Abstract:

The Bulgarian Communist Party leaders launched a major campaign in December 1984 to change their names by hard use of Turks, which account for approximately 10% of the total population in the country within twenty days. The Bulgarian government, by denying the Turkish existence in Bulgaria with this campaign, wanted to turn Bulgaria into a homogeneous nation in which only Bulgarians live. The forced name change campaign was first launched in the areas where the Turkish people lived intensely in southern Bulgaria and very shortly after that the name change of all the Turkish people living in central and northern Bulgaria was completed. During the campaign, requests were signed to the Turks declaring that they voluntarily accept the application of forced change of name. The Turks who did not want to sign the requests and resist the Bulgarian Communist Party officials were thrown into prisons or gathering camps, where they were subjected to severe harassment and torture. The Turkish public could only be aware of the events in Bulgaria in January 1985. The Turkish press, after this date, was able to draw the attention of the public to the persecution that the Turkish people in Bulgaria experienced, by bringing on their pages the injustices and persecutions that the Bulgarian Turkish people experienced. In this process, immigrant associations founded in Turkey in the previous years made various visits to inform the suffering of their relatives living in Bulgaria to government officials and political parties and played a very important role in gaining the support of the Turkish public. The government followed a cautious policy on what was happening in Bulgaria in the first days and intended to resolve the issue by negotiating with the government without moving it to the ground of struggle. However, after Bulgaria continued to deny its discreet attitude and Turkish presence in its country, Turkey began efforts to solve this problem by bringing it to international platforms.

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