Editing Pomaks (section)

== History ==
Pomaks are today usually considered descendants of native Orthodox Bulgarians and [[Paulicians]] who converted to [[Islam]] during the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] rule of the [[Balkans]]. They started to become Muslim gradually, from the Ottoman occupation (early 15th century) to the end of the 18th century. Subsequently, these people became part of the Muslim community of the [[millet system]]. At that time people were bound to their millets by their religious affiliations (or their [[confessional community|confessional communities]]), rather than their ethnic origins, according to the ''millet'' concept.<ref name="Ortayli 2006 89-8">Ortaylı, İlber. ''"Son İmparatorluk Osmanlı (The Last Empire: Ottoman Empire)"'', İstanbul, Timaş Yayınları (Timaş Press), 2006. pp. 87–89. {{ISBN|975-263-490-7}} {{in lang|tr}}.</ref>

A monk [[Pachomios Roussanos]] (1508–1553), who visited the mountain area of [[Xanthi (regional unit)|Xanthi]], mentioned that around 1550 only six or nine villages had turned to Islam.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://portal.kathimerini.gr/4dcgi/_w_articles_ecom1_1_01/10/2009_300180|title=Greek newspaper "Kathimerini", Column "Exploring the Pomak villages", Athens 12 December 2009|access-date=26 April 2019|archive-date=18 July 2012|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120718024219/http://portal.kathimerini.gr/4dcgi/_w_articles_ecom1_1_01/10/2009_300180|url-status=bot: unknown}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://natpresh.blogspot.com/2009/09/1.html|title=NATPRESH: 1. Η προφορική παράδοση των Πομάκων της Ροδόπης|date=6 September 2009}}</ref> Furthermore{{clarify|date=July 2014}} the documents{{which|date=July 2014}} show that not only had Islam spread to the area at that time, but that the Pomaks had participated in Ottoman military operations voluntarily as is the case with the village of Shahin ([[Echinos]]).<ref>{{cite book |last=Tsvetkova |first=Bistra |script-title=bg:Турски извори за българската история. Том 3:2 |title=Turski izvori za bŭlgarskata istoriya. Tom 3:2 |trans-title=Turkish sources for Bulgarian history. Volume 3:2 |year=1972 |publisher=Българска академия на науките |location=София |language=bg |pages=416 |oclc=405458491 |isbn=978-0-439-01834-0}}</ref>

In North Central Bulgaria (the regions of Lovech, Teteven, Lukovit, Byala Slatina)<ref>{{cite web|last=Gozler |first=Kemal |title=Les villages pomaks de Lovca |publisher=Publishing House of the Turkish Historical Society |location=Ankara |date=2001 |url=http://www.kemalgozler.com/villages-pomaks-de-lofca.pdf}}</ref> the Ottoman authorities requested in 1689, after the [[Chiprovtsi Uprising]], for military reasons{{clarify|date=July 2014}} Bulgarian [[Paulicians]] (heterodox Christian sect) to convert to one of the officially recognized religions in the Ottoman Empire{{citation needed|date=July 2014}}. One part of them became the ''Bulgarian-[[Christians]]'' by converting to Ottoman recognized Christian denominations, either the [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Eastern Orthodox Christian Church]] or the [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholic Church]], while the other part converted to [[Islam]] and began to be called ''Pomaks''.<ref name="Selian"/> So, in North Central Bulgaria Pomaks became those of Bulgarian Christian heretics, for which it was unacceptable or impossible to convert to the Eastern Orthodox Christian because of dogmatic, economic, family or other reasons.{{clarify|date=March 2022}}<ref name="Ivanov"/>

[[File:Ethnographic map of European Turkey from 1877 by Carl Sax.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Ethnographic map of European Turkey from the late 19th century, showing the regions largely populated by Pomaks in brown.]]
The mass turn to Islam in the Central [[Rhodope Mountains]] happened between the 16th and the 17th century. According to the Codes of Bishop of [[Philippopolis (Thrace)|Philippoupolis]] and the [[Czechs|Czech]] historian and [[Slavic studies|slavicist]] [[Konstantin Josef Jireček]] in the middle of the 17th century, some Bulgarian provosts agreed to become Muslim en masse. They visited the [[Ottoman Turks|Ottoman]] local administrator to announce their decision, but he sent them to the Greek bishop of Philippoupolis Gabriel (1636–1672). The bishop could not change their mind. According to the verbal tradition of the [[Greeks]] of Philippoupolis{{citation needed|date=July 2014}}, a large ceremony of mass [[circumcision]] took place in front of the old mosque of the city, near the Government House. After that, the villagers became Muslim, too. According to the verbal tradition{{clarify|date=July 2014}} of the Bulgarians, [[Grand Vizier]] [[Köprülü Mehmed Pasha]] (1656–1661) threatened the Bulgarians of [[Chepino Valley]] that he would execute them if they didn't turn to Islam{{citation needed|date=July 2014}}. In 1656, Ottoman military troops entered the Chepino valley and arrested the local Bulgarian provosts, in order to transfer them in the local Ottoman administrator{{clarify|date=July 2014}}{{citation needed|date=July 2014}}. There, they converted to Islam. Grand Vizier Mehmed Köprülü, after the mass Islamization, destroyed 218 churches and 336 chapels in these areas{{citation needed|date=July 2014}}. A lot of Bulgarians preferred to die instead of becoming Muslim.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://natpresh.blogspot.com/2009/09/6.html|title=NATPRESH: 6. Λαϊκές παραδόσεις, παροιμίες και αινίγματα των Πομάκων|date=6 September 2009}}</ref><ref>M. G. Varvounis ''Folk tales of Pomaks in Thrace'', Athens 1996</ref> According to recent investigations the theory of forced conversion to Islam, supported by some scientists, has no solid grounds with all or most evidence being faked or misinterpreted. At the same time, the sincerity of the convert is a subject to suspicion and interrogation. Some authors for example, explain the mass conversions that occurred in the 17th century with the tenfold increase of the [[Jizya]] tax.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Горчева |first=Даниела |date=1 February 2009 |title=Балканите: съжителство на вековете |journal=Либерален Преглед |issue=21 |url=http://www.librev.com/index.php/bg/component/content/article/article/23-discussion-bulgaria/457-2009-06-16-06-32-51 |language=bg |access-date=12 December 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100830204222/http://www.librev.com/index.php/bg/component/content/article/article/23-discussion-bulgaria/457-2009-06-16-06-32-51 |archive-date=30 August 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Тодорова |first=Мария |date=4 February 2009 |title=Ислямизацията като мотив в българската историография, литература и кино |journal=Либерален Преглед |issue=21 |url=http://www.librev.com/index.php/bg/component/content/article/article/23-discussion-bulgaria/460-2009-06-16-06-32-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201202130144/http://www.librev.com/index.php/bg/component/content/article/article/23-discussion-bulgaria/460-2009-06-16-06-32-27 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2 December 2020 |language=bg |access-date=12 December 2009 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-7nX6hv6k8AC&dq=Pomaks&pg=PA47|title=Ethnologia Balkanica|publisher=LIT Verlag Münster|via=Google Books}}</ref> Muslim communities prospered under the Ottoman Empire, as the Sultan was also the [[Ottoman Caliphate|Caliph]]. Ottoman law did not recognize such notions as [[ethnicity]] or [[citizenship]]; thus, a Muslim of any ethnic background enjoyed precisely the same rights and privileges.

[[File:Tuhovishta's Mosque(363).jpg|thumb|right|150px|Tuhovishta's Mosque]]
Meanwhile, the perception of the ''[[Millet (Ottoman Empire)|millet]]'' concept was altered{{clarify|date=July 2014}} during the 19th century and rise of nationalism within the [[Ottoman Empire]] begun. After the [[Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878)]], Pomaks in the [[Vacha (river)|Vacha]] valley, apprehensive of retribution for their role in the bloody suppression of the [[April Uprising]] two years earlier, rebelled against [[Eastern Rumelia]] and established an autonomous state, called [[Republic of Tamrash]]. In 1886 the Ottoman government accepted the Bulgarian rule over Eastern Rumelia and that was the end of the free Pomak state. During the [[Balkan Wars]], at 16 August 1913, an Islamic revolt begun in the [[Eastern Rhodopes]] and [[Western Thrace]]. On 1 September 1913, the "[[Republic of Gumuljina|Provisional Government of Western Thrace" (Garbi Trakya Hukumet i Muvakkatesi)]] was established in [[Komotini]]. The Ottoman administration didn't support the rebels and finally under the neutrality of Greek and Ottoman governments, Bulgaria took over the lands on 30 October 1913. The rebels requested support by the Greek state and put Greek major in [[Alexandroupoli]].{{clarify|date=March 2022}}<ref>in Turkish: Biyiklioglou Tevfik, "Trakya' da millî mücadele" Ankara 1956</ref><ref>in German: Peter Soustal, "Thrakien (Thrake, Rodope und Haimimontos)" Wienn 1991</ref><ref>in Greek: General Administration of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, "Thrace" Komotini 1994</ref><ref>in Turkish: Aydinli Ahmet, "Bati Trakya faciasinin icyuzu" Istanbul 1972</ref> Bulgaria, after a brief period of control over the area, passed the sovereignty of Western Thrace at the end of World War I. The Provisional Government was revived between 1919 and 1920 under French protectorate (France had annexed the region from Bulgaria in 1918) before Greece took over in June 1920.

After the [[dissolution of the Ottoman Empire]] following the First World War, the religious ''millet'' system disappeared and the members of the Pomak groups today declare a variety of ethnic identities, depending predominantly on the country they live in.{{clarify|date=March 2022}}