Forced Turkish immigration from Bulgaria (1989) oral history study: Tekirdağ example

The aim of the research is to reveal the experiences of those who came to Turkey from Bulgaria with the Forced Turkish Migration (1989) before, during and after their migration to Turkey and what the support of the state and the people was after the migration.The reason for using the oral history method, one of the data collection tools of social sciences, in the research is that these people, who settled in Tekirdağ province with the 1989 Forced Turkish Migration and experienced the migration themselves, are still alive and their experiences are wanted to be recorded. A semi-structured interview form was prepared for the interviewees we included in the study from all districts of Tekirdağ. With open-ended questions, it was tried to reveal what difficulties the interviewees experienced in their social environment, education life, business life, religious and social life before migration, and the factors that influenced their decision to migrate. Then, information was collected about the difficulties they experienced during migration, the attitudes of state officials, and the properties left behind. We tried to reveal the difficulties they experienced after coming to Turkey within the framework of the questions we asked about the social environment, government support, public support and business life. In the introduction part of the research, the historical process of the Turkish presence in Bulgaria is discussed. In the first chapter, the purpose, importance and limitations of the research are stated. In the second part, oral history is explained. In the third chapter, migrations from Bulgaria to Turkey are included, in the fourth chapter, the method of the research, and in the fifth chapter, the findings of the oral history interviews conducted with the immigrants who settled in Tekirdağ province with the Forced Turkish Migration from Bulgaria (1989) are included. Keywords: Bulgaria, Oral History, Tekirdağ, Forced Migration.