Big Excursion

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1989 Forced Migration
Part of the Revival Process
LocationBulgaria
DateMay–August or December 1989[note 1][1]
TargetBulgarian Muslims (90%~ of victims were Bulgarian Turks)[1]
Attack type
Persecution, Ethnic cleansing, Forced displacement
Victims310,000[note 2] -400,000[note 3][1]
PerpetratorsPeople's Republic of Bulgaria, Bulgarian Communist Party
MotiveAnti-Muslim sentiment, Anti-Turkish sentiment, Bulgarianisation

The 1989 Forced Migration (Turkish: 1989 Zorunlu Göç) also euphemistically known as the "Big Excursion" (Bulgarian: Голямата екскурзия, romanized: Goliamata Ekskurziya) was the ethnic cleansing of Bulgarian Muslims by the Communist government of the People's Republic of Bulgaria. Between May and August 1989, 360,000 Bulgarian Muslims crossed the border into Turkey.[2] In late December 1989, a month after the resignation of General Secretary Todor Zhivkov, the "Big Excursion" came to a genuine end, with the new government promising to restore the rights of Bulgarian Muslims.[3] By the end of 1990, around 150,000 Bulgarian Muslims had returned from abroad.[4]

While the "Big Excursion" is sometimes alleged to have been a case of voluntary mass-migration,[citation needed] it has been widely recognized as ethnic cleansing, including by the democratic government of now-EU-member Bulgaria in 2012.[5]Though the Excursion is not as widely remembered in the West as the subsequent Bosnian genocide and expulsion (and subsequent return) of Kosovar Albanians in neighboring Yugoslavia,[citation needed] as of 1989 it was the largest case of ethnic cleansing[6] in Europe since the expulsion of Germans living east of the Oder-Neisse line between 1944 and 1950.

Terminology[edit]

Though use of the term "ethnic cleansing" dates back to the early 19th century,[7] the term is usually understood to have come into common use with the breakup of Yugoslavia which had not yet occurred by 1989.[citation needed] The term "ethnic cleansing" is thus not usually associated with the 1989 ethnic cleansing in Bulgaria. Instead, the event is usually referred to by the official euphemistic terms employed by the regime of Todor Zhivkov.

The Bulgarian government officially referred to the flight of Bulgarian Muslims as the "Big Excursion" (Bulgarian: Голямата екскурзия, romanized: Goliamata Ekskurziya) because officially the border with Turkey was opened "to allow tourists to visit the neighboring country,"[2] and the victims of the Excursion had only left temporarily to visit relatives.[8]

Some, however, have criticized the use of that official and highly ambiguous term. Polish academic Tomasz Kamusella describes use of the term "Big Excursion" as tantamount to acceptance of General Secretary Zhivkov's propaganda,[9] and some Bulgarian Muslims take offense to use of the term "Big Excursion".[3] Even in the modern day, the name by which this event is called is the subject of contention. Those who wish to belittle its memory do not capitalize the term "Big Excursion".[10]

In this article, the term "Big Excursion" is used to refer to the ethnic cleansing of Bulgarian Muslims in 1989 but it is capitalized and presented in quotations.

Background[edit]

The "Revival Process"[edit]

Main article: Revival Process

In 1984, the authoritarian communist regime in Sofia embarked on an assimilationist campaign known officially as the "Revival Process" (Bulgarian: Възродителен процес, romanized: Vazroditelen protses). Bulgarian Muslims were made to formally change their names to sufficiently "Bulgarian" ones (primarily those of Slavic and Christian origin).[8] This action provoked backlash from the Muslim population and sparked protests,[citation needed] a rarity in the thirty years in which Todor Zhivkov had led the country as General Secretary of the ruling Communist Party.[citation needed] Tensions continued to simmer, even after the renaming process had been completed, and many Muslims were arrested and even deported from Bulgaria during the 1980s prior to 1989.[citation needed] As the 1980s wore on, however, the Eastern Bloc and Soviet support both waned, undermining the communist regime in Bulgaria.[citation needed]

In the face of reduced support from its traditional benefactor, the Bulgarian communist regime increasingly leaned into Bulgarian nationalism. While initially, the regime focused on heightened assimilationist policies such as those used during the Revival Process, it eventually resolved towards ethnic cleansing. For example, on June 7th 1989 General Secretary Todor Zhivkov said the following of the necessity of the “Big Excursion”[9]:

The riots in the country stopped after this exhibition (from May 29). We are on the brink of a major exodus psychosis. How should we assess this psychosis? We need such psychosis, it is welcome. I'm going to tell you something that we keep secret. If we do not remove 200-300 thousand people from this population, after 15 years Bulgaria will not exist. It will be like Cyprus or something.

Often in current Bulgarian discourse, the "Big Excursion" is merged with the longstanding assimilationist policies of the Bulgarian state towards its Muslim minority or the "Revival Process" in particular.[10] It is sometimes treated as merely the endpoint of the latter.[10] In contrast to assimilation campaigns, however, the "Big Excursion" was unprecedented before 1989.[10] Similarly, the Holocaust was of a distinct and unprecedented character from the series of pogroms and anti-semitic campaigns which preceded it and is treated as such by historians.[11]

History[edit]

Start of the Excursion[edit]

Following on from the simmering tensions between the regime and Muslim population, the state increasingly cracked down. Many Muslim political leaders were deported in the beginning of 1989, primarily to Austria and Sweden, and the state threatened individual Muslims. One Bulgarian Turk, Rasim Ozgur, recalled that in early May 1989, communist state militiamen told him that they would kill him if he was seen conversing with "'reported people,'" and they also told him that he "was about to emigrate." He thus prepared to leave Bulgaria, doing so once the border with Turkey was opened later that month.[2]

On May 29, 1989, General Secretary Todor Zhivkov announced the opening of the border with Turkey, ostensibly "to allow tourists to visit the neighboring country."[2] Large numbers of Muslims, many of whom, like Rasim Ozgur, had already prepared to leave the country in the face of state intimidation, surged to the Turkish border. Turkey in-turn fully opened the Kapıkule border crossing near the Bulgarian town of Kapitan Andreevo on June 3.[12]

End of the Excursion[edit]

By late August, over 300,000 Muslims had crossed the Bulgarian-Turkish border, leading to a refugee crisis in Turkey. On August 22, Turkey officially closed its border with Bulgaria to stop the flow of "Bulgarian citizens without a Turkish visa".[13] As a result, the number of Muslims crossing into Turkey dropped dramatically, though some did obtain Turkish visas and subsequently cross the border. Indeed, some Bulgarian Muslims who had already packed to leave the country were unable to do so because of the closure,[8] suggesting that the total number of those expelled from Bulgaria would have been higher if not for Turkey's action. Subsequently, Bulgaria did not attempt to more directly expel the Muslim population, though repression would continue until on December 29, 1989, exactly seven months since Zhivkov announced the opening of the Turkish border and just over one month after Zhivkov's resignation, when the government of Petar Mladenov announced that the rights of Muslims would be restored, though it would take two years for that promise to be fully fulfilled.[14]

Aftermath[edit]

Economic Consequences[edit]

The Zhivkov regime largely falsified economic data and following his fall from power, it became known that economic data was far less favorable than previously thought.[15] Living conditions worsened towards the end of the Communist era. In addition to the general economic malaise, the “Big Excursion” itself contributed to popular economic hardship. Bulgarian Turks were themselves largely employed in the agricultural sector, and as a consequence of their expulsion, Bulgaria experienced poor harvests leading to food rationing throughout the country, including in Sofia.[15]

Return of Bulgarian Muslims[edit]

Even before the ultimate end of the Excursion, large numbers of expellees returned to Bulgaria,[13] with the number accelerating thereafter. By the end of 1990, communist rule had come to an end, with the People's Republic of Bulgaria transformed into simply the Bulgarian Republic, and around 150,000 Muslims had returned. By the end of 1991, as many as 200,000 had returned.[14]

The return of such a large number of recent expellees is attributed to Bulgaria’s transition to democracy following the end of the exodus as well as moderation by both the democratic Bulgarian government and the Turkish community itself.[16] For example, Bulgaria’s first democratically-elected president, Zhelyu Zhelev, treated the Turkish political movement as political allies.[17] Zhelev even worked to defend the then-nascent Movement for Rights and Freedoms against a legal challenge from nationalists and the post-communist Bulgarian Socialist Party which could have led to the MRF’s dissolution.[18] In less than two years after the fall of Zhivkov, religious and Turkish-language schools were re-opened, a new constitution adopted guaranteeing freedom of religion, and the state began to restore the previous names of Muslims which had been forcibly Bulgarianized throughout the Revival Process.[18] Similarly, MRF leader Ahmed Dogan worked to marginalize ultra-nationalist elements within the Turkish community and refrained from calling for autonomy or independence.[18]

Foreign Response[edit]

As Bulgaria was a member of the Warsaw Pact and Turkey was a member of NATO, armed conflict involving the two over the "Big Excursion" had the potential to draw in the United States and Soviet Union, the two principal nuclear-armed superpowers of the era. That no armed conflict emerged might suggest that negotiations occurred between the superpowers prior to the Excursion. However, because records in both Russia and the United States remain sealed and the topic has received little scholarly attention, this allegation cannot be confirmed.[19]

The excursion was covered by Western media organizations in 1989, but was front-page news only in Turkey and Yugoslavia. Amidst the tumult in Eastern Europe of that year, western press focused on other developments.[20]

Main article: 2007 enlargement of the European Union

However, while the events of 1989 were not front-page news in the West, the allure and moderating influence of potential EU membership contributed to the subsequent re-integration of expellees into Bulgarian society.[21] For instance, in 2000 the EU promulgated the Race Equality Directive and later formally requested Bulgaria’s compliance with the directive.[22]

Voluntary or Forced[edit]

In the face of criticism, the Bulgarian regime insisted that the victims of the "Big Excursion" voluntarily emigrated and pointed to the large portion of the Bulgarian Muslim population that remained in the country unaffected.[citation needed] The argument that the Excursion had been voluntary rather than forced, continued to be made well into the 21st century. The modern Bulgarian state, however, officially recognized the "Big Excursion" as ethnic cleansing in 2012.[5]

The migration of Bulgarians of all ethnicities seeking economic opportunity to Turkey following the fall of Communism blurred together with the "Big Excursion" in the eyes of many and bolstered the argument that the exodus had been voluntary.[23] Many in Bulgaria further insist on treating the "Big Excursion" merely as the "end-point" of the Revival Process.[24]

Legacy[edit]

The "Big Excursion" is the least known of the late-20th century ethnic cleansings in the Balkans, and it is not widely remembered outside of Bulgaria.[citation needed] Even within the country, the events of 1989 are not particularly well known. Academic Tomasz Kamusella writes that "The generations of Bulgarians born after 1989 know next to nothing about the [Revival Process] and the 1989 ethnic cleansing."[3]

Bulgaria[edit]

In 2012, the Bulgarian government officially recognized the "Big Excursion" as ethnic cleansing, and called for the prosecution of those responsible.[5] However, that recognition was largely ignored by scholars,[19] and to date Bulgaria does not officially commemorate the ethnic cleansing and the state has not brought criminal charges against any individual involved in carrying out the "Big Excursion". Indeed, Bulgaria has even frequently commemorated the now-deceased Todor Zhivkov on the anniversary of his birth, with former prime minister Boyko Borisov even referring to Zhivkov as the "Great Daddy of the Bulgarian Nation."[25]

Less than a week after the 2012 recognition of the event as ethnic cleansing by the Bulgarian Parliament, the far-right[26][27][28] ultranationalist[27] political party, Ataka, introduced a new bill officially contesting the declaration.[29] According to the bill's authors the declaration and recognition of the 1989 ethnic cleansing would represent a "boost" for "'separatists'", presumably in reference to the nation's Turks and Muslims.[29] This reasoning is in-line with that of Bulgarian nationalists more generally, who often cast the Turkish and Muslim minority in the "role of perennial anti-Bulgarian separatists."[29]

Turkey[edit]

Even in Turkey, few accounts of excursion have been published. What books have been produced primarily regard the individual accounts of expellees, which have typically been printed in limited runs.[30]

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Expulsions formally came to an end on August 22, 1989, but the regime of Todor Zhivkov persisted until November 10 of that year when Zhivkov was removed from power. The subsequent government of Petar Mladenov reversed the heightened assimilation policies directed at Bulgarian Muslims on 29 December of that year.
  2. ^ 310,000-322,000 Turks and Muslims were expelled from Bulgaria to Turkey between May 30 and August 22 of 1989.
  3. ^ Including the family members of expellees who later joined them in exile, the total number of victims of the "Big Excursion" reaches 360,000 people, though some scholars estimate that this second number was really closer to 400,000 people. More Turks and Muslims continued to flee the country in the face of discrimination thereafter.

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c Kamusella 2019a, pp. 1.
  2. ^ a b c d Martino.
  3. ^ a b c Kamusella 2019b.
  4. ^ "Защо българските турци се завръщат в началото на 90-те години на ХХ в."
  5. ^ a b c ДЕКЛАРАЦИЯ осъждаща опита за насилствена асимилация на българските мюсюлмани. 2012. Bulgarian MPs Enforce 'Revival Process' Official Condemnation. 2012. http://www.novinite.com/articles/140018/Bulgarian+MPs+Enforce+%27Revival+Process%27+Official+Condemnation
  6. ^ 27 години от „Голямата екскурзия" – комунистическият план за етническо прочистване. 2016. http://www.faktor.bg/bg/articles/politika/na-vseki-kilometar/-27-godini-ot-golyamata-ekskurziya-komunisticheskiyat-plan-za-etnichesko-prochistvane-74482
  7. ^ Kamusella 2019a, pp. 2.
  8. ^ a b c Vaksberg, Tatiana. "Recalling the fate of Bulgaria's Turkish minority | DW | December 24, 2014". DW.COM. Retrieved February 15, 2023.
  9. ^ a b Valkov 2019.
  10. ^ a b c d Kamusella 2019a, pp. 3.
  11. ^ Kamusella 2019a, pp. 4–5.
  12. ^ "Преди 30 г. Живков внушава: Ако не изведем 200–300 хиляди турци, след 15 години България ще бъде като Кипър". May 29, 2019. Retrieved February 16, 2023.
  13. ^ a b Kamusella 2020, pp. 3.
  14. ^ a b Kamusella 2020, pp. 4.
  15. ^ a b Kutlay 2017, pp. 168.
  16. ^ Kutlay 2017, pp. 167–169.
  17. ^ Kutlay 2017, pp. 169.
  18. ^ a b c Kutlay 2017, pp. 170.
  19. ^ a b Kamusella 2020, pp. 2.
  20. ^ Kamusella 2020, pp. 5.
  21. ^ Kutlay 2017, pp. 171–172.
  22. ^ Kutlay 2017, pp. 172.
  23. ^ Kamusella 2020, pp. 4–5.
  24. ^ Kamusella 2020, pp. 11.
  25. ^ Kamusella 2018.
  26. ^ Meznik & Thieme 2012.
  27. ^ a b Katsikas 2011, pp. 64.
  28. ^ Rensmann 2011, pp. 133.
  29. ^ a b c Kamusella 2019a, pp. 117.
  30. ^ Kamusella 2020, pp. 10.

Bibliography[edit]

  • Martino, Francesco. "The "Big Excursion" of Bulgarian Turks". OBC Transeuropa (in Italian). Retrieved February 16, 2023.
  • Meznik, Michael; Thieme, Tom (2012). "Against all Expectations: Right-Wing Extremism in Romania and Bulgaria". The Extreme Right in Europe: Current Trends and Perspectives. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht: 205–207.
  • Rensmann, Lars (2011). ""Against Globalism": Counter-Cosmopolitan Discontent and Antisemitism in Mobilizations of European Extreme Right Parties". Politics and Resentment: Antisemitism and Counter-Cosmopolitanism in the European Union. Brill.

External links[edit]

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