Forum on the occasion of the 30^th anniversary of the forced eviction of the Turks from Bulgaria 

A number of events on the occasion of the 30^th anniversary of the forced eviction of the Bulgarian Turks from Bulgaria in 1989 took place in the Turkish city of Kocaeli (the administrative center of the Kocaeli Province).

On this occasion on September 28 (Saturday) 2019 the NGO “Bal-Türk” with the support of the Turkish Presidency for the Turks Abroad organized a conference. Representatives of the Turkish academic community, among whom were Prof. Ayşe Kayapınar, Prof. Emin Atasoy, Assoc. prof. Kader Özlem and others participated in the conference with reports and presentations. Among the speakers at the conference were also the researchers Dr. Ismail Dzhambazov and Stoyan Dinkov. The Chairman of the Supreme Muslim Council Vedat S. Ahmed who was also among the participants in the forum, presented an analysis of the impact of the forced eviction in 1989 on the religious identity of the Bulgarian Turks. He emphasized that Grand Mufti’s Office meets a number of serious problems which are a consequence of the Revival process and the subsequent expulsion of some of the Turks from Bulgaria. These are events and processes defined on January 11, 2012 by the National Assembly as a “crime without statute of limitations” and “a form of ethnic cleansing”.