Anna Leontyeva

The field research in village of Slavyanovo (community of Popovo, Targovishte region, Bulgaria) was held in August 2019. The village was chosen because of its mixed national composition specificity: the basis of Slavic part of the village consists of the descendants of Bulgarians from the Balkan, which came there after the Ottoman-Russian war. Turkish people of Slavyanovo are divided into indigenous people, whose ancestors lived there in Ottoman time, and migrants from Kardzali and other traditionally Turkish regions of Bulgaria, which appeared in the village in the second half of the 20th century. There are several folk versions of the history of migrations, which are significantly different. The task of the study was to collect linguistic, ethnographic and historical material for further analyses of the basic values in the life of the modern Turkish-Bulgarian village, namely: language and communication, tolerance, ancestral memory, history of the homeland, faith and religious denominations, rituals, folklore etc. During the field work we looked at the history of the village and historical memory of its villagers, linguistic situation. The analyses of the data helps us infer, that cultural differences gradually lessen. Also, there are no contradictions between Turks and Bulgarians. We can observe the borrowings and infiltrations of the language elements (given the dominance of the Bulgarian as the state language), while Turks borrow the most frequent words, denoting household objects, and cliched expressions from Bulgarian language.

The “Revival Process” is the official name of the forced assimilation of Bulgarian Muslim minorities (Turks and Pomaks) between 1984 and 1989. “Bulgarisation” of Turks was carried out by changing their Turkish and Arabic names to Bulgarian names. This policy also included a number of restrictions on wearing traditional clothes and on speaking Turkish. Field research in the village of Slavjanovo (community of Popovo, Targovishte region, Bulgaria) was conducted in Аugust 2019. The task of the study was to collect ethnographic and historical material for further analyses of the modern memories of the 1984–1989 period. Analysis of the data helps us infer that the “Revival Process” and “Bulgarisation” are perceived as traumatic experiences, which persist in the memory of modern Bulgarian Turks, and is expressed in the form of narratives when communicating on different topics.

The Jewish were one of the most numerous ethnic groups among the urban population of the Ottoman Empire’s Balkan provinces, and the Jewish community in Bulgaria is one of the oldest in Europe. In the Ottoman state, the co-existence of different religious representatives as determined by the millet system, which was adopted by the Ottoman Turks from other Muslim states and developed at the initial stage of the Empire's existence. It assumed a certain autonomy for religious communities. The Jewish community had its own religious court, beit-din, with the help of which civil cases were resolved. The Jewish Religious Court forbade representatives of the Jewish community from appealing to the Sharia courts on issues within its competence. However, if the parties to a legal dispute were a zimmi (i.e. non-Muslims) and a Muslim, then the dispute should have been unconditionally considered in a Sharia court with the application of the norms of Islamic law. An analysis of the kadi court’s...

The round table, “Information resources of the State Historical Public Library of Russia for Slavists: the practice of using” was held on 25 February 2020 at the State Historical Public Library of Russia. It was opened by the director of the Historical Public Library, Mikhail D. Afanasiev, and by the director of the Institute of Slavic Studies, Konstantin V. Nikiforov, who underscored the importance of libraries for education, historical science, and Slavic studies in Russia. Specialists from the Historical Public Library discussed ways of acquiring foreign literature for Slavic studies and of networking with colleagues, libraries, and science centres in other Slavic countries; and provided information regarding Slavic studies in Belarus, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Poland, Serbia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Ukraine, Croatia, Montenegro, and the Czech Republic. For the Round table, an exhibition of foreign literature for Slavic studies was opened, which included items acqu...

Leont’eva, A. A. “Sons of Abdullah” in Bulgarian society in the late 17th-18th c. (according to materials of the qadis’ courts registers (sicills) of Sofya) The article concerns the processes of voluntary islamisation in the Bulgarian provinces of Ottoman Empire in 17th-18th c. Using materials of the qadis courts registers (sicills) of Sofya the article tells about probable motives and reasons of people’s convertion to Islam, their life like a “new Muslims” and integration to Sofia’s society.

Hüccets (Ottoman Sale contracts) are records of contract of sale of property and were proof of the ownership of the property. One of the outstanding features of these documents is its strict structure. We can find the list of the neighboring houses owners in Hüccets. On the basis of the analysis of this information it is possible to trace peaceful coexistence of people of different confessions in towns and challenge common assumption about town neighborhoods. The information about composition of possession is contained in the documents, it enables us to make important conclusions about social-economic development of Ottoman society in Bulgarian lands. Comparison of Muslim's and Christians property allows us to understand the cultural differences in everyday life. The final point of every document is the list of witnesses of sale, this information allows us to analyse professional family relations in town society. Proceeding from an analysis we may say that Hüccets are very important sources, which have not been studied in historiography. A complex approach to the study of this kind of documents allowed us to make important conclusions about various aspects of life in Bulgarian lands in XVII - beginning of XIX centuries.

Леонтьєва, Г. А. Національно-релігійний склад населення міських кварталів Софії XVII– XVIII cт. за даними кадійскіх регістрів Поширена думка про етнічну та релігійну замкнутість міських кварталів (махали) Софії османської доби. Проте детальний аналіз документів шаріатського суду дозволяє вже у XVII ст. спостерігати поступовий процес розмивання жорстких етноконфесійних рамок розселення міського населення, й до початку XIX в. моноетнічні квартали виглядають швидше рідкісним винятком. Крім того, це джерело дозволяє говорити про мирне " черезсмужне " співіснування представників різних конфесій всередині міської спільноти. Ключові слова: Софія, квартал, шаріат, християни, мусульмани, співіснування.
Леонтьева, А. А. Национально-религиозный состав населения городских кварталов Со-фии XVII–XVIII cт. по данным кадийских регистров Распространено мнение об этнической и религиозной замкнутости городских кварталов (махалы) Софии в османский период. Однако детальный анализ документов шариатского суда позволяет уже в XVII в. наблюдать постепенный процесс размывания строгих этноконфессиональных рамок расселения городского населения, и к началу XIX в. моноэтничные кварталы выглядят скорее ред-ким исключением. Кроме того, данный источник позволяет говорить о мирном " чересполосном " сосуществовании представителей различных конфессий внутри городского сообщества. Ключевые слова: София, квартал, шариат, христиане, мусульмане, сосуществование.
Leontyeva, A. National and religious composition of the Sofia neighbourhoods' population in the period 17–18 c. according to the documents of the Sharia court It is widely believed that the town neighbourhoods (mahali) in Sofia as well as other Ottoman towns were ethnically and religiously reserved. However, the detailed analysis of the sharia courts registers (sicills) of the 17–18 c. challenges common assumptions about town neighbourhoods. According to these sources the population of Sofia neighbourhoods was mixed by the beginning of 19 c., and ethnically reserved mahali are highly likely to be an exception. Besides this, we can see peaceful coexistence of people of different confessons in Sofia society.