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[bg_turk]

I found this said story of a Bulgarian Turk who emigrated to Turkey and I though I should share it with you:

Quote: BέZLER BULGARέSTAN GΦΗMENLERέ OLARAK NE SIKINTILAR ΗEKέYORYZ ACABA,HέΗ DάήάNDάNάZ Mά? SOKAKTA,έήTE,OTOBάSTE...NE GέBέ PROBLEMLER YAήIYORUZ ACABA?
έήTE BU SORUNLARDAN BέRέ OLAN 'BULGARistanlύ'έFADESέ.BU έFADE έLE έLGέLέ PROBLEMέ OLAN VAR MI? SANIRIM BέR KISMIZIN VAR.VAR Kέ DERS ΗIKARACAΠIMIZ OLAYLAR YAήIYOR,BUNLARLA KARήI KARήIYA GELέYORUZ.ήέMDέ BU OLAYLARDAN KάΗάK BέR ΦRNEK SUNAΗAΠIM.
LέSE 1.SINIF ΦΠRENCέSέYέM. SON DERECE έYέ BέR BULGARCAM VAR.BέRGάN SINIFTA OTURURKEN TELEFONUM ΗALDI TELEFONUNU CEVAPLAYAN Kέήέ AΠRI'LI BέR ARKADAήIM έDέ.BULGARέSTAN'DAN ARANIYORDU.FAKAT BENέ ARAYAN BULGAR VE BENέN ONUNLA BULGARCA KONUήMAM GEREKέYORDU.KISA BέR KONUήMA YAPTIKTAN SONRA GΦRάήMEME KULAK MέSAFέRέ OLAN ARKADAήLARIM YάZάME TUΠAF BέR ήEKέLDE BAKIYORLARDI.BέRDEN έΗLERέNDEN BέRέ'bulgar'DέYE ATLADI.NE DέYECEΠέMέ ήAήIRDIM.DAHA SONRA DέΠERLERέ...bulgar,bulgar...TάM SINIF BULGAR DέYE TUTTURDU.HERKEZ TARAFINDAN YADIRGANIYORDUM.2 DERS SONRA DέN KάLTάRά DERSέMέZ BAήLADI.KONUMUZ MEZHEPLER,DέN,DέL VE IRKTI.ΦΠRETMENέMέZ DέN VE MEZHEPLERέ ANLATMAYA BAήLAMIήTIKέ BέR ARKADAήIM'ayώe bulgar hocam.'DέYE ATILDI.BUNU DUYAN ΦΠRETMENέMέZ ADETA KUDURMUήTU.YANIMA YAKLAήTI VE 'BέR DAHA BU DERSE GELMEYECEKSέN,BENέM DERSέMDE SANA YER YOK'DέYEREK BENέ SINIFTAN UZAKLAήTIRDI.GELέN HEP BERABER DάήάNELέM.BέZ BULGARέSTAN SOYDAήIYIZ DέYE άZERέMέZE BU ήEKέLDE GέDέLMESέNE έZέN VERECEK MέYέZ?


Have you ever thought of what difficulties we face as Bulgaria immigrants? In the street, in the bus ... what kind of problems do we live through? One of these problems is the "from Bulgaria/Bulgarian" expression [it is acceptable to be called turk from bulgaria, but a bulgarian turk is something that is considered offensive by most Bg Turks in Turkey] Does anybody have problems with this kind of expression? I guess some of you do. We all experience and confront situation which will be good lessons for life. I will now present a small example from these events.
I am a high school student. I speak Bulgarian quite well. One day while I was sitting in class I got a call from one of my friends from Bulgaria. The person who called me was actually bulgarian and I had to speak in bulgarian with her. After a short talk, my friends who overheard my conversation started giving me strange looks. Suddenly one of them called me "bulgarian". I was stunned. Then the others ... bulgarian, bulgarian...and all of them started calling me bulgarian. They all attacked me verbally. After 2 classes we had our Religion class. The topic was Sects, Religion, Language and Race. The teacher had just started explaining religion and sects when one of my friends interrupted him by saying "Professor, Ayse is a bulagrian." Upon hearing it the teacher got mad. You will never come to this class anymore- he said, - there is no place to you in my lesson - and he forced me to leave.

Let's all think together. Are we going to let these people attack us in this way just because we are from Bulgaria?


It is a very shocking experience, and I do know of similar events with my some of my cousins. Xenophobia is really widespread in Turkey and I seriously believe the turkish government should deal with that.
I have heard similar situations with pontian greeks in Greece, who were discriminated for speaking turkish, despite swearing that they arae actually greek.

What do you think about this story?