Destruction of the Thracian Bulgarians in 1913
The Destruction of the Thracian Bulgarians in 1913 (Bulgarian: Разорението на тракийските българи през 1913 г., Razorenieto na trakiyskite balgari prez 1913 g., also translated as "The Devastation"[1] or "The Ruin of the Thracian Bulgarians in 1913"[2]) is a book published by the Bulgarian academic Lyubomir Miletich in 1918, which describes the mass extermination and ethnic cleansing of the Bulgarian population in Eastern Thrace (now mainly in Edirne Province, Kırklareli Province and Tekirdağ Province in Turkey and Eastern Rhodope Mountains in Evros Prefecture in Greece) during the Second Balkan War and in a short period after it. On the other hand, Bulgarian Turks, Pomaks and Muslim Roma from Northern Thrace in Bulgaria, were expelled and settled in the whole Eastern Thrace in 1913.[3]
| Destruction of the Thracian Bulgarians in 1913 | |
|---|---|
| Part of The Balkan Wars | |
Ethnic map of Adrianople Thrace in 1912 according to the academic Lyubomir Miletich. The areas with a Bulgarian majority are coloured green, Turkish red, and Greek brown. | |
| Location | Thrace |
| Date | June 18, 1913 – July 11, 1913 |
| Target | Ethnic Bulgarian civilians |
Attack type | Ethnic cleansing, mass murder, Genocide |
| Deaths | 200,000 (including 15,000–60,000 killed in Turkish Thrace)[4] |
| Victims | Thracian Bulgarians |
| Perpetrators | Ottoman forces, Greek irregulars, paramilitary groups |
| Motive | Ethnic and religious persecution |
- ^ Magdalena Elchinova (2016). "Memory, Heritage and Ethnicity: Constructing Identity among the Istanbul-based Orthodox Bulgarians". Ethnologia Europaea. 46 (1): 113.
- ^ Valentina Ganeva-Raycheva (2012). "Migration, Memory, Heritage: Socio-cultural Approaches to the Bulgarian-Turkish Border". Migration, Territories, Heritage: Discourses and Practices in Constructing the Bulgarian-Turkish Border. IEFSEM-BAS. p. 62.
- ^ "Expulsion and Emigration of the Muslims from the Balkans".
- ^ Majstorovic, Darko (2019). "The 1913 Ottoman Military Campaign in Eastern Thrace: A Prelude to Genocide?". Journal of Genocide Research. 21 (1): 25–46. doi:10.1080/14623528.2018.1534979. S2CID 81824984.