Editing Pomaks (section)

== Origins ==
Their precise origin has been interpreted differently by Bulgarian, Greek and Turkish historians,<ref>Fred de Jong, "The Muslim Minority in Western Thrace", in Georgina Ashworth (ed.), ''Muslim Minorities in the Eighties'', Sunbury, Quartermaine House Ltd., 1980, p.95</ref><ref>Vemund Aarbakke, The Muslim Minority of Greek Thrace, University of Bergen, Bergen, 2000, pp.5 and 12 (pp. 27 and 34 in the pdf file). {{Cite web| url=http://www.batitrakya.org/makaleler/doc_download/18-the-muslim-minority-of-greek-thrace.html | title=The muslim minority of Greek Thrace | access-date=7 February 2016 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120423082118/http://www.batitrakya.org/makaleler/doc_download/18-the-muslim-minority-of-greek-thrace.html | archive-date=23 April 2012}}</ref><ref>Olga Demetriou, "Prioritizing 'ethnicities': The uncertainty of Pomak-ness in the urban Greek Rhodoppe", in ''Ethnic and Racial Studies'', Vol. 27, No. 1, January 2004, pp.106–107 (pp. 12–13 in the pdf file). [https://web.archive.org/web/20110904202442/http://www.azinlikca.net/pdfs/thesis/The_uncertainty_of_Pomakness_in_the_urban_Greek_Rhodoppe.pdf]</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Brunnbauer, Ulf|title=Ethnologia Balkanica|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-7nX6hv6k8AC|volume=3|year=1999|publisher=LIT Verlag Münster|pages=38–49|chapter=Diverging (Hi-)Stories: The Contested Identity of the Bulgarian Pomaks|id=GGKEY:X5ZYCWAEE9A}}</ref><ref name="MartikainenMapril2019">{{cite book|last1=Martikainen|first1=Tuomas|last2=Mapril|first2=José|last3=Khan|first3=Adil Hussain|title=Muslims at the Margins of Europe: Finland, Greece, Ireland and Portugal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g8CnDwAAQBAJ|year=2019|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-40456-4|page=133|chapter=Nation-state, Citizenship and Belonging: A Socio-historical Exploration of the Role of Indigenous Islam in Greece}}</ref> but it is generally considered they are descendants of native [[Eastern Orthodox]] [[Bulgarians]],<ref>{{cite book|author=Richard V. Weekes|title=Muslim peoples: a world ethnographic survey|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aVdIAAAAMAAJ|year=1984|publisher=Greenwood Pr.|isbn=978-0-313-23392-0|page=612}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Ethnic Politics in Eastern Europe: A Guide to Nationality Policies, Organizations, and Parties| date=1994 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m_AcqFSfvzAC&pg=PA243|publisher=M.E. Sharpe|isbn=978-0-7656-1911-2|pages=243–}}</ref> and [[Paulicians]] who also previously converted to Orthodoxy and Catholicism, who converted to Islam during the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] rule of the [[Balkans]].<ref>Любен Каравелов. Мемоари. Павликяни и семейният бит на българите. ([[Lyuben Karavelov]]. Memoirs. Paulicians and the family life of the Bulgarians). http://www.znam.bg/com/action/showBook?bookID=979&elementID=935883124&sectionID=5</ref><ref name="Selian">{{cite journal |author=Edouard Selian|title= The Descendants of Paulicians: the Pomaks, Catholics, and Orthodox|journal= Academia.edu|date= January 2020|url=https://www.academia.edu/6730269}}</ref><ref name="Ivanov">{{cite book | title= Богомилски книги и легенди|last= Ivanov|first = Йордан|publisher= (Bulgarian language) С., 1925 (фототипно изд. С., 1970), с. 36 (Jordan. Bogomil Books and Legends, Sofia, 1925, p. 36: or in: Ivanov, Ĵ. Bogomil Books and Legends. Paris, Maisonneuve et Larose, 1976}}</ref><ref name="Apostolov2018">{{cite book|last=Apostolov|first=Mario|title=Religious Minorities, Nation States and Security: Five Cases from the Balkans and the Eastern Mediterranean|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6MVKDwAAQBAJ|year=2018|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-351-78441-2}}</ref> Information through Ottoman and Catholic missionaries reports supports this theory.<ref name="Selian"/><ref>Archimandrite Nikodemos Anagnostopoulos, Orthodoxy and Islam: Theology and Muslim–Christian Relations in Modern Greece and Turkey, Culture and Civilization in the Middle East, Taylor & Francis, 2017, {{ISBN|9781315297927}}, p. 128.</ref>

=== Genetic studies ===
A specific [[DNA]] [[mutation]], HbO, which emerged about 2,000 years ago on a rare [[haplotype]] is characteristic of the Greek Pomaks. Its frequency increased as a consequence of high [[genetic drift]] within this population. This indicates that the Greek Pomaks are an isolated population with limited contacts with their neighbours.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.haematologica-thj.org/cgi/reprint/90/2/255.pdf |title=HbO-Arab mutation originated in the Pomak population of Greek Thrace, Haematologica, Vol 90, Issue 2, 255–257, 2005 by Ferrata Storti Foundation |access-date=19 October 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081031112840/http://www.haematologica-thj.org/cgi/reprint/90/2/255.pdf |archive-date=31 October 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |url=https://www.academia.edu/38456259|title=The origin of Greek Pomaks is based on HbO-Arab mutation history|year=2006|journal=Haema|volume=9|issue=3|pages=380–394|access-date=27 February 2009}}</ref> A 2014 study also confirmed high homozygosity and according to MDS analysis the Greek Pomaks cluster among European populations, near the general Greek population.<ref>{{Cite journal|author1=Panoutsopoulou K |author2=Hatzikotoulas K |author3=Xifara DK |display-authors=etal|title=Genetic characterization of Greek population isolates reveals strong genetic drift at missense and trait-associated variants|journal=Nat Commun|year=2014|volume=5|issue=5345|pages=5345 |doi=10.1038/ncomms6345|pmid=25373335 |pmc=4242463 |bibcode=2014NatCo...5.5345P }}</ref>