Pomaks - a history of forcefull assimilation

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   While many in this forum condemn the "forceful" assimilation against the Christians during the Ottoman period and complain of the horrible Muslim Yoke, the faith of the Muslims after the capture of the Balkans by the Christian states remains largely untold. 
I open this thread in the hope to raise awareness of the brtual and savage assimilation camapign undertaken against the Pomak population of Bulgaria in 1912 as told by the Bulgarian Human Rights Helsinki Comitee in their 2003 report. 
Pomaks may have been the first Muslim victims of a mass a conversion attempt in the Balkans, but they were certainly not the last. For 70 years later, the Communist regime in Sofia would undertake another campaign of mass conversion against the 1-million strong Turkish population, and 85 years we would be a witness of a more brutal campaign against the Muslims -  the Srebrenica Genocide.
History must not be forgotten for it will always repeat itself. 
Here is a passage dedicated to the plight of the Pomaks:

Sadly, not only organs of the state, but also ordinary citizens of ethnic Bulgarian background � cherishing nationalistic ideals, participated in the unfortunate 1912-1913 conversion. Exposed to violent attacks from all sides, 8,000 Pomak Muslims inhabiting the Chepelare area gave up resisting and were converted within 10 days in January 1913.[1] By December 1, 1912, 12 Pomak Muslim villages from south-western Bulgaria were entirely Christianised, among which Kornitsa village (with 250 families), Zarnevo village (50 families), Lajnitsa village (200 families), Breznitsa village (200 families), and the villages Teshovo, Tarlis, Obidim, and Dobrinitsa.[2] The number of converted and ruined Muslim villages grew to 33 as of December 20 the same year, or a total of 21 Christianised villages for only 19 days.[3]
Although broadly and persistently promoted, the �voluntary Christianisation� thesis did not convince many. However, what transformed the forced conversion into a mere act of brutal savagery was the fact that it was left dependent on undisciplined soldiers, growing fiercer in the situation of war. Thus, Pomak villages were pillaged and burnt and their population � after being subjected to all kinds of wilful abuses � left scattered, hungry, homeless and deprived of its faith. Such was the fate of the Muslims from the villages of Karshilya (with 130 houses), Smilyan (220 houses), Palas (350 houses), Syochuk (180 houses), Taran (110 houses), Topuklu (160 houses), and Alamidere (35 houses) � a total of 1,100 destroyed houses and the same number of scattered families in the short period between December 1912 and early January 1913.[4] These villages were burnt to the ground, because they were accused of �getting into contact with the Turkish army and helping it�[5], which was the natural course of things since the Rhodopes area was still an Ottoman territory, and the Pomak Muslims � loyal subjects to a state in which they had legal rights.
One Stefan Shishkov, a commander of Ustovo village (Smolyan region), described the reality of the Balkan War in Bulgaria as follows: �The country is in a state of total disorder. Banditry and plundering are reaching unparalleled dimensions.�[6] This particular moment, when the subjects of the state would be exposed to abuses much greater than in times of peace, was chosen by the state � with the knowledge and approval of the King and the Orthodox Church[7] - as the  �the opportune moment�[8] for Christianising the Pomak Muslim population in the Rhodopes.
Immediately following the conversion, the government and the Orthodox Church started franticly to transform every available shack into a church or school, in which converted Muslims were exposed to the brainwashing effect of constant nationalistic and pro-Orthodox Christianity indoctrination. However, while the authorities were taking extra care to Bulgarianise the Pomak Muslims, they ignored their most essential needs � to feed, dress, and shelter the population. As a result of the plundering and burning their homes during the Christianisation ventures, the converts were left bare, starving and destitute. Twenty to thirty people shared a single house.[9] Here is how one Stoyu Shishkov describes the poverty of the Rhodopes� Muslims: ��I am witnessing rare and glorious historical events[10], moreover, [I am] face to face with unheard of and unseen misery. Five to ten families � semi-naked, hungry, exhausted � are cramped in musty, half-ruined shacks, without even so much as a tin utensil for water and cooking.�[11]
Clearly in similar desperate conditions and in times of war � abandoned to the mercy of an unruly army, the Pomak Muslim population could not resist long in defending their fundamental right to freedom of conscience and religion. It is not hard to believe that in such conditions some Pomak Muslims chose to convert before the perspective of starving to death or dying imprisoned or beaten. However, neither could such conversion be called �voluntary�, nor could claims of the kind �they gladly converted� or �were happy to come back to their old faith�[12] in the course of a few days be uncritically accepted by a reasoning mind. First, because no logical reason could be found to explain such a massive and rapid conversion[13] except fear caused by exceptional violence or the total indifference of utterly destitute population, which is even worse to assume. Second, there exists archive evidence, which confirms the forced nature of the 1912-1913 conversion.[14]

Source: http://www.bghelsinki.org/special/en/2003_Muslims_fm.doc

Edited by bg_turk