who are pomaks?

 "Tracing the sophisticated process of creation and development of the Proto-Bulgarian culture leads us, as it was seen so far, to several important conclusions, from which the main ones are three:

1. The initial stages of this process show that the Proto-Bulgarians are not Turkic in their basis. Their ethnogenesis is directly connected with the Indo-European tribes (mainly Alan-speaking). During centuries, however, they were also in very close relations with Turkic communities within the limits of powerful, although eclectical, state systems � First and Second Turkic khaganates, Avar khaganate, Khazar khaganate. This peculiarity had a strong influence on the overall culture, which was put to a heavy Turkicization and this was proven more than once in the presentation.
2. The Proto-Bulgarian ethnos began its consolidation far to the east in the regions of Central Asia and not in the Near (Middle) East, as some authors try to prove. Due to this there are the numerous borrowings from highly developed cultures, such as the Chinese, the Indian, the Iranian� The contacts with them were realized during the long centuries of moving from east to west.
3. It�s without a doubt that the beginning of the Bulgarian state was established in the first decades of the VII c. by Khan Kubrat and not in 165, as the legendary rulers from the �Nominalia of the Bulgarian rulers� are considered to be. Until then they led a nomadic way of life. This, however, does not diminish their cultural-historical importance. On the contrary! Coming across one or other cultural influence-centre, they manage to borrow and rationalize different cultural achievements. One famous specialist on the Eastern cultures isn�t far from the truth by saying that the nomad, sitting on his horse, has a wider outlook and can see further in the space (including in the cultural one) rather than the pointed in the ground after the plough sight of the farmer. This truth doesn�t oppose the two ways of existence to each other. The agrarians, standing firmly on the ground, are stable and connected to it. Exactly this is why the unification of these different ways of life is maybe the greatest achievement of the Danubian Bulgarian state, which Khan Asparuh created�

�It was seen well from all said so far that there are traces from other cultures, including the Byzantine one, in all spheres of the material and the spiritual culture of the Proto-Bulgarians. In a number of cases the Byzantine culture is a mediator, a re-translator of ideas and models of the art of the East. Unconditional is the Byzantine influence in the sphere of the language (the Proto-Bulgarian inscriptions on the Greek language), of the administrative and the military titles/ranking, of the acquiring of a number of insignia and characteristic symbols, connected to the Christianity. Very important are also the influences from the culture of the North Black Sea [Pontic] and the Caucasus regions (the building technique, a number of architectural plans), of the Iranian art and religion, directly or through the culture of Alans and Sarmatians (architecture of the kapishtes [pagan sanctuaries], the Madara rock-relief, the Nagi sent Miklosh treasure and others) and, of course, of the Turkic and the Turkic-speaking communities, which were historically connected with the Bulgarian ethnos. The Proto-Bulgarians borrow, although very limited, ideas and notions of the found local Thraco-Roman culture when elements of it were preserved in the universal Byzantine culture. Hence we see that the Proto-Bulgarian cultural complex (or model) is based on original distinctive features and introduced from outside elements�

�The argue whether the transition to another cultural plane in the middle of the IX c. � Christian by its character � is negative or positive is a scholastic one. There can be no doubt that in the contemporary historical conditions it was positive, as much as it joins a state, nation and culture to the most advanced at that time in Europe � the Byzantine. But it�s important to note that what was previously created in the region of the culture is joined to the new values system, enriches it, makes it more active and more diverse than those of the other nations. That�s exactly why the Bulgarian nation and culture, formed as Slavic, have a number of specific traits, which distinguish them from the rest of the Slavic nations. A natural contribution for this is given by the Proto-Bulgarian culture, which keeps reminding about herself also in the next historical ages."