Social, political and economic situation analysis of Turks living in Bulgaria

Bulgaria has a structure with different ethnic elements. The country, which remained under Ottoman rule for many years, was influenced by the policy of Turkification of the Balkans and was home to the Turkish population with the Turks settling in the region. The history of the Bulgarian Turks in Bulgaria covers a long period. With the withdrawal of Ottoman rule from the Balkans, the Turks in the region did not completely leave the territory of Bulgaria despite the migrations and continue their presence in Bulgaria today. In this dissertation, it was aimed to evaluate the social, political and economic situation of Turks living in Bulgaria from the socialist period to the present day. For this purpose, the historical background and current status of the Bulgarian Turks within the framework of the themes of migration, education, religion, politics and economy were presented in comparison with the socialist period and after the socialist period. In the dissertation, field research was conducted with an in-depth interview in the province of Kardzhali, where Turks live extensively in Bulgaria. The study was completed by literature review and analysis of data from field research. In the conclusion part of the study, the situation of the Bulgarian Turks was interpreted in accordance with the main themes of the thesis and evaluations were made.