Years Later, Bulgarian Turks Forced to Migrate Cannot Erase the Scars of Painful Days
Years Later, Bulgarian Turks Forced to Migrate Cannot Erase the Scars of Painful Days
Those who fled Bulgaria’s assimilation policy toward Turks between 1984 and 1989 through “forced migration” to Turkey still cannot forget the pain they experienced, even after all these years.
Thirty-six years have passed since 350,000 Turks were forced to migrate to Turkey from Bulgaria due to various pressures.
Sebile Vatansever Ünalan, a 65-year-old mother of three who migrated with her family from Shumen to Turkey on August 16, 1989, shared her experiences from that period.
Stating that they endured difficult times but could not resist, Ünalan said they were happy to have come to Turkey thanks to then-Prime Minister Turgut Özal.
Emphasizing that they were thinking about their children’s future, she said:
“Circumcision was banned. Every 15 days, children were checked. If you circumcised your child, the parents were sent to the Belene camp. No one who went there ever returned alive or dead; they were killed. They may have taken our names, but they couldn't take our blood. We know who we are, but we feared that our children might be assimilated. That blood still runs in us, but we had deep sorrow. Thank God we saved ourselves and came here. We endured very hard days until we arrived.”
She explained that she lost her job as an agricultural technician because she joined protests to defend their rights, was given the name “Silviya,” and that even the names of the deceased were changed:
“We didn’t go just once or twice for the name change. They had already done it themselves — they’d bring the documents ready and ask for a signature. They changed everyone’s names themselves. It was especially hard for the elderly. I worked under a Bulgarian name. Hearing that name broke your spirit. As soon as we arrived in Turkey, we reclaimed our Turkish names. Seeing the Bulgarian name on an ID made your heart bleed, but you couldn’t say anything — if you spoke, soldiers would take you away. I had young children — what could I do?”
“The moment I arrived in Turkey, the world was mine”
Ünalan said that after a while, the border gates were opened:
“We couldn’t bring anything when we came — just one suitcase. I had a 6-year-old and 1.5-year-old twins. We packed a few clothes and some baby food, and that’s how we came. The moment I arrived in Turkey, the world was mine. I didn’t care about wealth or property. I said, ‘My children first.’ When I saw the sign ‘Welcome to Turkey,’ I broke down in tears of joy.
On the bus, a Bulgarian officer said, ‘You resisted too much. You’ll see — you won’t find in Turkey what you had in Bulgaria.’ But we found much better here.”
She shared that they were welcomed in Edirne by Prime Minister Turgut Özal and his wife Semra Özal, and later joined relatives in Sakarya.
Pointing out that their freedoms were restricted in Bulgaria, Ünalan said:
“Wearing colorful clothes, traditional trousers, and headscarves was banned. Only single-colored clothing was allowed. There was no freedom — everything was restricted. In Turkey, there is freedom, abundance, and prosperity. We couldn’t find oil or sugar there — you had to wait in line and they’d give it by weight. Here, if you have money, you can buy as much as you want. Over there, even when we had money, we were oppressed.”
Ünalan said that being buried in the same cemeteries as Bulgarians deeply upset them and added:
“We said: ‘Open the way. Let those who want to go, go; those who don’t, stay.’ They opened the way to Kardzhali first, then to our area. They took our passports — we had to pay a sack of money to get them back. Those who helped out were given passports. What else could we do? We just wanted to get ourselves to Turkey.”
“The pain we lived through is beyond words”
Abdullah Deniz, a 64-year-old resident of Kocaeli, also migrated to Turkey with his wife and three children.
Deniz said he could never forget the 4-5 years of assimilation they endured before 1989:
“The persecution we suffered for four years before 1989 is beyond words. They banned everything — first our mosques, then our use of Turkish, our religious gatherings, circumcisions, even funerals…
Young people weren’t allowed into mosques. Speaking Turkish earned you fine after fine. What we experienced and the pain we lived through can’t be described. Those 4-5 years were incredibly hard.”
He shared that during the name change period, the police detained him and five others from his village:
“During the name change period, we were interrogated on charges of inciting the public. Allegedly, one of us had gunpowder because we worked in the mines — someone reported us. Thank God they didn’t imprison us, but they beat us.
Still, I never carried a Bulgarian identity. I’d go to the local office and say, ‘I lost my passport,’ and they’d give me a document. I used that instead. I couldn’t bear carrying a passport with a Bulgarian name. The Bulgarian name was too heavy for us. When our grandmothers died, there were no imams, no Islamic rites. But thank God, we did everything secretly — even sacrificed animals in hiding. We did everything our ancestors taught us.
After the Feast of Sacrifice, they would inspect homes. If they found meat, they’d ask, ‘Where did you get this meat? Did you slaughter an animal?’ That’s the kind of persecution we lived through. In our neighborhood, 2–3 friends who circumcised their sons served one year in prison each.”
Deniz also spoke about the migration process to Turkey:
“Thank God for Turkey. Thank God the Republic of Turkey embraced us. We’re so glad we came and escaped that persecution, bringing our children under this flag. Of course, those who stayed behind are still our brothers and sisters. For example, if there’s an election, we go vote to help elect a Turkish member of parliament. We do whatever we can to support our people there.”