Forced Conversion of the Pomaks to Christianity during the Balkan Wars (1912-1913)

The Pomaks are a Muslim religious community, speaking a dialect of Bulgarian. Various arguments exist on the ethnic origins of the Pomaks and the origin of the term Pomak. During the Ottoman period, they gradually and voluntarily converted to Islam from the mid-15th century to the first half of the 18th century. The terms Turk and Muslim were synonymous with each other because Islam was spread in the Balkans through the Turks. The main component of the Pomak identity was Islam and consequently, the Pomaks identified themselves with Turkish identity. During the Bulgarian national revival period, several domestic sources fabricated by some intellectuals, most of them being members of the clergy, engraved the perception in Bulgarian collective memory that the Pomaks were systematically and forcibly converted to Islam by the Turks. This perception, when united with several political considerations and identifying Bulgarian identity with speaking Bulgarian and being an Orthodox Christian, paved the way to the forced conversion of the Pomaks to Christianity during the Balkan Wars. During these wars, some 200.000 Pomaks living in the Rhodopes, Western Thrace and Eastern Macedonia were oppressed ruthlessly and Christianized by the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, VMRO bands and Bulgarian volunteers with the support of King Ferdinand and Prime Minister Ivan Geshov. All the mosques in Pomak villages were either converted to churches or were demolished. Besides, Bulgarian names were given to the Pomaks and they were forced to go to churches. Moreover, they were compelled to wear Christian dresses and to practice their rituals about birth, marriage and funeral under the guidance of priests. Even though the Pomaks complained that they were Christianized against their will, their claims were ignored by the Church and the government. After the signing of the Treaty of Istanbul, guaranteeing religious freedoms of all Muslim citizens of Bulgaria, the Pomaks started to return to Islam. Despite the resistance of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, all the Pomaks returned to Islam by the middle of February of 1914. However, the atrocities they suffered and the incident of their forced conversion to Christianity drew them closer to Turkish identity. In this study, we try to explain the process of forced conversion of the Pomaks to Christianity and the background of this event analyzing the Ottoman and Bulgarian sources.