Description
Book SynopsisIn mid-1989, the Bulgarian communist regime seeking to prop up its legitimacy played the ethnonational card by expelling 360,000 Turks and Muslims across the Iron Curtain to neighboring Turkey. It was the single largest ethnic cleansing during the Cold War in Europe after the wrapping up of the postwar expulsions (âpopulation transfersâ) of ethnic Germans from Central Europe in the latter half of the 1940s. Furthermore, this expulsion of Turks and Muslims from Bulgaria was the sole unilateral act of ethnic cleansing that breached the Iron Curtain. The 1989 ethnic cleansing was followed by an unprecedented return of almost half of the expellees, after the collapse of the Bulgarian communist regime. The return, which partially reversed the effects of this ethnic cleansing, was the first-ever of its kind in history. Despite the unprecedented character of this 1989 expulsion and the subsequent return, not a single research article, let alone a monograph, has been devoted to these moment
Trade Review
"Kamusella shows the way for a future Bulgaria. The recognition of ethnic cleansing is important not only in terms of historical justice and responsibility but also for the future transformation of Bulgaria into a country attractive for immigrants" - Vasil Paraskevov, Konstantin Preslavsky University, Bulgaria, European History Quarterly
Table of ContentsContents; List of Figures; Foreword; Preface; List of Acronyms and Abbreviations, and of the Names of Parties and Organizations Mentioned; The Bulgarian Governments During and After the Removal of Todor Zhivkov from Office; The Heads of State of Bulgaria During and After the Removal of Todor Zhivkov from Office; Introduction; 1. On Forgetfulness and Its Perils; 2. The State of Research on the 1989 Expulsion; 3.The 1989 Ethnic Cleansing Through the Lens of the International Press; 4. The Ethnic Cleansing’s Aftermath and the Regime Change; 5. The Official Coming to Terms with the 1989 Ethnic Cleansing; 6. Between Language and Millet; 7. The Question of Responsibility; Conclusion; Postscriptum; Bibliography; Index
