Bulgaristan’ın Asimilasyon Politikalarına Karşı Alvanlar (Yablanovo) Direnişi (17-18-19 Ocak 1985)

Abstract

Between 1984 and 1989, the Communist Party of Bulgaria launched a campaign called the Rebirth (Back To Basics) Process, which claimed that the Turks living in the country were originally Bulgarian. With this campaign, Turks in Bulgaria were prohibited from speaking Turkish, listening to Turkish music, slaughtering sacrifices, circumcising their children, religious and traditional practices at their funerals or weddings, and wearing wearing certain clothes that were seen as symbols of Turkishness. In addition to these prohibitions, as of December 1984, the names of our citizens living in Bulgaria began to be replaced with Bulgarian names. The name change was implemented in Alvanlar (Yablonova), a village of Kazan (Kotel) district of Islimye (Sliven) province on 17-18-19 January. However, the people of the village of Alvanlar (Yablanovo) massively resisted the leaders of the Bulgarian Communist Party who came to change their names. Other villages in the Gerlovo region did not leave the Alvanlar alone in this resistance. On January 17 and 18, the Bulgarian communist rulers could not enter the village, and on the morning of January 19, they were able to enter the village with the help of the Sliven Armored Unit, the largest armored unit in Bulgaria. Resisting the tanks of the Bulgarian army with stones and sticks in their hands for three days, the Alvanlar people showed a great example of heroism and left a very important mark in the history of the Bulgarian Turks.