Greeks in Bulgaria

Greeks ( _bg. гърци "Gǎrci") are the seventh-largest ethnic minority in Bulgaria ( _el. Βουλγαρία "Voulgaria"). They number 3,408 according to the 2001 census,cite web | year = 2001 | url = http://www.nsi.bg/Census/Ethnos.htm | title = Population as of 1 March 2001 divided by provinces and ethnic group | publisher = National Statistical Institute | language = Bulgarian | accessdate = 2006-07-10 ] but are estimated at around 25,000 by Greek organizationscite speech |url=http://www.omda.bg/BULG/NAROD/Gartsi.htm |title=Гърците в България |date=2002-05-11 |accessdate=2007-02-18 |location=Burgas |language=Bulgrian |last=Чернев |first=Черньо ] and around 28,500, including the Sarakatsani, officially by Greece. [cite web |url=http://www.mfa.gr/www.mfa.gr/en-US/Policy/Geographic+Regions/South-Eastern+Europe/Balkans/Bilateral+Relations/Bulgaria/ |title=Bilateral relations between Greece and Bulgaria |accessdate=2007-02-18 |publisher=Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Greece in the World ] Today, Greeks mostly live in the large urban centres like Sofia (1,157) and Plovdiv (766 in Plovdiv Province).

History

Historically, the presence of a Greek population in what is today Bulgaria dates to the 7th century BC, when Milesians and Dorians founded thriving Greek colonies on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast, often on the site of earlier Thracian settlements.cite web |url=http://www.bulgariatravel.org/bg/view_rubric.php?r=hist&id=4 |title=Траките |publisher=България Травъл |accessdate=2007-02-18 |language=Bulgarian ] Maritime "poleis" like Nesebar (Μεσημβρία "Mesimvria"), Sozopol (Απολλωνία "Apollonia"), Pomorie (Αγχίαλος "Ankhialos") and Varna (Οδησσός "Odissos") controlled the trade routes in the western part of the Black Sea and often waged wars between each other.

Prior to the early 20th century, there was a significant Greek population in Southeastern Bulgaria, living largely between Varna to the north, Topolovgrad to the west and the Black Sea to the east, with a compact rural population in the inland regions of the Strandzha and Sakar mountains. However, a large part of this population, the so-called "Kariots", [From Καραις, the Greek name of the once Kariot-inhabited village of Oreshnik, Haskovo Province, also known in Turkish as "Kozluca".] is regarded by ethnographers (including Konstantin Josef Jireček) as having been only Greek-identifying, but of Bulgarian origin. [cite book |title=Кипраmdash следи от миналото |last=Ангелов |first=Атанас |chapter=За кипренските “гърци” |language=Bulgarian |url=http://liternet.ida.bg/publish10/aangelov/kipra/content.htm |chapterurl=http://liternet.ida.bg/publish10/aangelov/kipra/za.htm |publisher=Литернет |accessurl=2007-02-20 ] Greek communities also existed in Plovdiv, Sofia, Asenovgrad, Haskovo and Rousse, among others. In 1900, the Greeks in Bulgaria numbered 33,650. [cite web |url=http://www.nccedi.government.bg/save_pdf.php?id=247 |title=Етнически малцинствени общности |publisher=Национален съвет за сътрудничество по етническите и демографските въпроси |accessdate=2007-02-18 |language=Bulgarian ]

Following the anti-Greek tensions in Bulgaria in 1906 and the population exchange agreements Kalfov-Politis and Mollov-Kafandaris after World War I, the bulk of the Greek population in Bulgaria was forced to leave for Greece and was substituted by Bulgarians from Western Thrace and Greek Macedonia. [cite journal |url=http://www.ceeol.com/aspx/getdocument.aspx?logid=5&id=473FBAEF-623D-4ADA-903A-17241B78BDDB |title=External Migration... in Bulgaria |last=Mintchev |first=Vesselin |journal=South-East Europe Review |issue=3/99 |accessdate=2007-02-18 |date=October 1999 |pages=p. 124 ]

Census data

Notable Greeks from Bulgaria

* Christos Tsountas (1857–1913), archaeologist, from Asenovgrad
* Kostas Varnalis (1884–1974), poet, from Burgas
* Apostolos Nikolaidis (1896–1980), athlete and Panathinaikos legend, from Plovdiv
* Michael III of Anchialus, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople
* Jeremias II Tranos, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople
* Parthenius I, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople

References

Further reading

*
*

ee also

* Greco-Bulgarian relations
* Sarakatsani
* Nestinarstvo

External links

* [http://info.greekembassy-sofia.org/ Greek embassy in Bulgaria] el icon bg icon