[gothic-l] Re: Crimean Goths ? Where did they up at last ?

[dirk at SMRA.CO.UK]

--- In gothic-l at y..., ahmetsahinn at y... wrote:
> As far as I know from the ottaman archieves that the crimean gots
who
> are called by turks as "pomaks" adopted islamic religion under the
> ottaman rule and migrated to southern Bulgaria(around 50.000 people
> today.) There they adopted bulgarian(slavic) language. They live in
a
> very closed community and hardly marry outside. They are very
> religious and conservative and dont associate themselves with the
> bulgarians.They have closer contacts with the Turks. They are
> distinguished by blond hairs almost half of them have. Some of them
> immigrated to Turkey escaping the communist rule.


Hi,

can you specify the sources in the Ottoman archives that state that
the Crimean Goths migrated to Bulgaria, adopted Islam and became
Pomaks?

According to my knowledge, the exact origin of the Pomaks
(i.e. Bulgarian Muslims) is disputed. Bulgarian historiography tended
to see them as the product of forced conversion to Islam under Sultan
Selim II in the 16th century and the second under the reign of Mehmed
IV (1648-1687).

In an other version the Pomaks are seen as descendants of the Yuruks,
Anatolian nomadic pastoralists who had settled on the Balkans -and
specifically in the Rhodopes - soon after the Ottoman occupation in
the mid-14th c.

In another variant the Pomaks are the descendants of Ottoman (Turkish)
soldiers who had married Bulgarian women. This theory is based on the
assumption that men transfer nationality (through blood) and women
language (through bringing up the children). As a consequence the
Pomaks speak Bulgarian as a mother tongue, but are of Turkish
(sometimes Pomak) nationality.

Yet another variant is that the Pomaks descend form the Kumano-Turks
who on their way from the steppes of Central Asia to the Balkans
stopped for some time in the Ukraine where they adopted a Slavic
tongue.

After the fall of Communism, Pomaks are now in the process of defining
their ethnic and historical identity. However, the variation that you
reported based on the Ottoman archives, that the Pomaks are the
decendents of Crimean Goths is not part of the discourse as far as I
know.

cheers,
Dirk









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