Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
The ethno-cultural specifics of Turkish population, together with the mountain-
ous features of the region, the lack of a significant urban (industrial) center and
urbanization level, determine the lower migration rate of Turks, compared to that of
Bulgarians. Unlike Turks, ethnic Bulgarians emigrated out of the region much more
intensively and as a result, the decrease rate of their population number was three
times higher than that of Turks. All that led to growing shares of Turks in all munic-
ipalities in the region—with more than 5% points in Ruen and Byala municipalities,
and with more than 10% points in the municipalities of Sungurlare, Dolni Chiflik,
Dalgopol, and Pomorie in the period between 1965 and 1992. This trend, although
not so strong, continued in the next decade.
The Eastern Stara planina region was not quite affected by Turkish emigration
in the second sub-period (1992-2001) and again, unlike other parts of the country,
the decrease in number of Turks was insignificant. In the beginning of the 21st
century the ethnic Turks in the region were 80,830. In the different municipalities,
the rates of population number change were different—between -2% in Varbitsa
municipality and +3.6% in Dolni Chiflik municipality. The Turks decreased their
number in those municipalities, where they were the largest ethnic group—Ruen,
Omurtag, and Varbitsa, while in the rest of the region their number grew. However,
because of the decrease in number of Bulgarians, the share of Turks kept rising, as
well as their spreading across the region. A specific feature of Turkish distribution
in Bulgaria is their traditional concentration in rural settlements. Those were home
for nearly 90% of Turks in the region by 2001.
In the beginning as well as at the end of the discussed period, more than half
of the Turks in the region lived in just two municipalities—Ruen and Omurtag.
Through the whole period, the concentration of Turks decreases as their distribu-
tion eastward becomes more and more even across the area of the region. By the
end of the observed period, their number grew significantly in the municipalities of
Pomorie, Nesebar, Dalgopol, Dolni Chiflick, and Sungurlare, which in some cases
led to dramatic change of the ethnic structure of their population.
A typical feature of the municipalities populated predominantly by ethnic Turks
(Ruen, Omurtag, and Varbitsa) is the existence of many entirely Turkish villages,
which constitute 2/3 of all settlements in those municipalities. In the majority of
those settlements, the number of population remains almost unchanged compared
to the beginning of the discussed period. That group of villages is the strongest in
its range and broadens by including other villages, in which Bulgarians used to live,
but eventually left or passed away. Along with the group of entirely Turkish villages,
there is another quite significant group of mixed settlements, in which the population
is predominantly Turkish. Unlike the previous group however, in this second group
the number of Turks declined through the discussed period, but at the same time the
number of that type of villages actually grew.
In the municipalities, where the majority of the population is Bulgarian, the
villages with entirely Turkish population are rare, although such villages do
exist. However, in the predominantly Bulgarian municipalities, the main part of
the Turkish population inhabits mixed, bi-ethnic (Bulgarian-Turkish or Turkish-
Bulgarian) settlements. In the majority of those, the number and share of Turks grew
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