a Turks
Their population is 1.2000.000 and they live in the cities such as: :Sofia, Şumnu, Kırcaali, Filibe, Dobruca, Varna, Rusçuk, Silistre, Plevne, Tınova, Sofia.
History
The Bulgarians who emigrated from the steppes of the Eastern Russia due to various reasons in the beginning of the 7th century and settled in the Balkan Peninsula were actually rooted from Turks. However, they were assimilated by the Slav nations in the region to which they immigrated in due course and most of them became Slav people in respect of their cultural identity. Nevertheless, Turks have always been a minority within the general population.
Population
In 1940, Bulgaria obtained Dobruca in which the Turkish population constitutes the majority and there has not been any change in the borders from that date on. There are two Turkish minorities apart from the Turks that speak the Turkish language in the region of Dobruca. These are the Tatar and Gagavuz people who are composed of nearly 7 thousands of people. Bulgarians have always tried to assimilate the minorities in the country; it prohibited the usage of Turkish names in the years of 1984-1985 and forced the Turkish people to migration. Turks reacted to this incident; however, nearly 160.000 Turks immigrated to Turkey in the year of 1989. In the following years, this number reached to 300 thousands. After the year 1985, the Turks that stayed in Bulgaria obtained the rights and freedoms of the Bulgarian citizens in some fields. According to the data obtained from the census in 1965, Turks constituted 10 % of the general population with their approximate number of 850 thousands. According to the census in 1985, the Turkish population reached nearly to 1.600 thousands. Under these circumstances, Turks constituted 15% of the general population. The Turkish people were the most crowded minority in Bulgaria with their density of population. The migrations that took place after the year of 1989 decreased this number. The means of subsistence pertaining to the most of the population are the agriculture and stockbreeding.
Migrations
Balkan Turks have continuously immigrated to Turkey since the year of 1940. The numbers of the people who came to Turkey were 140 thousands of people until 1944, 155 thousands of people in the years of 1950-1951, and 130 thousands of people in the year of 1978. The number of the immigrants was about 160 thousands of people in the year of 1989. Pursuant to these migrations, the Bulgarian Turks have resided in the rural areas.
Political Existence
After 1993, the Party of Rights and Freedoms took its place in the Bulgarian Parliament in Bulgaria and it obtained 15 members of parliament as the third political power. There are still 27 Mayors, and 654 village chiefs that are Turks in the region. The State supervises the religious institutions and orientates the religious studies.
In the course of the elections carried out in 2001, the aforesaid party obtained 30 members of parliament and became a strong political power in Bulgaria.
Education
The education is under the state control in Bulgaria. The Turkish language spoken in the country is much closer to Turkish spoken in Turkey. While Turkish was taught as an educational language in the minority schools in the first years, it was then abrogated from the curriculums (1960). While 15 percent of Turks attended to schools in 1939, this rate increased to 97 percent in the year of 1957. After the year of 1993, the Turkish education was restarted again. The Turkish broadcast has been initiated in the Bulgarian National Radio and a Turkish newspaper called as Filiz Gazetesi (Newspaper of Shoots) has been published.