Selected Muslim Historic Monuments and Sites in Bulgaria (original) (raw)

From Communism to Democracy: Muslim Identities in Bulgaria

Paper presented at a Symposium, "Islam: From Eastern Europe to Central Asia," at the University of Illinois-Urbana, June 22, 2002.

Nationalists everywhere consider the existence of multiple ethnic, religious, and linguistic minorities within the same state undesirable. To them, cultural diversity is a threat to the stability and integrity of the nation-state. Therefore, they seek ways to culturally homogenize the nation so that the state and nation come to coincide with one another.

ISLAM AND SECULARISM IN BULGARIA

Islam and Human Rights in the European Union / Islam et droits de l’homme dans l’Union européenne, 2022

Today, the transnationalization of Muslim identities marks certain processes of convergence observed against the backdrop of the otherwise predominant diversity in Southeastern Europe. This does not mean that religious communities are “monolithic” or altogether bound up to a “fixed” identity. Identities remain multiple but their religious component among Muslims gains an increased public significance. Developments in Bulgaria and the Balkans, as well as some major debates around the application of the sharīʻa, such as the hijab controversies, signal that such homogenizing forces are at work. For Muslims in the post-1989 period, the transnationalization of religious experience, the ease of travel, internet, Facebook and Twitter have fostered a different type of a higher level of belonging to the global Muslim community – the umma. More mainstream, observant Muslims are increasingly abandoning local syncretic practices and seek to share the universal, core beliefs and rituals with their coreligionists in Turkey, the Middle East, and Western Europe. These dynamic processes challenge, transform and reshape the implicit pattern of secularism in Bulgaria and elsewhere.

Balkan Affairs: Turkish and Saudi Influence on Bulgarian Muslims

The Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs at Georgetown University, 2020

Turkey and Saudi Arabia have been the main theo-political actors competing for influence among Bulgarian Muslims in the post-communist context. Both countries have sponsored worship, educational, and publication activities, but Turkey casts its efforts as an attempt to preserve the moderate tradition of the Muslim community in the face of Middle Eastern extremism. The Saudis, on the other hand, promote Wahhabi doctrine as the embodiment of "true" Islam. The superficial dichotomy between "liberal" Turkish Islam and "conservative" Saudi influence, however, is misleading, since both iterations of contemporary Islamic belief and practice are stricter than the local tradition. The question of foreign influence aside, such comparison does not imply that a more conservative ritual is always problematic. Overt religious practice comes also against the backdrop of historical and ongoing discrimination against Muslims in Bulgaria and their aspirations for greater freedom of religion.

Cultural and Historical Sites in the North-Eastern Socio-Economic Region of Bulgaria

2013

Bulgaria, regarded as the eastern end of the European Union, coexists with other member countries in the European family. Bulgaria has explicitly and repeatedly stated and defended their belonging to this, which makes the tourist map of Europe "extends" to the East, while providing opportunities to our country for its future development. In this presentation we put the focus on cultural - cognitive dimension of Northeast Bulgaria. Being apparently a periphery, this region has features that ensure both its presence in the Bulgarian cultural space, as in Europe, particularly in historical, cultural and social terms. The cultural sites in Northeast Bulgaria, which arouse some interest to the tourist level, demonstrate the importance of the region nationally. The Northeast Bulgaria is certainly an appealing area to develop tourism. Is indistinguishable from local to national level (strongly marked by patriotism), does not enjoy priority in the media space as loaded, but has, h...

Islam, Christianity, and Secularism in Bulgaria and Eastern Europe

Islam, Christianity, and Secularism in Bulgaria and Eastern Europe: The Last Half Century, 2022

Is there a “return of the religious” in post-Communist Eastern Europe vis-à-vis the West and the Middle East? Looking beyond immediate events, "Islam, Christianity, and Secularism in Bulgaria and Eastern Europe" situates the developments and public talk about religion in the longue durée of two entangled pasts implicitly underpinning modern politics – Byzantine and Ottoman. The book amplifies Bulgaria and its region to indicate unnoticed entanglements with the Middle East and Russia in shaping patterns of religion and identity. Evoking Byzantine and Ottoman concepts to grasp secularism and modern political imagination, the chapters unfold alternative but overlapping and complementary views of ethno-religious belonging and communal anticipation among Orthodox Christians and Muslims.

Turkish Religious Identity in Bulgaria in the Last Twenty-Four Years (1989–2013)

Sator, 2017

The article is focused on the religious identity of the Turkish minority in Bulgaria during the last 24 years presented in three main trends: the process of re-Islamization or revitalization of Islam, rejection of religion as an ideology (atheistic ideas), and situational attitude related to the manifestation or hidden religious beliefs and behaviour according to the given situation or interlocutor. The contemporary Turkish confessional identity could be understandable in light of the communist past and the so called "Revival process". Even though there was a strong process of "re-Islamization" after 1989, the majority of Turks in Bulgaria are secularly disposed. The fundamental reason for this is the atheistic attitude of the post-modern Bulgarian society as a whole. The overlapping of ethnic and religious identity is primary for the representatives of that minority. The primordial markers such as ethnic origin and cultural traditions are more important than global "Umma".