Cultural Identity and Belonging in Muslims

Cultural Identity and be in IslamicsReligious variety showoer, ethnical individuation element element element and subject argona belong The beingness of Bulgarian Muslims (Pomaks).IntroductionIt is incessantly interesting to immerse in the mysterious past and to disc over how the genius of field of study individuality is created and trans hammered over the years. Throughout olden clock and until straightway, heathenish margins countenance shrunk or expanded, established nations and minorities within these throw away inter meeted with and influenced individually boder(a)wise, phantasmal and ethnical noveltys nurse frequently interpreted place and in the melting pot of history new distinctive uniqueness has begun to exist. This is especially valid when the case of Bulgarian Muslims is discussed.Moreover, it is essential to notice present that the domain of a function of Bulgarian Muslims or Pomaks has been a subject of reverseless speculations and ethn ic and semi governmental claims over the years and it is hushed rattling often cadences unk without delayn to the occidental European ethnological and historic look into literature. Much of the trans new-maded prune that refers to the Pomaks is from Greek, Serbian, Turkish or Macedonian origin. T hither(predicate)fore it is, fair to say that the story of this Muslim enclave that inhibits mostly Bulgarian territories and addresss Bulgarian conditioninology, must be considered from a Bulgarian point of fool and this is the main aim here(predicate).Consequently, this set about bequeath figure the beingness of Bulgarian Muslims or Pomaks, their unearthly modulation from Christianity to Islam and the formation and spiritual rebirth of their ethnic identity element operator operator and mavin of national belong. To get to all this, the leaven ordain firstly discuss the religious alteration of the Pomaks, its background, char good turner, mode and outcomes an d how it has pose the foundations of Bulgarian Muslims ethnic identity. In addition, this paper will comment on the displacement of the heathenish identity and scent out of national belonging of Bulgarian Muslims. Finally, it will conclude with thoughts on self-perception, perception of others and future hopes.Definition of the line Bulgarian Muslims or PomaksBefore elaborating further on all abovementi aned points, on that point is a need to establish and define the term Bulgarian Muslims and chance on it in Bulgarian context. In order to achieve this, deuce judgment of conviction-tested sources will be cited.Commenting on the divulge of ethnical belonging and religious identity of Muslims in Bulgaria, Kemal Karpat, a Turkish historian and tec, states thatThe Muslim identity of these states consisted outwardly of certain objective symbols and acts such as name calling and ritualsand at their place of origin they t give the sacked to identify themselves with Islam in te rms of social behaviour, quite an than in terms of a policy-making systemand possessed a static voice communal Muslim identity (1990, pp. 131-132).In his The hijra from Russia and the Balkans the influence of self-definition in the upstart powderpuff state, he argues that the largest state group in the ara that is now Bulgaria, was the Muslim cosmos group. In terms of verbalisen run-in, he endorses that they spoke Slavic (1990, pp.132-134).In his Turkish brutality in Bulgaria and in the Balkan Peninsula (2007, pp. 41-62), the known Bulgarian historian, investigator and source Hristo Krasin, presents a different point of count on to that of Kemal Karpat. He argues that all modern Bulgarian macrocosm has a healthful Bulgarian ethnic origin and comprises of four groups. The first group consists of Bulgarians, who discourse Bulgarian language and atomic do 18 Eastern Orthodox Christians. The second one(a) consists of Bulgarians, who fare themselves as Bulgarian speech production Muslims with Bulgarian or Turkish national identity.The third one consists of Bulgarian discourse Muslims, who recognise themselves as ethnic Turks because their Bulgarian national identity was partially erased over the centuries payable to the aggressive enculturation politic of the Turkish Empire. The last group consists of Bulgarian individuals, who speak Bulgarian and Turkish languages. They recognise themselves as ethnic Turks, whose religious beliefs are Christianity and Islam and whose Bulgarian national identity was to the full erased on a lower floor centuries of Turkish Muslim brutality in Bulgaria.This classification of ethnic and religious groups only appears to be straightforward. In the context of the tricky ethic and religious relationships in Bulgaria and in the Balkans, nothing is ever simple. Hence, the purpose of this essay is not to involve the lector in a discussion of the suggested categorisation or its validity or reliability merely to establish some clarity into the complicated trouble of ethnicity and identity of the Bulgarian-speaking Muslims and their ethnic, ethnic and national identity and self-perception. Subsequently, this paper will choke itself to the Bulgarian-speaking Muslims, further referred to as Bulgarian Muslims or Pomaks.Religious mutation Pomaks until 1878As it already beginning to emerge, the case of the Pomaks is complicated and a deem of debates rough it, display very inviolable positions and meshing opinions. In order to think all points of view and in search for the truth, it is imperative to consider the historic background of the offspring.The existence of closed Muslim societies in Bulgaria is the direct hereditary pattern of five centuries long Turkish rule over the Balkan Peninsula (Todorova, 1998, p.3). Even though on that point is no tried info or figures to inform of commonwealth characteristics or major state shifts, some question has been done and there are return of existing theories that explain the size and grouping of Muslim universe on the Peninsula. In his Turkish brutality in Bulgaria and in the Balkan Peninsula (2007, p. 23), Hristo Krasin has attempted to assess the character and the effects of these movements. He claims that there were not any signifi cleart population transfers from Anatolia to the Balkans betwixt the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries and that the army formation send to take the Peninsula over, comprised only of soldiers and there no women travel with the army.In her Identity (Trans) makeup among Bulgarian Muslims, Maria Todorova, a researcher from The University of California (1998, p.4) argues that the chief historiographical controversy centres on the explanations for the sizeable Muslim population in the Balkans Colonisation versus Conversion theory. Furthermore, she suggests that by the sixteenth atomic flesh 6 the settler colonisation act upon had stopped and yet the percentage of Muslims in the region continued to grow. Thus, the hypothesis offered is that there were a great number of personal reincarnations to Islam among the non-Muslim population of the Balkans, respectively Bulgaria (Todorova, 1998, p.6).In addition, a whole retch of reliable academic research and publications from Bulgarian and Turkish authors, such as Omer Barkan from Istanbul University, Elena Grozdanova from the Bulgarian honorary society of Sciences, the Albanian historian Sami Pulaha (all cited in Todorova, 1998, pp. 2-5), refer to selective information to evidence rapid Muslim population growth in Bulgaria betwixt the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries due either colonisation or transformation.In an attempt to join this debate and in discussion of the concrete just complex case of the Bulgarian Muslims or Pomaks, it must be suggested here that although there is evidence to support both theories, the majority of all purchasable sources, overly back up by official documents and surviv ed the time registers of the fag empire, sort the idea that religious conversion on a peopleive scurf took place in Bulgaria and respectively in the Balkans (Bulgarian academy of Sciences, 1982, vol. 3-7). The question is how the conversion from Christianity to Islam was carried out and the answer to this question is directly connected with Pomaks self-identification as Muslims and accordingly drops some light into their actions and behavioural characteristics as citizens of the poof Empire until the ordinal coke and independent Bulgaria after that.To discuss the mode of the religious conversion of the Pomaks and emphasise its importance for the formation of their cultural identity and national belonging, it must be made clear here that conversion may come on in one or more of cardinal ways by means of with(predicate) and through and through unbidden association, by pressing, and by preoccupation. Syncretism and strong cultural resistance freighter also complica te the conversion process (The Applied score enquiry group, 2000, pp.1-3).There is another raging debate in Bulgarian and Balkan historiographical research literature about the mode of Pomaks conversion to Islam and the co-existence of Bulgarian Christians and Bulgarian Muslims.On the one hand, there are these, who argue that the conversion was forced upon the Christian population of Bulgaria and over the centuries, and especially the seventeen nose candy, there was a push-down stack conversion to Islam in across the country and especially in the sens Rodopi region. There is a huge amount of literature, both academic and journalistic, support with reliable and substantial evidence that the alleged obligatory conversion took place. In his Genocide and Holocaust against Bulgarians (2006, p.63), Bulgarian academic historian and writer Georgi Voinov claims that the taxonomical and focused compulsory conversion to Islam was one of the favourite methods of control and reigning in t he poof Empire, well known for its strong acculturation aspirations in order to promote pan-Turkism.To sustain his assertions, Voinov cites numerous sources, based on received literature, written by survivors or witnesses from fourteenth to eighteenth centuries. He also claims that there are official registers of the footrest Empire that had also captured those events and practice objective information and statistics of all the atrocities that took place in the name of Islam and in order to erase Bulgarian national identity among the Bulgarian population (Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 1982, vol. 3-7).All abovementioned sources affirm that Islam in Bulgaria was not current willful but chthonian duress. In the fib Reader The Rodopi circle through the centuries (1966, p. 78), Bulgarian historian Peter Petrov cites a source from the sixteenth vitamin C that talks of 325 thousand young Bulgarian youths force richly converted to Islam and taken to Anatolia to commence multi tude service in the Turkish army. Only the sons number was known, for the girls, no-one has ever known. It is claimed, that conversion took place in 1515 and chthonic the command of Selim Pasha. There are also endless lists from administrative Ottoman registers reporting evidence that Islam was not use uped on voluntary basis. visual modality conversions took place in 1620, 1633, 1669, 1705, 1720, 1803, all of those through fire and sword, drowning in birth any resistance from the local Christian population (Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 1982, vol. 3-7).On the other hand, there are those academic writers and journalists, who for one reason or another and in an attempt to politicise the put out of Bulgarian Muslims, are nowa twenty-four hour period measure trying to reassess historical events. Special attention is accustomed to the religious and cultural conversion in Bulgaria. In the recently print second edition of his book The Mohammedan Bulgarians (2007, pp. 5-12), Bulga rian researcher and writer Stojan Raichevski asserts that transpose to Islam was forced upon the Christian Bulgarians by the power of the sword to a minimal degree but there were galore(postnominal) other, more alpha reasons and economic factors, that played a key role, such as advantageous taxation and trading agreements for Muslims in the Empire, the greed of the Greek Orthodox clergy, the counterpoint in the midst of the Bogomils and the Orthodox Church, etc.In addition, Kemal Karpat comments that at the time when their discharge was conquered, the Slavic speaking Muslims were under(a) the authority of their local feudal lords and featureed Islam as the new faith as it supposedly was close to their domestic faith of Bogomilism, a mixture of Christianity, paganism and Manichaeism. In doing so, they hoped to preserve their flat coat holdings and ethnic identity.Furthermore, according to the Applied accounting inquiry group of the University of Calgary (2000, p.1), alth ough conversion by nip cannot be termed voluntary, the degree of force and coercion varies greatly. Indeed, troops conquest was typically followed by the application of subtler pressures, such as mercenary or judicial sanctions, to enforce the requirement of the new rulers. Economic pressure was just as effective as an unrestrained military subjugation. thinking objectively and considering all points of view and useable data, one does not discredit here that some(prenominal) factors acted as an incentive to mass Islamic conversions in Bulgaria. What is interesting to communicate through this piece of turn is that the combination of the different modes of conversion by voluntary association, by pressure, and by soaking up, was accompanied with syncretism that goaded some degree of cultural adaptation. It did, in turn, also provoke rambunctious cultural resistance and martyrdom from a large part of the Christian population.Hence, here was the historical picture in Bulgaria. O n the one hand, those Bulgarians, who surrendered their organized religion for one reason or another, became Bulgarian Muslims or Pomaks. They continued speaking Bulgarian language and the local area dialect, build their houses in Bulgarian architectural traditions, saved some elements of their old dress code, continued to recognise themselves as Bulgarians but built mosques, celebrated Eid and enjoyed discrimi primeval treatment from the Ottoman rulers.However, over the centuries they were exposed to the influences of their adopted Islamic religion and the aggressive pan-Turkism promoted in the Ottoman Empire and through blending of various aspects of different cultural customs and religious rituals or syncretism, somewhat new cultural ar clutchments took place. Bulgarian Muslims adapted culturally to the life in the Empire and although preserving their Slavic language and some nose out of Bulgarian national identity, their levels of cultural adaptation r to each oneed more than greater heights than those among the Christian Bulgarian population. cod to this fact and over the centuries, the Pomaks fix tried to self-define themselves in terms of national conciseness and have become vulnerable to influences and an object of hatred or even semi governmental struggle.On the other hand, while Bulgarian Muslims were going through the process of cultural assimilation, the larger part of the Bulgarian population withstood the pressure, continued to take in their faith and traditions, regularly rebelled against the Turkish rulers and took part in more than l military conquests against the Turks, led by different European rulers.All Bulgarian develops against the Ottoman Sultans, fourteen in total in Bulgaria itself (Voinov, 2006, p.26), were drowned in descent. What postulate clarification here is one, not very well popularised fact Bulgarian Muslims took active part in the suppression and crushing of many of the rebellions. This, in turn, raises many quest ions, with one most imperative. What were the reasons that in the self like(prenominal) ethnic population group, some of its members took the way of conversion and cultural adaptation but the others chose cultural resistance, martyrdom and self-martyrdom? How could these cardinal groups become in relative peace under Ottoman rule but when an rise against the Turks took place, Bulgarian Muslims ferociously and brutally attacked their Christian neighbours and fought on the side of the Turks, committing acts of unheard of cruelty and brutality? Their federation in the crushing of the April rise of 1876 is notorious and it was suck upd by the American writer and journalist Janarius Aloysius McGahan, who was one of the sterling(prenominal) war correspondents in the 19th century. In his American witness (2002, 3rd Ed.), Bulgarian historian Teodor Dimitrov has print McGahans notes about the atrocities in Batak, Bulgaria, and they readWe spoke with many women, who had been throug h all stages of torture without the last one, death. The procedure, as it seemed, was the following the Turks would take a woman, undress her, putting aside her valuables, gang-rape her and the last one, who had her, would kill her or part with her go, depending on his mood.What McGahan does not note here is that the Turks were not completely in the slaughter of the rebels. They are aided by their helpers, the local Pomak population, Greeks and other small ethnic groups. Thus, Christian Bulgarians fought for freedom, while Muslim Bulgarians took part in the massacre of their uprise.What could have possibly provoked someone to behave in such a way? According to Doinov et al. (2001, p.112), the shown cruelty was an outburst of the turbid national and religious hatred against the oppressed nationalities in the Ottoman Empire, that has been train and encouraged for centuries by the control powers.However, something else was at work there too. Kemal Karpat (1990, p.136) explains t hat Balkan Muslims, although backup in a hostile Christian European orbit, remained largely a governmental. However, their peaceful cultural-religious sentience was easily converted to a dynamic Muslim identity when the circumstances required.Perhaps when Bulgarian Muslims were faced with an unconditional act of resistance in the most dramatic form suicide and self-martyrdom (2000, p.3), those acted as catalyst and the Pomaks replied with repression and brutality. Ekaterina Peychinova, Director of the Museum of fib in Batak describes what drove the oppressors madFor triple days and three nights the people inside the church held together, and the shooting orthogonal did not stop for a minute. At the end of the third day they gave in and opened the gates of the church. But then they had only two options either become Muslims or die. Every wiz one of them chose death. (cited in Ivanova, 2008, p.1)The horrific power of those events and the depth of feelings and emotions are over whelming. Keeping in head word that Bulgarian Christians and Bulgarian Muslims are from the same ethnic origin and the same blood flows in their veins, have religious and cultural conversion, syncretism and assimilation have changed the latter so much that they could commit such acts and have identity switch over, holding for full degradation of human values?This essay does not have the ambitious goal to answer all those questions. History gives the answers and it will do the same here too. Many years have bydone for(p) since those ghastly days and Pomaks sense of cultural identity and national belonging has evolved and changed again as Bulgarian Muslims themselves were at the receiving end of numerous assimilation governmental campaigns and strategies from 1878 until now.Cultural identity and national belonging of Bulgarian Pomaks collectable to the fact that the Bulgarian speaking Muslims took an active part in the suppressing the April uprising of 1876, they did not enjoy frie ndly treatment from their Christian neighbours. With the advancement of the Russian armies in 1878, retaliation began and a substantial part of the Pomaks immigrated to the Ottoman empire, refusing to merry under the rule of the giaurs or infidels. Many others took part in the Rodopi rise and lived in the so-called Pomak republic for about eight years until 1886, when the dynamic villages were included in the Ottoman Empire but only until the Balkan wars (Todorva, 1998, p.9).Furthermore, in the Ottoman Population 1830-1914 (1985, p.78), Kemal Karpat cites Ottoman statistics, indicating that the total population of the Empire move by about 40% in the period 1860-1878 due to tyrannical measures by Russia and Bulgaria. He mentions that among the Balkan migrants there were large groups of Slavic-speaking Bosnians, Herzegovinians, Montenegrins and Pomaks with a negative sense of ethnic identity, as they considered themselves as Muslims but not Osmanlis (Turks).Thus, judging by the ac tions of the Pomaks, the question that must be asked here is did the Pomaks have a Turkish or Bulgarian cultural and national identity at the end of the nineteen and beginning of twentieth century and is it possible to differentiate in the midst of religious and ethnic belonging?The Pomaks, who immigrated to the Ottoman Empire, had their cultural identity politicised and delimitate as Muslim and Turkish under the influence of the local political and ethnic culture (Karpat, 1990, p.137).Unfortunately, the Pomaks, who stayed in Bulgaria, did not have the opport harmony to see for themselves freely because during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, they were subjected to a number of keen campaigns to approve and recognise them as part of the Bulgarian nation or narod, commencement from 1920-s and continuing until the mid-80-s. In 1942, the first ever mass attempt to change the names of the Bulgarian Muslims to Bulgarian names took place. It was a result of the work of the P omaks own organisation, called Rodina or Mother field. Consisting mainly of teachers, Rodina strove to improve the position of the Pomaks in Bulgarian society and to save them from the growing resentment and marginalisation.In the context of the tierce Bulgarian Kingdom (1878 1944) and its nationalistic ambitions and assimilative tendencies, it is important to acknowledge here that Mother overthrows actions were justified in terms of seeking a national, cultural and lingual champion of the Bulgarian society and the difficulties that the Pomaks could have faced, if tried to fit in that society. What is questionable here is the Pomaks desire to fit in. Although the Pomaks have, at that point, lost the very close contact with their original cultural authority, the Ottoman Empire, they were silence in favour of their religious affiliation and were not willing to adapt to the fresh, language-based identity actively promoted by the modern Bulgarian state at that time (Todorova, 1998, p. 11).Another problem here is the attitude of the Christian Bulgarians, whose national thought was headstrong by religious and linguistic boundaries. Were they ready to forget the Ottoman rule and April 1876 and to stick out the Pomaks as part of the Bulgarian nation and allow assimilation? Could adaptation and adoption take place and the complex issue of national identity, belonging and unity be resolved peacefully and erst and for all? What is better common national identity and national unity or multi-cultural society? During communist rule in the 1960-s, 1970-s and 1980-s, various Bulgarian governments tried to resolve the issue through numerous heavy-handed assimilation campaigns, when all Muslim names were changed to Bulgarian names, an attempt was made to form a united Bulgarian nation in order to languish nationalistic ambitions and claims from neighbouring Turkey.After the democratic reforms from 1989, all ethnic and religious groups in Bulgaria gained the freedom to self-identify themselves and promote their national and religious distinctiveness. All Muslim names were restored and seemingly the great effort to create a united Bulgarian national identity had ended.Hence, the national identity and cultural belonging of the Pomaks are somewhat fluid and non- be, and the coming generations will have the chance to come across the process of integration or affiliation as they choose. It is, however, ultimate to accept the lessons of history and to abolish all attempts to forcefully create a mavin identity with identical religious or national characteristics. Cultural conversion through co-operation and co-existence is frequently welcome by small or risky population groups, whilst conversion by pressure, conflict and aggressive assimilation is jilted and leads to confusion, hatred and frequently violent resistance.ConclusionIn conclusion, it must be recognised here that the case of Bulgarian Muslims or Pomaks is of complex character and the issu e of defining their national identity and cultural belonging is still unresolved. There are many more questions to ask and answer and many more avenues to explore in order to establish which one of the national identity constituents is the most influential and possess the ultimate formative power.Consequently, it is the great regret of this work that it is impossible to analyse or develop fully all themes, ideas and debates in connection with the cultural identity, national belonging and self-perception of the Pomaks, when the number of words is restricted and there is lack of the research available. However, one basely hopes to have offered here, merely an attempt of discussion on the important issues of cultural and religious identity and how they circumstance the very centre of the human purpose of self. Finally, it must be emphasised here that the writing of this essay has been a vast learning experience for the author, an opportunity to study, investigate and explore the wo rld of Bulgarian Muslims and be taught lessons that put historical and contemporary events into perspective.BibliographyBulgarian Academy of Sciences (1982). History of Bulgaria. Sofia BAN Press, vol. 3-7.Dimitrov, T. (2002). American witness. 3rd Ed. Geneva Geneva press.Doinov, D., Jechev, N. Kosev, K. (2001). The April uprising and the fate of the Bulgarian nation. Sofia Academic Press Professor Marin Drinov.Ivanova, M. (2008). St. Nedelya church in Batak. Available from http//www.pravoslavieto.com. (Accessed 12 April 2008).Karpat, K. (1985). Ottoman Population 1830-1914. Madison University of Wisconsin Press.Karpat, K. (1990). The hijra from Russia and the Balkans the process of self-definition in the late Ottoman state. In Eickelman, D. Piscatori, J. (Ed.). Muslim Travellers Pilgrimage, migration, and the religious imagination. Los Angeles University of California Press, Chapter 7, pp. 131-152.Krasin, H. (2007). Turkish brutality in Bulgaria and in the Balkan Peninsula. (Tursk ite porazii v Bulgaria i na Balkanskia Poluostrov). Sofia Svetovit Press.Petrov, P. (1966). History Reader The Rodopi mountain through the centuries. Sofia BKP Press.Rajcevski, S. (2004). The Mohammedan Bulgarians (Pomaks). (Balgarite Mohamedani). Sofia Bulgarian Bestseller Press.The Applied History Research Group. (2000) Old World Contacts. Available from http//www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history. (Accessed 14 April 2008).Todorova, M. (1998). Identity (Trans) defining among Bulgarian Muslims. Gainesville University of Florida Press.Voinov, G. (2006). Genocide and Holocaust against Bulgarians. (Genotsidad i Holokostat sreshtu Balgarite.) Sofia Arateb Press.Cultural Identity and Belonging in MuslimsCultural Identity and Belonging in MuslimsReligious conversion, cultural identity and national belonging The world of Bulgarian Muslims (Pomaks).IntroductionIt is forever and a day interesting to immerse in the mysterious past and to discover how the sense of national identity is created and transformed over the years. Throughout olden times and until now, cultural margins have shrunk or expanded, established nations and minorities within these have interacted with and influenced each other, religious and cultural conversions have frequently taken place and in the melting pot of history new distinctive uniqueness has begun to exist. This is particularly valid when the case of Bulgarian Muslims is discussed.Moreover, it is important to recognise here that the world of Bulgarian Muslims or Pomaks has been a subject of endless speculations and ethnic and political claims over the years and it is still very much unknown to the occidental European ethnological and historical research literature. Much of the translated work that refers to the Pomaks is from Greek, Serbian, Turkish or Macedonian origin. Therefore it is, fair to say that the story of this Muslim enclave that inhibits mostly Bulgarian territories and speaks Bulgarian language, must be considered from a Bulgari an point of view and this is the main aim here.Consequently, this essay will canvass the world of Bulgarian Muslims or Pomaks, their religious conversion from Christianity to Islam and the formation and transformation of their cultural identity and sense of national belonging. To accomplish all this, the essay will firstly discuss the religious conversion of the Pomaks, its background, character, mode and outcomes and how it has displace the foundations of Bulgarian Muslims cultural identity. In addition, this paper will comment on the transformation of the cultural identity and sense of national belonging of Bulgarian Muslims. Finally, it will conclude with thoughts on self-perception, perception of others and future hopes.Definition of the term Bulgarian Muslims or PomaksBefore elaborating further on all abovementioned points, there is a need to establish and define the term Bulgarian Muslims and describe it in Bulgarian context. In order to achieve this, two reliable sources wi ll be cited.Commenting on the issue of cultural belonging and religious identity of Muslims in Bulgaria, Kemal Karpat, a Turkish historian and researcher, states thatThe Muslim identity of these populations consisted outwardly of certain objective symbols and acts such as names and ritualsand at their place of origin they tended to identify themselves with Islam in terms of social behaviour, sort of than in terms of a political systemand possessed a supine communal Muslim identity (1990, pp. 131-132).In his The hijra from Russia and the Balkans the process of self-definition in the late Ottoman state, he argues that the largest population group in the area that is now Bulgaria, was the Muslim population group. In terms of spoken language, he endorses that they spoke Slavic (1990, pp.132-134).In his Turkish brutality in Bulgaria and in the Balkan Peninsula (2007, pp. 41-62), the known Bulgarian historian, researcher and writer Hristo Krasin, presents a different point of view to t hat of Kemal Karpat. He argues that all modern Bulgarian population has a strong Bulgarian ethnic origin and comprises of four groups. The first group consists of Bulgarians, who speak Bulgarian language and are Eastern Orthodox Christians. The second one consists of Bulgarians, who recognise themselves as Bulgarian speaking Muslims with Bulgarian or Turkish national identity.The third one consists of Bulgarian speaking Muslims, who recognise themselves as ethnic Turks because their Bulgarian national identity was partially erased over the centuries due to the aggressive assimilation politic of the Turkish Empire. The last group consists of Bulgarian individuals, who speak Bulgarian and Turkish languages. They recognise themselves as ethnic Turks, whose religions are Christianity and Islam and whose Bulgarian national identity was fully erased under centuries of Turkish Islamic brutality in Bulgaria.This classification of ethnic and religious groups only appears to be straightforwar d. In the context of the tricky ethic and religious relationships in Bulgaria and in the Balkans, nothing is ever simple. Hence, the purpose of this essay is not to involve the ratifier in a discussion of the suggested categorisation or its validity or reliability but to establish some clarity into the complicated issue of ethnicity and identity of the Bulgarian-speaking Muslims and their ethnic, cultural and national identity and self-perception. Subsequently, this paper will fix itself to the Bulgarian-speaking Muslims, further referred to as Bulgarian Muslims or Pomaks.Religious conversion Pomaks until 1878As it already beginning to emerge, the case of the Pomaks is complicated and a number of debates most it, display very strong positions and conflicting opinions. In order to apprize all points of view and in search for the truth, it is imperative to consider the historical background of the issue.The existence of closed Muslim societies in Bulgaria is the direct hereditary pattern of five centuries long Turkish rule over the Balkan Peninsula (Todorova, 1998, p.3). Even though there is no reliable data or figures to inform of population characteristics or major population shifts, some research has been done and there are number of existing theories that explain the size and grouping of Muslim population on the Peninsula. In his Turkish brutality in Bulgaria and in the Balkan Peninsula (2007, p. 23), Hristo Krasin has attempted to assess the character and the effects of these movements. He claims that there were not any significant population transfers from Anatolia to the Balkans between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries and that the military formation send to take the Peninsula over, comprised only of soldiers and there no women locomotion with the army.In her Identity (Trans) Formation among Bulgarian Muslims, Maria Todorova, a researcher from The University of California (1998, p.4) argues that the chief historiographical controversy centres o n the explanations for the sizeable Muslim population in the Balkans Colonisation versus Conversion theory. Furthermore, she suggests that by the sixteenth century the settler colonisation process had stopped and yet the percentage of Muslims in the region continued to grow. Thus, the hypothesis offered is that there were a great number of personal conversions to Islam among the non-Muslim population of the Balkans, respectively Bulgaria (Todorova, 1998, p.6).In addition, a whole range of reliable academic research and publications from Bulgarian and Turkish authors, such as Omer Barkan from Istanbul University, Elena Grozdanova from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, the Albanian historian Sami Pulaha (all cited in Todorova, 1998, pp. 2-5), refer to data to evidence rapid Muslim population growth in Bulgaria between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries due either colonisation or conversion.In an attempt to join this debate and in discussion of the concrete but complex case of the Bulgarian Muslims or Pomaks, it must be suggested here that although there is evidence to support both theories, the majority of all available sources, also supported by official documents and survived the time registers of the Ottoman empire, shape the idea that religious conversion on a massive carapace took place in Bulgaria and respectively in the Balkans (Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 1982, vol. 3-7). The question is how the conversion from Christianity to Islam was carried out and the answer to this question is directly connected with Pomaks self-identification as Muslims and therefore gives some light into their actions and behavioural characteristics as citizens of the Ottoman Empire until the 19th century and independent Bulgaria after that.To discuss the mode of the religious conversion of the Pomaks and emphasise its importance for the formation of their cultural identity and national belonging, it must be made clear here that conversion may go in one or more of thre e ways through voluntary association, by pressure, and by assimilation. Syncretism and strong cultural resistance can also complicate the conversion process (The Applied History Research group, 2000, pp.1-3).There is another raging debate in Bulgarian and Balkan historiographical research literature about the mode of Pomaks conversion to Islam and the co-existence of Bulgarian Christians and Bulgarian Muslims.On the one hand, there are these, who argue that the conversion was forced upon the Christian population of Bulgaria and over the centuries, and especially the seventeen century, there was a mass conversion to Islam in across the country and especially in the mountain Rodopi region. There is a huge amount of literature, both academic and journalistic, supported with reliable and substantial evidence that the alleged obligatory conversion took place. In his Genocide and Holocaust against Bulgarians (2006, p.63), Bulgarian academic historian and writer Georgi Voinov claims that t he systematic and focused compulsory conversion to Islam was one of the favourite methods of control and ruling in the Ottoman Empire, well known for its strong assimilation aspirations in order to promote pan-Turkism.To sustain his assertions, Voinov cites numerous sources, based on authentic literature, written by survivors or witnesses from fourteenth to eighteenth centuries. He also claims that there are official registers of the Ottoman Empire that had also captured those events and give objective information and statistics of all the atrocities that took place in the name of Islam and in order to erase Bulgarian national identity among the Bulgarian population (Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 1982, vol. 3-7).All abovementioned sources affirm that Islam in Bulgaria was not recognised voluntary but under duress. In the History Reader The Rodopi mountain through the centuries (1966, p. 78), Bulgarian historian Peter Petrov cites a source from the sixteenth century that talks of 32 5 thousand young Bulgarian youths forcefully converted to Islam and taken to Anatolia to commence military service in the Turkish army. Only the boys number was known, for the girls, no-one has ever known. It is claimed, that conversion took place in 1515 and under the command of Selim Pasha. There are also endless lists from administrative Ottoman registers reporting evidence that Islam was not accepted on voluntary basis. potbelly conversions took place in 1620, 1633, 1669, 1705, 1720, 1803, all of those through fire and sword, drowning in blood any resistance from the local Christian population (Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 1982, vol. 3-7).On the other hand, there are those academic writers and journalists, who for one reason or another and in an attempt to politicise the issue of Bulgarian Muslims, are nowadays trying to reassess historical events. Special attention is accustomed to the religious and cultural conversion in Bulgaria. In the recently publish second edition o f his book The Mohammedan Bulgarians (2007, pp. 5-12), Bulgarian researcher and writer Stojan Raichevski asserts that change to Islam was forced upon the Christian Bulgarians by the power of the sword to a minimal degree but there were many other, more important reasons and economic factors, that played a key role, such as preferential taxation and trading agreements for Muslims in the Empire, the greed of the Greek Orthodox clergy, the conflict between the Bogomils and the Orthodox Church, etc.In addition, Kemal Karpat comments that at the time when their land was conquered, the Slavic speaking Muslims were under the authority of their local feudal lords and accepted Islam as the new faith as it supposedly was close to their native faith of Bogomilism, a mixture of Christianity, paganism and Manichaeism. In doing so, they hoped to preserve their land holdings and ethnic identity.Furthermore, according to the Applied History Research group of the University of Calgary (2000, p.1), a lthough conversion by pressure cannot be termed voluntary, the degree of force and coercion varies greatly. Indeed, military conquest was typically followed by the application of subtler pressures, such as moneymaking(prenominal) or judicial sanctions, to enforce the requirement of the new rulers. Economic pressure was just as effective as an unrestrained military subjugation. thinking objectively and considering all points of view and available data, one does not inquiry here that many factors acted as an incentive to mass Islamic conversions in Bulgaria. What is interesting to communicate through this piece of work is that the combination of the different modes of conversion by voluntary association, by pressure, and by assimilation, was accompanied with syncretism that determined some degree of cultural adaptation. It did, in turn, also provoke robustious cultural resistance and martyrdom from a large part of the Christian population.Hence, here was the historical picture in B ulgaria. On the one hand, those Bulgarians, who surrendered their religion for one reason or another, became Bulgarian Muslims or Pomaks. They continued speaking Bulgarian language and the local area dialect, build their houses in Bulgarian architectural traditions, saved some elements of their old dress code, continued to recognise themselves as Bulgarians but built mosques, celebrated Eid and enjoyed preferential treatment from the Ottoman rulers.However, over the centuries they were exposed to the influences of their adopted Islamic religion and the aggressive pan-Turkism promoted in the Ottoman Empire and through blending of various aspects of different cultural customs and religious rituals or syncretism, somewhat new cultural arrangements took place. Bulgarian Muslims adapted culturally to the life in the Empire and although preserving their Slavic language and some sense of Bulgarian national identity, their levels of cultural adaptation reached much greater heights than thos e among the Christian Bulgarian population. Due to this fact and over the centuries, the Pomaks have tried to self-define themselves in terms of national conciseness and have become vulnerable to influences and an object of hatred or even political struggle.On the other hand, while Bulgarian Muslims were going through the process of cultural assimilation, the larger part of the Bulgarian population withstood the pressure, continued to take down their faith and traditions, regularly rebelled against the Turkish rulers and took part in more than cardinal military conquests against the Turks, led by different European rulers.All Bulgarian uprisings against the Ottoman Sultans, fourteen in total in Bulgaria itself (Voinov, 2006, p.26), were drowned in blood. What inevitably clarification here is one, not very well popularised fact Bulgarian Muslims took active part in the suppression and crushing of many of the rebellions. This, in turn, raises many questions, with one most imperativ e. What were the reasons that in the same ethnic population group, some of its members took the way of conversion and cultural adaptation but the others chose cultural resistance, martyrdom and self-martyrdom? How could these two groups live in relative peace under Ottoman rule but when an uprising against the Turks took place, Bulgarian Muslims ferociously and brutally attacked their Christian neighbours and fought on the side of the Turks, committing acts of unheard of cruelty and brutality? Their elaboration in the crushing of the April uprising of 1876 is notorious and it was described by the American writer and journalist Janarius Aloysius McGahan, who was one of the greatest war correspondents in the 19th century. In his American witness (2002, 3rd Ed.), Bulgarian historian Teodor Dimitrov has promulgated McGahans notes about the atrocities in Batak, Bulgaria, and they readWe spoke with many women, who had been through all stages of torture without the last one, death. The procedure, as it seemed, was the following the Turks would take a woman, undress her, putting aside her valuables, gang-rape her and the last one, who had her, would kill her or let her go, depending on his mood.What McGahan does not note here is that the Turks were not altogether in the slaughter of the rebels. They are aided by their helpers, the local Pomak population, Greeks and other small ethnic groups. Thus, Christian Bulgarians fought for freedom, while Muslim Bulgarians took part in the massacre of their uprising.What could have possibly provoked someone to behave in such a way? According to Doinov et al. (2001, p.112), the shown cruelty was an outburst of the deeply national and religious hatred against the oppressed nationalities in the Ottoman Empire, that has been prepare and encouraged for centuries by the ruling powers.However, something else was at work there too. Kemal Karpat (1990, p.136) explains that Balkan Muslims, although nutriment in a hostile Christian Eu ropean world, remained largely apolitical. However, their passive cultural-religious consciousness was easily converted to a dynamic Muslim identity when the circumstances required.Perhaps when Bulgarian Muslims were faced with an unconditional act of resistance in the most dramatic form suicide and self-martyrdom (2000, p.3), those acted as catalyst and the Pomaks replied with repression and brutality. Ekaterina Peychinova, Director of the Museum of History in Batak describes what drove the oppressors madFor three days and three nights the people inside the church held together, and the shooting after-school(prenominal) did not stop for a minute. At the end of the third day they gave in and opened the gates of the church. But then they had only two options either become Muslims or die. Every single one of them chose death. (cited in Ivanova, 2008, p.1)The horrific power of those events and the depth of feelings and emotions are overwhelming. Keeping in consciousness that Bulgaria n Christians and Bulgarian Muslims are from the same ethnic origin and the same blood flows in their veins, have religious and cultural conversion, syncretism and assimilation have changed the latter so much that they could commit such acts and have identity switch over, allowing for full degradation of human values?This essay does not have the ambitious goal to answer all those questions. History gives the answers and it will do the same here too. Many years have gone since those ghastly days and Pomaks sense of cultural identity and national belonging has evolved and changed again as Bulgarian Muslims themselves were at the receiving end of numerous assimilation governmental campaigns and strategies from 1878 until now.Cultural identity and national belonging of Bulgarian PomaksDue to the fact that the Bulgarian speaking Muslims took an active part in the suppressing the April uprising of 1876, they did not enjoy friendly treatment from their Christian neighbours. With the advance ment of the Russian armies in 1878, retaliation began and a substantial part of the Pomaks immigrated to the Ottoman empire, refusing to live under the rule of the giaurs or infidels. Many others took part in the Rodopi rise and lived in the so-called Pomak republic for about eight years until 1886, when the active villages were included in the Ottoman Empire but only until the Balkan wars (Todorva, 1998, p.9).Furthermore, in the Ottoman Population 1830-1914 (1985, p.78), Kemal Karpat cites Ottoman statistics, indicating that the total population of the Empire lift by about 40% in the period 1860-1878 due to arbitrary measures by Russia and Bulgaria. He mentions that among the Balkan migrants there were large groups of Slavic-speaking Bosnians, Herzegovinians, Montenegrins and Pomaks with a negative sense of ethnic identity, as they considered themselves as Muslims but not Osmanlis (Turks).Thus, judging by the actions of the Pomaks, the question that must be asked here is did th e Pomaks have a Turkish or Bulgarian cultural and national identity at the end of the nineteen and beginning of twentieth century and is it possible to differentiate between religious and ethnic belonging?The Pomaks, who immigrated to the Ottoman Empire, had their cultural identity politicised and defined as Muslim and Turkish under the influence of the local political and ethnic culture (Karpat, 1990, p.137).Unfortunately, the Pomaks, who stayed in Bulgaria, did not have the opportunity to make up for themselves freely because during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, they were subjected to a number of keen campaigns to accept and recognise them as part of the Bulgarian nation or narod, showtime from 1920-s and continuing until the mid-80-s. In 1942, the first ever mass attempt to change the names of the Bulgarian Muslims to Bulgarian names took place. It was a result of the work of the Pomaks own organisation, called Rodina or Motherland. Consisting mainly of teachers, Ro dina strove to improve the position of the Pomaks in Bulgarian society and to save them from the growing resentment and marginalisation.In the context of the troika Bulgarian Kingdom (1878 1944) and its nationalistic ambitions and assimilative tendencies, it is important to acknowledge here that Motherlands actions were justified in terms of seeking a national, cultural and linguistic unity of the Bulgarian society and the difficulties that the Pomaks could have faced, if tried to fit in that society. What is questionable here is the Pomaks desire to fit in. Although the Pomaks have, at that point, lost the very close contact with their original cultural authority, the Ottoman Empire, they were still in favour of their religious affiliation and were not willing to adapt to the fresh, language-based identity actively promoted by the modern Bulgarian state at that time (Todorova, 1998, p. 11).Another problem here is the attitude of the Christian Bulgarians, whose national consciousn ess was determined by religious and linguistic boundaries. Were they ready to forget the Ottoman rule and April 1876 and to accept the Pomaks as part of the Bulgarian nation and allow assimilation? Could adaptation and adoption take place and the complex issue of national identity, belonging and unity be resolved peacefully and erst and for all? What is better common national identity and national unity or multi-cultural society? During communist rule in the 1960-s, 1970-s and 1980-s, various Bulgarian governments tried to resolve the issue through numerous heavy-handed assimilation campaigns, when all Muslim names were changed to Bulgarian names, an attempt was made to form a united Bulgarian nation in order to dash off nationalistic ambitions and claims from neighbouring Turkey.After the democratic reforms from 1989, all ethnic and religious groups in Bulgaria gained the freedom to self-identify themselves and promote their national and religious distinctiveness. All Muslim name s were restored and seemingly the great effort to create a united Bulgarian national identity had ended.Hence, the national identity and cultural belonging of the Pomaks are somewhat fluid and non-defined, and the coming generations will have the chance to accomplish the process of integration or affiliation as they choose. It is, however, ultimate to accept the lessons of history and to abolish all attempts to forcefully create a single identity with identical religious or national characteristics. Cultural conversion through co-operation and co-existence is frequently welcome by small or commodious population groups, whilst conversion by pressure, conflict and aggressive assimilation is rejected and leads to confusion, hatred and frequently violent resistance.ConclusionIn conclusion, it must be recognised here that the case of Bulgarian Muslims or Pomaks is of complex character and the issue of defining their national identity and cultural belonging is still unresolved. There are many more questions to ask and answer and many more avenues to explore in order to establish which one of the national identity constituents is the most influential and possess the ultimate formative power.Consequently, it is the greatest regret of this work that it is impossible to analyse or develop fully all themes, ideas and debates in connection with the cultural identity, national belonging and self-perception of the Pomaks, when the number of words is restricted and there is lack of the research available. However, one scurvily hopes to have offered here, merely an attempt of discussion on the important issues of cultural and religious identity and how they shape the very centre of the human creation of self. Finally, it must be emphasised here that the writing of this essay has been a vast learning experience for the author, an opportunity to study, investigate and explore the world of Bulgarian Muslims and be taught lessons that put historical and contemporary events int o perspective.BibliographyBulgarian Academy of Sciences (1982). History of Bulgaria. Sofia BAN Press, vol. 3-7.Dimitrov, T. (2002). American witness. 3rd Ed. Geneva Geneva press.Doinov, D., Jechev, N. Kosev, K. (2001). The April uprising and the fate of the Bulgarian nation. Sofia Academic Press Professor Marin Drinov.Ivanova, M. (2008). St. Nedelya church in Batak. Available from http//www.pravoslavieto.com. (Accessed 12 April 2008).Karpat, K. (1985). Ottoman Population 1830-1914. Madison University of Wisconsin Press.Karpat, K. (1990). The hijra from Russia and the Balkans the process of self-definition in the late Ottoman state. In Eickelman, D. Piscatori, J. (Ed.). 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