Ethnic map of the Balkans in the end of 19th century, Histoire Et Géographie, Atlas Général Vidal-Lablache, Librairie Armand Colin, Paris, 1898.

Ethnic map of the Adrianople Thrace in 1912 according to academician Lyubomir Miletich. The areas with Bulgarian majority coloured in green, Turkish - in red, Greek - in brown.

Balkan Wars boundaries.

"The Destruction of Thracian Bulgarians in 1913" (in Bulgarian "Разорението на тракийските българи през 1913 година") were events described by Bulgarian academician Lyubomir Miletich in 1918, but also mentioned from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.^[1] They included ethnic cleansing, caused to the Bulgarian population in Eastern Thrace and Eastern Rhodope Mountains (now mainly in Edirne Province, Kırklareli Province and Tekirdağ Province in Turkey and in Evros Prefecture in Greece) during the Second Balkan War and in a short period after it.

[edit] History

Whеn the military actions between Serbia, Greece, Montenegro and Romania against Bulgaria were in full progress, the Ottoman Empire took advantage of the situation to recover some of its former possessions in Thrace including Adrianople. In the beginning of July 1913 its forces crossed the Bulgarian border on the line Midiya-Enos, settled by the Treaty of London in May 1913. Because the Bulgarian troops had all been allocated to the front with Serbia and Greece, the Ottoman armies suffered no combat casualties and moved northwards and westwards without heavy battles. Thus reoccupied territories were given back to the Ottoman Empire by the Treaty of Constantinople, signed on September 16. Despite that, the mass extermination and ethnic cleansing continued in the areas, regained by the Ottomans, even after this date. Shortly after the end of the hostilities the author interviewed hundreds of refugees from these regions, travelled himself in the places where these tragic events happened and systematically depicted in detail the atrocities, made from the Young Turks' regular army, Ottoman paramilitary forces and partly from local Greeks. As a result of this violent process approximately 200,000 Bulgarians were killed or forced to leave their homes and properties forever, seeking salvation in territories, controlled by Bulgarian army and paramilitary formation IMORO. The entire community of the Thracian Bulgarians in these regions, where they were relative ethnic majority before the Balkan wars, was wiped out.^[2][3][4][5]

The legal property rights of the expelled Thracian Bulgarians were recognized fully by the Republic of Turkey through the Treaty of Angora (Ankara), signed on October 18, 1925, but have been never denied or enforced yet.^[6] Today, almost one century after 1913, the heirs of the Bulgarian refugees have still not been compensated.^[7] In September 2007 Evgeni Kirilov, Bulgarian deputy in the European Parliament, proposed an amendment to the resolution concerning the EU-Turkish relations, which refers to the property of the Thracian Bulgarians and the obligations of Turkish authorities according to the Treaty of Angora.^[8][9][10]

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] Gallery

Bulgarian refugees from Bulgarkyoi (nowadays Ellinochori, Greece), 1913

Remains of Bulgarians after the battle of Fere in 1913

The ruins of Fere after the battle, 1913

Dead Bulgarian infants in the Armaganska Valley, 1913

[edit] External links

• On-line publication of thе phototype reprint of the first edition of this book in Bulgarian here (in Bulgarian "Разорението на тракийските българи през 1913 година", Българска академия на науките, София, Държавна печатница, 1918 г.; II фототипно издание, Културно-просветен клуб "Тракия" - София, 1989 г., София; in English: "The Destruction of Thracian Bulgarians in 1913", Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, State printing house, 1918; II phototype edition, Cultural and educational club "Thrace" - Sofia, 1989, Sofia).