал Дельо, порочал,
Дериданскине айене,
Айене кабадайе,
—В селоно имам две лели,
Да ми ги не потурчите,
Да ми ги не почърните. [4]
Че га си слезам в селоно,
Мночко щат майки да плакнат,
По-мночко, млади нивести.
Гюлсуме Дельо зароча:
-Чувай са, Дельо, варди са,
че ти са канят, Дельо льо,
Деридескимнем айене,
айене и кабадане,
леят ти куршум сребърен,
за тебе, Дельо, да превият.
-Гюлсуме, любе, Гюлсуме,
не са е родил чилюкън
дену ще Дельо убие![5]


 


 


Delyo the Hayduk has Gone Outside
Delyo has become hayduk,
the hayduk, the rebel
with the Dumbovi and the Karadjovi clans.
Delyo gave the following orders
to the ayans (local notables) of Zlatograd,
to the brazen-faced governors:
- There are two aunts of mine in the village.
Do not make them Turks (= convert them to Islam),
do not besmirch them,
because when I come back
a lot of mothers will cry,
a lot of young brides.

Gyulsume told Delyo:
- Beware, Delyo, beware,
you are being threatened, Delyo
the Zlatograd rulers,
the brazen-faced governors,
they cast a silver bullet
for you, Delyo, to kill you.
- Gyulsume, my love Gyulsume,
not yet is born a man
who could kill me.




[1] BELL, John D. & DANFORTH, Loring & DIMITROV, Philipe. Bulgaria. Encyclopædia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/place/Bulgaria

[2] KAMUSELLA, Tomasz. Bulgaria’s denial of its Ottoman past and Turkish identity, New Eastern Europe, March 2019, http://neweasterneurope.eu/2019/03/24/bulgarias-denial-of-its-ottoman-past-and-turkish-identity/

[3] Issues: Bulgaria's persisting communist legacy. European Stability Initiative, October 2008, https://www.esiweb.org/index.php?lang=en&id=311&film_ID=8&slide_ID=9

[4] BINDER David. Todor Zhivkov Dies at 86; Ruled Bulgaria for 35 Years. The New York Times, August 1998, https://www.nytimes.com/1998/08/07/world/todor-zhivkov-dies-at-86-ruled-bulgaria-for-35-years.html

[5] KANEVA, Nadia. Memories of Everyday Life in Communist Bulgaria: Negotiating Identity in Immigrant Narratives. ColoradoResearch in Linguistics: Vol. 19. 2006, https://scholar.colorado.edu/cril/vol19/iss1/2

[6] KANEVA, Nadia. Memories of Everyday Life in Communist Bulgaria: Negotiating Identity in Immigrant Narratives. ColoradoResearch in Linguistics: Vol. 19. 2006, https://scholar.colorado.edu/cril/vol19/iss1/2

[7] TEMPLER, Bill. An Experiment in Living Socialism: Bulgaria Then and Now. Political Affairs, October 2013
[9] MARCHEVA, Iliyana & ZLATKOVA Meglena. Tinkering with Daily Life: People, State and Social(ist) Housing in Bulgaria. Études balkaniques, 2010

[10] MARCHEVA, Iliyana & PARUSHEVA, Dobrinka. Housing in Socialist Bulgaria: Appropriating Tradition. Home Cultures, 2010, DOI 10.2752/175174210X1266343752621 

[11] MARCHEVA, Iliyana & PARUSHEVA, Dobrinka. Housing in Socialist Bulgaria: Appropriating Tradition. Home Cultures, 2010, DOI 10.2752/175174210X1266343752621 

[12] MARCHEVA, Iliyana & ZLATKOVA Meglena. Tinkering with Daily Life: People, State and Social(ist) Housing in Bulgaria. Études balkaniques, 2010

[13] MARCHEVA, Iliyana & ZLATKOVA Meglena. Tinkering with Daily Life: People, State and Social(ist) Housing in Bulgaria. Études balkaniques, 2010

[14] KOLEVA, Daniela. Belene: remembering the labour camp and the history
of memory. Social History, 2012, 37:1, 1-18 DOI: 10.1080/03071022.2011.651581, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03071022.2011.651581

[15] KOLEVA, Daniela. Belene: remembering the labour camp and the history
of memory. Social History, 2012, 37:1, 1-18 DOI: 10.1080/03071022.2011.651581, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03071022.2011.651581

[16] KOLEVA, Daniela. Belene: remembering the labour camp and the history
of memory. Social History, 2012, 37:1, 1-18 DOI: 10.1080/03071022.2011.651581, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03071022.2011.651581

[17] NIKOLAEVA GERASIMOVA Ralena. Religious identity in Bulgaria during the communist regime. The case of Orthodox Christianity and Islam. Rhetoric and Communications E-journal, Issue 27, March 2017, http://rhetoric.bg/ralena-nikolaeva-gerasimova-religious-identity-in-bulgaria-during-the-communist-regime-the-case-of-orthodox-christianity-and-islam

[18] KAMUSELLA, Tomasz. Bulgaria’s denial of its Ottoman past and Turkish identity, New Eastern Europe, March 2019, http://neweasterneurope.eu/2019/03/24/bulgarias-denial-of-its-ottoman-past-and-turkish-identity/

[22] PENKOV, Miroslav. Devshirmeh. East of the West, a Country in Stories. Sceptre, 2011

[23] Song Delyo the Hayduk has Gone Outside (Излел е Дельо Xайдутин) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Izlel_ye_Delyo_Haydutin
[24] GANGLOFF, Sylvie. The Impact of the Ottoman Legacy on Turkish Policy in the Balkans (1991-1999). Centre national de la recherche scientifique, November 2005
https://www.sciencespo.fr/ceri/sites/sciencespo.fr.ceri/files/artsg.pdf

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