The Unwanted

Soros Documentary Fund In the South-Eastern part of Bulgaria, close to the border with Turkey, two communities have always lived together — the Bulgarians and the Turks. In the mid 80’s, in an attempt to resolve the ethnic problems that had been accumulating for years, the authorities forced about 1...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Other Authors: Peeva, Adela
Institution:Open Society Archives at Central European University
Language:English
Published: Bulgaria 2000
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10891/osa:9558e74b-1390-4544-9abe-331d76a0cb93
Description
Summary:Soros Documentary Fund In the South-Eastern part of Bulgaria, close to the border with Turkey, two communities have always lived together — the Bulgarians and the Turks. In the mid 80’s, in an attempt to resolve the ethnic problems that had been accumulating for years, the authorities forced about 1 million Turks to change their Turkish names into Bulgarian ones. The ones who did not accept Bulgarian names had to leave Bulgaria. Within a couple of months more than 350.000 people migrated to Turkey. Entire villages and regions were depopulated. Turkey at first accepted the immigrants, but then unexpectedly closed its borders. This resulted in thousands of divided families. “Unwanted” presents three of these.
Published:2000