Every migration is for hope even in war…

But during their forced migration in 1989, Bulgarian Turks were asked to pack their memories, histories, neighbors, and friends into a suitcase and leave without a backward glance.

It’s been 30 years. This journey by trains of shame took its place as a disgrace of the 20th century in the history of the world. Bulgarian migrants have added a lot to Turkey in 30 years, but their Turkishness has always been defamed.

‘30th anniversary of forced migration’ from Bulgaria has been commemorated with various events throughout Turkey. The most blatant of the commemorations held in many cities were organized in Bursa.

Görükle campus of Uludag University and conducted at the Immigration and refugee Associations Balkan Turks Federation (BGF), Office of overseas Turks and related communities (MDO), Bursa governorship provincial Immigration Administration, Uludag University the association for Diplomatic Studies and (DARD) the event, organised by the brutality of forced migration and was told once again. The struggle of Turks ’Ethnic cleansing policy’ has been remembered tearfully.

In the face of human shame towards the end of the 20th century, Bulgaria, led by TodorJivkov, finally began implementing a comprehensive name change policy in 1984 against the Turkish and Muslim minorities it had subjected to repression since the 1960s. According to official records, the name of 1 million 390 thousand Turks was forcibly changed. Speaking Turkish at home, in the street, circumcision and other worship were alsobanned. Thousands of Turks who resisted were sent to prison. The Armed Forces of Bulgaria quelled peaceful protests. Hundreds of Turks were killed, most of them unsolved.

Also, they were robbed.

This migration was as much a robbery as it was a tragedy. In those days, usually 50 stotinki passport photoshoot 50 lev, the cost of a passport was up to 5 thousand lev. He has been in the pockets of Bulgarian municipal and police officers, drivers, and photographers, who Turkish people have accumulated for years. Their house was taken for free.

In 1989, President Özal opened the doors by saying, “Jivkov, you come too.” With the forced migration that started in May, in 70 days, 345 thousand Turks came to the motherland with shame trains, horse-drawn carriages, and three or five pieces of goods.

Victims of forced migration settled in tents in the camps when they first arrived, next to a relative who was next of kin. The Turks of Bulgaria, who are hardworking and almost all professional, have adapted to social life by finding work in a short time without burdening the government. He also contributed significantly to the development of Turkey. But it took them many years to get themselves accepted into Turkish society.

‘There was no tolerance’

Assoc. Prof. Neriman Ersoy Hacısalihoğlu, who was also subjected to forced migration from Istanbul University Faculty of letters and History Department, said in a statement to Milliyet that they were staying at the tent camp established in Kepirtepe, Lüleburgaz at the time and said: “The borders were closed in August. What this process would have been if it hadn’t closed. My aunt sold everything, but she couldn’t come to Turkey, she was in the middle. I went to University in Turkey. That’s when we went to rent a house. They asked us for 200-250 pounds for the house, which is 100 pounds per month. But we and those who came here did not get into the expectation that the state would help us. Looking back 30 years on, I’m happy that immigrants are contributing to this country, but there wasn’t that much tolerance at the time.”

Migration is almost the same age as the history of humanity. Human beings, to establish a better life, to find more food and to survive the ‘forced’ migration spread around the world, as the fertile lands reached settled life. There is also hope for a better experience in recent migrations from village to city.

However, in politically enforced forced migrations, people do not fall for the hope of a better life, they are forcibly removed from the land they have known as their homeland for centuries. Turks in the Balkans, and especially Turks in Bulgaria, have been subject to forced migration since the war of 93. In the 89 forced migrations that reverberated around the world, they were asked to pack their memories, histories, neighbors, and friends into a suitcase and leave without a backward glance. It’s been 30 years. Three hundred forty-five thousand Bulgarian folk songs, which Turkey embraced, have established a separate life here. Still, they have never forgotten the great shame of humanity they experienced at the end of the 20th century with the trains of shame.

The biggest insult!

The Turks who lived in the Balkans are the Turks of Anatolia who returned to the Balkans from Anatolia during the Ottoman period and then to the motherland after the Ottoman-Russian war. If we look at the last 100 years, the expressions ‘Muhajir’, ‘migrant,’ ‘Bulgarian folk song,’ and ‘Kindred’ are used for those who came from Bulgaria. However, the term ‘Bulgarian folk song’ is still used for these people unconsciously or deliberately. It’s A Bulgarian Folk Song. But a wide range of people, from the Turkish media to the politicians, have used the term Bulgarian Folk Song and still continue to use it. Assoc. Dr. Neriman Ersoy Hacısalihoğlu said, ” when we first came, the definition of ‘Kindred’ was good for us as well. But we are Turks, and we have come and built a life here. The term Kindred has become an exclusionary term. The best expression to say is ‘the Turks of Bulgaria’.”

Unidentified murders

Hundreds of Turks were massacred in Bulgaria during the assimilation policies implemented against the Turks in the period 1984-89. A large number of them have fallen victim to unsolved murders. According to official figures released by Bulgaria, 9 Turks are said to have died in incidents during that time. Losses in the migration process are only just beginning to be investigated after 30 years. Many young academics are being guided by their Balkan-origin teachers to do research on this issue.

Baby Türkan and his mother were at the front

Türkan Feyzullah, or Baby Türkan as she was called, was the youngest victim of assimilation. She was only 17 months old. On December 26, 1984, 10 thousand Turks gathered in Mogilyane village to protest the genocide. Fatma Öztürk swaddled her baby Türkan on her back and took her place in front of her. Bulgarian militiamen opened fire on the activists. Fatma Öztürk felt a temperature in her body, and after a while, she realized that this temperature was the temperature of the blood flowing from her offspring. Baby Turkan, who died on the spot, became a symbol of the Turkish resistance. 30 Of Forced Migration. Baby Türkan’s mother, Fatma Öztürk, also attended the Izmit leg of the anniversary commemoration.

TOMORROW:He took his son in his arms at the age of two and a half: Immigration is like bed of nails, assimilation still in progress, who makes it political material is lost. Documentary and catalog from YTB Source : http://www.milliyet.com.tr/gundem/hafizalardan-silinmiyor-6065623