1989 expulsion of Turks from Bulgaria

1989 ethnic cleansing of Turks from Bulgaria the 1989 forced migration in Bulgaria the sport utility vehicle (SUV) Ford Excursion February 2026 the Revival Process A photo of the Big Excursion in Bulgaria.png Bulgaria Bulgarian Muslims and Bulgarian Turks May – August or December 1989Expulsions formally came to an end on August 22, 1989, but the regime of Todor Zhivkov persisted until November 10 of that year. The subsequent government of Petar Mladenov reversed the heightened assimilation policies directed at Bulgarian Muslims on December 29 of that year.Kamusella 2019a 1 Persecution, Ethnic cleansing, Forced displacement 310,000310,000 – 322,000 people were expelled from Bulgaria to Turkey between May 30 and August 22, 1989. – 400,000Including 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.Kamusella 2019a 1 People's Republic of Bulgaria, Bulgarian Communist Party Over 300,000 Turks and Muslims were expelled by the government of the People's Republic of Bulgaria into Turkey in 1989. Terminology Though modern use of the term ethnic cleansing dates back to the early 19th century,Kamusella 2019a 2 it is usually understood to have come into common usage with the breakup of Yugoslavia, which began in earnest in 1991, two years after the start of the "Big Excursion". The term ethnic cleansing is consequently not always associated with the 1989 forced migration in Bulgaria. In the years since Yugoslavia's dissolution, the term has gained scholarly acceptance despite its euphemistic origin.Thum 2010 75 Instead, the event is usually referred to by the official (and likewise euphemistic) terms employed by the regime of Todor Zhivkov. The Bulgarian government described the forced migrations as the "Big Excursion"bg Голямата екскурзия Golyamata Ekskurzia because it officially claimed that the border with Turkey was allegedly opened "to allow tourists to visit the neighboring country",Martino 2009 and the Zhivkov administration claimed that victims had only left temporarily to visit relatives abroad.Vaksberg Andreev 2014 Some have criticized the use of the official term. Polish academic Tomasz Kamusella describes continued use of the term Big Excursion as tantamount to acceptance of Zhivkov's propaganda,Valkov 2019 and some Turks and Bulgarian Muslims take offense to use of the term.Kamusella 2019b Bulgarian economist Rumen Avramov bg Румен Аврамов refused to use the term entirely in The Economics of the Revival Process.Avramov 2016 22–23 Conversely, those who wish to belittle the memory of the forced migration of 1989 often do not capitalize the term Big Excursion.Kamusella 2019a 3 Background Revival Process Revival Process In 1984, the People's Republic of Bulgaria, an authoritarian communist state, embarked on an assimilationist campaign known officially as the Revival Process.bg Възродителен процес Vazroditelen protses The regime eventually resorted to ethnic cleansing. On June 7, 1989, General Secretary Todor Zhivkov said:Angelov 2008Ivanov 2019 The riots in the country stopped after this exhibition. 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. Ethnic issues in Cyprus were heightened at the time as part of the ongoing Cyprus Problem. Bulgarian Muslims and Bulgarian Turks Bulgarian Turks constitute a substantial portion of both Bulgaria's Muslim population and the victims of the Big Excursion. While Muslims of non-Turkish ethnicities (Pomaks, Muslim Roma, and Tatars, among others) were also affected by the Big Excursion,Kamusella 2019a 1 Pomaks were often referred to as "Turks" and vice versa.Kamusella 2019a 21 As a result, the precise identity of victims can be difficult to determine.Kamusella 2019a 7 Estimates of the ethnic composition of victims of the "Big Excursion" thus vary. For example, by one estimate, around 90% of victims were Bulgarian Turks,Kamusella 2019a 1 but by another, up to 111,000 (approximately one-third) of victims were Pomaks despite official exclusion of Pomaks from the Big Excursion.Kamusella 2019a 7 Since Pomaks and Turks traditionally lived in different parts of Bulgaria, authorities used individuals' place of origin to "impose a preferred ethnic category on a person."Kamusella 2019a 7 Legal reforms Passports were restricted in all Soviet bloc nations.Kamusella 2019a 46 Typically, passports were only issued to a select group and had to be relinquished to government authorities.Kamusella 2019a 46 To mitigate defection, passports were also usually not issued to entire families for travel to capitalist countries.Kamusella 2019a 46-47 On May 19, 1989, Bulgaria substantially loosened its passport regime and allowed Bulgarian citizens to keep their travel documents at home.Kamusella 2019a 47 During May 1989, Communist Bulgaria issued passports to all those it considered to be Turks.Kamusella 2019a 49 While changes to the passport regime were originally meant to come into force in September 1989, events developed quickly and the passport changes were utilized by Bulgarian Turks as early as June 1989.Kalyonski 2009 History Start of the Excursion Within days of the relevant legal reforms coming into effect, 170 of the most "problematic" dissidents were expelled, followed by another 4,000–10,000.Kamusella 2019a 46 1,000 "ringleaders"Kamusella 2019b of anti-regime protests were additionally removed to Austria,Kamusella 2019a 46Kamusella 2019b Yugoslavia,Kamusella 2019a 46Kamusella 2019b and Sweden.Kamusella 2019a 46 The state also threatened individuals. For instance, one Bulgarian Turk, Rasim Ozgur, stated 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 and did so once the border with Turkey was opened later that month.Martino 2009 Other targeted individuals who did not leave quickly enough were intimidated by agents of the state's secret service agency, the DS.Kamusella 2019a 49 Some DS officers directly commanded some Bulgarian Muslims to leave the country in fewer than two hours.Kamusella 2019a 49 The DS also ensured that expellees were allowed to take with them no more than 300 Bulgarian levs (around $40 in 1989 United States dollars) per person.Kamusella 2019a 59 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",Martino 2009 for three months at most.Kamusella 2019a 3 Large numbers of Muslims, many of whom had already prepared to leave the country in the face of state intimidation, surged to the Turkish border. Turkey, in turn, issued 90-day visas on request to any holder of a Bulgarian passport.Kamusella 2019a 49 Turkey fully opened the Kapıkule border crossing near the Bulgarian town of Kapitan Andreevo on June 3, even to those without a visa.Ivanov 2019In some sources, the date that the border was opened is instead given as June 2.Kamusella 2019a 50 All expellees had to cross into Turkey via this single border crossing.Kamusella 2019a 58 This checkpoint is sometimes referred to as "Checkpoint Ali".Kamusella 2019a 58 In response to international backlash, particularly from Turkey with the support of the United States, the Bulgarian regime insisted that the victims of the Big Excursion had left voluntarily on tourist visas and thus could not be properly considered deportees.Kamusella 2019a 51 It further insisted that the flow of such people was the result of the relaxation of Bulgarian passport laws– the same laws that Turkey had desired for Bulgaria to relax– and that Bulgarian actions were simply in keeping with the Helsinki Accords.Kamusella 2019a 23 Turkish Response Turkey sought an agreement with Bulgaria regarding the migration of Bulgarian Turks from the start.Kamusella 2019a 47 Towards the beginning of the Big Excursion, Turkey vowed to accept the entire estimated population of Bulgarian Turks if necessary and suggested it would be able to integrate the expellees.Kamusella 2019a 50-51 However, Turkey soon struggled to handle the inflow of expellees from Bulgaria.Kamusella 2019a 58 The inflow caused rental price increases of up to 100% in European Turkey.Kamusella 2019a 58 Turkey directly addressed Bulgarian rhetoric around the Cyprus problem, attempting to allay concerns that Turkey posed a threat to Bulgaria.Kamusella 2019a 71 Soon thereafter, however, a crowd of over 100,000, fueled by false rumors of Soviet military actions against Bulgarian Turks and Muslims, gathered in Istanbul's Taksim Square shouting anti-Bulgarian slogans. The Turkish ultranationalist organization known as the "Grey Wolves" openly called for an invasion of Bulgaria.Kamusella 2019a 72 These demonstrations and statements, which often warmongered, fueled the Bulgarian regime's anti-Turkish propaganda.Kamusella 2019a 71 End of the Excursion By late August, over 300,000 Muslims had crossed the Bulgarian-Turkish border, leading to a refugee crisis in Turkey. The Turkish and Bulgarian foreign ministers repeatedly planned to meet in Kuwait for talks regarding the crisis, but they failed to do so.Kamusella 2019a 69-70 With no meeting set, on August 21, Turkey reinstated the visa requirement for Bulgarian passport holders,Kamusella 2019a 60 and a day later, Turkey officially closed its border with Bulgaria to stop the flow of "Bulgarian citizens without a Turkish visa".Kamusella 2020 3 As a result, the number of Muslims crossing into Turkey dropped dramatically, though some Bulgarian expellees obtained Turkish visas thereafter and crossed the border. Some Bulgarian Muslims who had already packed to leave the country were unable to do so because of the closure.Vaksberg Andreev 2014 Around 25,000 were unable to cross into Turkey as a result of the closure.Kamusella 2019a 59 Bulgaria did not attempt to more directly expel its Muslim population in large numbers following the closure, even after two weeks later (on September 3) Turkey reopened its border with Bulgaria for Turks and Muslims with a valid Turkish visa.Kamusella 2019a 59 On December 29, exactly seven months after Zhivkov announced the opening of the Turkish border and about one month after his resignation, the government of Petar Mladenov announced that the rights of Muslims would be restored. It took two years for that promise to be fully implemented.Kamusella 2020 4 Even after closing its shared border with Bulgaria, Turkey continued to reiterate its desire for a diplomatic agreement to address the refugee crisis caused by the Big Excursion.Kamusella 2019a 70 A diplomatic summit between Bulgaria and Turkey in Kuwait was held in October 1989, and a follow-up meeting was held months after the fall of Zhivkov in January 1990.Kamusella 2019a 70 Aftermath Even before the end of the Excursion, large numbers of expellees returned to Bulgaria.Kamusella 2020 3 For some, the decision to return to Bulgaria was motivated by hard living conditions in Turkish refugee camps and difficulties adjusting to life in Turkey.Kamusella 2019a 60 The number of returnees further increased after the end of the Big Excursion. By the end of 1990, around 150,000 had returned, and a year later, as many as 200,000 had returned.Kamusella 2020 4 In addition to the general economic malaise, the Big Excursion contributed to popular economic hardship. Bulgarian Turks were largely employed in the agricultural sector in Bulgaria, and the expulsions occurred at the same time as the annual harvest.Kamusella 2019a 71 As a consequence of the Excursion and the generally poor situation, Bulgaria experienced poor harvests leading to food rationing throughout the country, including in Sofia.Kutlay 2017 168 In Turkey, expellees found work in positions seen as "inferior".Coşgun 2005 35 Legacy As of 1989 the Big Excursion was the largest instance of ethnic cleansing in Europe by number of victims since the expulsion of Germans living east of the Oder–Neisse line between 1944 and 1950;Faktor.bg 2016 though later there would be more victims during the Bosnian genocide and the expulsion (and subsequent return) of Kosovar Albanians in neighboring Yugoslavia.Kamusella 2019a 2 Academic Tomasz Kamusella argues that in discourse, the Big Excursion is sometimes merged with the longstanding assimilationist policies of the Bulgarian state towards its Muslim minority or the Revival Process in particular.Kamusella 2019a 3 It is treated as an end point in this framing.Kamusella 2019a 3 However, in contrast to the preceding assimilation campaigns, the Big Excursion was unprecedented before 1989.Kamusella 2019a 3 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.Kamusella 2019a 4-5 The Big Excursion is less well-known than many of the other late-20th-century ethnic cleansings in the Balkans.Kamusella 2019a 2 Even after the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, media organizations largely did not report on the Big Excursion.Kamusella 2019a 67 Bulgaria Within Bulgaria, the events of 1989 are not particularly well known.Kamusella 2019a i Polish academic Tomasz Kamusella writes that "the generations of Bulgarians born after 1989 know next to nothing about the 1989 ethnic cleansing."Kamusella 2019b Supporting the viewpoint of Bulgarian nationalists, post-Communist economic migration by Bulgarians of all ethnicities to Turkey became conflated with the Big Excursion in the eyes of many, bolstering the argument that the exodus had been voluntary.Kamusella 2020 4-5 Turkey In Turkey, remembrance has been sustained within migrant communities and civil-society networks, especially through organizations founded by people who left Bulgaria. For the 30th anniversary of the 1989 migration, public ceremonies were held by migrant associations.Anadolu 2019Bursa Immigration 2019 See also Groups Muhacir Bulgarian Turks in Turkey Events Exodus of Turks from Bulgaria (1950–1951) Notes note Terms lower-alpha References Bibliography 30em yes Bulgaristan'dan Zorunlu Göçün 30'uncu Yılı Anma Programı Commemoration Program for the 30th Anniversary of the Forced Migration from Bulgaria Anadolu Ajansı October 18, 2019 https://www.aa.com.tr/tr/turkiye/bulgaristandan-zorunlu-gocun-30uncu-yili-anma-programi/1618669 tr January 25, 2026 Anadolu 2019 „Голямата екскурзия“ и крахът на асимилацията The "Big Excursion" and the Collapse of Assimilation Angelov Zhivko Dnevnik Economedia 2008-08-06 bg https://www.dnevnik.bg/show/?storyid=534875 https://web.archive.org/web/20080901224146/http://www.dnevnik.bg/show/?storyid=534875 2008-09-01 dead Avramov Rumen Икономика на Възродителния процес The Economics of the Revival Process 2016 https://cas.bg/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Avramov-vuzroditelen-provess-book-final.pdf Sofia Centre for Advanced Study bg https://web.archive.org/web/20260411031124/https://cas.bg/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Avramov-vuzroditelen-provess-book-final.pdf bot: unknown April 11, 2026 2026-01-18 978-954-320-582-0 Bulgaristan'dan Zorunlu Göçün 30. Yılı 30th Anniversary of the Forced Migration from Bulgaria Bursa İl Göç İdaresi Müdürlüğü T.C. İçişleri Bakanlığı Göç İdaresi Genel Müdürlüğü October 8, 2019 https://bursa.goc.gov.tr/bulgaristandan-zorunlu-gocun-30-yilihaber tr January 25, 2026 Bursa Immigration 2019 Coşgun Bülent Social Networks and Urban Integration of Bulgarian Turkish Immigrants of 1989 and After: The Case of Yenibosna, Istanbul MS thesis Middle East Technical University January 2005 https://open.metu.edu.tr/bitstream/handle/11511/14801/index.pdf Faktor.bg 27 години от „Голямата екскурзия“ – комунистическият план за етническо прочистване 27 years since the "Great Excursion" - the communist plan for ethnic cleansing Faktor.bg May 29, 2016 http://www.faktor.bg/bg/articles/politika/na-vseki-kilometar/-27-godini-ot-golyamata-ekskurziya-komunisticheskiyat-plan-za-etnichesko-prochistvane-74482 bg Ivanov Dimitar Преди 30 г. Живков внушава: Ако не изведем 200-300 хиляди турци, след 15 години България ще бъде като Кипър 30 years ago, Zhivkov suggested: If we do not subtract 200–300 thousand Turks, in 15 years Bulgaria will be like Cyprus Faktor.bg May 29, 2019 https://faktor.bg/bg/articles/politika/na-vseki-kilometar/predi-30-g-zhivkov-vnushava-ako-ne-izvedem-200-300-hilyadi-turtsi-sled-15-godini-balgariya-shte-bade-kato-kipar bg February 16, 2023 Kalyonski Aleksey 2009-12-31 1989 – Майските събития и „Голямата екскурзия“ 1989 – The May Events and the "Big Excursion" Liberal Review https://www.librev.com/index.php/discussion/bulgaria/787-1989 2026-02-19 bg Kalyonski 2009 Kamusella Tomasz Ethnic Cleansing During the Cold War: The Forgotten 1989 Expulsion of Turks from Communist Bulgaria Routledge Studies in Modern European History 1st Routledge 2019 978-0-367-58856-4 en Kamusella 2019a Kamusella Tomasz Words Matter. Bulgaria and the 30th Anniversary of the Largest Ethnic Cleansing in Cold War Europe New Eastern Europe February 25, 2019 https://neweasterneurope.eu/2019/02/25/words-matter-bulgaria-and-the-30th-anniversary-of-the-largest-ethnic-cleansing-in-cold-war-europe February 15, 2023 Kamusella 2019b Kamusella Tomasz Between Politics and Objectivity: The Non-Remembrance of the 1989 Ethnic Cleansing of Turks in Communist Bulgaria Journal of Genocide Research 2020 22 4 515–532 10.1080/14623528.2020.1726649 10023/23778 free https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14623528.2020.1726649 limited Kutlay Muzaffer The Turks of Bulgaria: An Outlier Case of Forced Migration and Voluntary Return International Migration 2017 55 5 162–179 10.1111/imig.12381 https://kar.kent.ac.uk/64108/1/IM_main_body_Final%20version_ReadyForProduction.pdf January 25, 2026 Martino Francesco The Big Excursion of Bulgarian Turks OBC Transeuropa November 4, 2009 https://www.balcanicaucaso.org/en/cp_article/the-big-excursion-of-bulgarian-turks/ it February 16, 2023 Thum Gregor Review: Ethnic Cleansing in Eastern Europe after 1945 Contemporary European History 2010 19 1 75–81 10.1017/S0960777309990257 145605508 https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/contemporary-european-history/article/ethnic-cleansing-in-eastern-europe-after-1945/3161C82792B0A565606D2C5DA813966C limited Vaksberg Tatiana Andreev Alexander Assimilation by force Deutsche Welle December 24, 2014 https://www.dw.com/en/recalling-the-fate-of-bulgarias-turkish-minority/a-18149416 February 15, 2023 Valkov Ilya Изумителната забрава за етническото прочистване на българските турци The astonishing oblivion of the ethnic cleansing of the Bulgarian Turks Club "Z" January 18, 2019 https://clubz.bg/78384-izumitelnata_zabrava_za_etnicheskoto_prochistvane_na_bylgarskite_turci bg February 16, 2023 Category:Bulgaria and NATO Category:Organized events in Bulgaria Category:Ethnic cleansing in Europe Category:Racially motivated violence in Europe Category:Anti-Muslim violence in Europe Category:Persecution of Turkish people Category:Persecution of Balkan Turks Category:1989 in Bulgaria Category:Bulgaria–Turkey relations Category:People's Republic of Bulgaria