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Bulgaria's "Revival Process"

In the 1980s, Bulgaria launched a brutal policy of forced assimilation against the country's Turkish minority Hundreds of thousands fled the country

In the 1980s, Bulgaria's communist regime launched a brutal policy of forced assimilation against the country's ethnic Turkish minority. People's names were forcibly changed to sound more Slavic, the Turkish language was banned, cultural and religious practices outlawed. In 1989, Bulgaria's government issued passports to Bulgarian Turks, and hundreds of thousands fled the country to neighbouring Turkey.
We hear the account of one family caught up in the policy the Bulgarian government called "The Revival Process".
Photo: Bulgarian Turks joining a mass exodus to Turkey in 1989 (大象传媒)

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9 minutes

Last on

Mon 24 Apr 2017 07:50GMT

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  • Mon 24 Apr 2017 07:50GMT

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