İsmail Niyazi Efendi from Osmanpazarı and his mawlid

The identities of the Turks who have been living in Bulgaria for centuries have been shaped by Islamic culture. Thanks to the Turkish-Islamic culture, which became widespread on the territory of Bulgaria during the Ottoman period, the Bulgarian Turks attach a special meaning to reading, teaching, listening and writing the mawlid, which is one of the indicators of the love of the Prophet Muhammad that exists in their spiritual structures. As the Bulgarian Turks became a minority as a result of the Russo-Turkish War, the mawlid tradition played and continues to play a very important role in protecting, sustaining and nurturing their national and spiritual values, religion, language and culture. Because the Prophet Muhammad and the mawlid dedicated to him have become an important element of the identity of Bulgarian Turks over time. İsmail Niyazi Efendi from Osmanpazarı (Omurtag), who was influential in continuing the mawlid tradition in Bulgaria during the Ottoman period, left a permanent mark on transferring this culture to the next generations by encouraging the mawlid and especially by writing a mawlid work for it. Even though the mawlid he wrote does not have much literary value, it has value as a religious and cultural element because it is read to this day and has been a tool in bringing people together. In the introduction section of this study, mawlid literature and culture are discussed and the mawlid tradition in Bulgaria is examined in this context. In the first part, the life, works and works of İsmail Niyazi Efendi, a valuable scholar from the Osmanpazarı region who contributed to the mawlid culture by writing a mawlid work, are introduced in detail. In addition, different copies of the mawlid he wrote, its content and features are examined. In the second part, the critical text of the work is presented for the first time. Key Words: Bulgaria, Muslim Turks, Culture, Mawlid, Osmanpazarı, İsmail Niyazi