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Gajals
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Gajals
Gajals or Gadzhals (Balkan Gagauz Turkish: Gacallar) are a Turkic ethnic group living mainly in the Eastern Balkans and Turkey. Gajals mainly settle in the northeastern Ludogorie region of Bulgaria, as well as in the region of Eastern Thrace. Because of the Turkic language, and the Islamic faith, Gajals are usually ranked as a subgroup among Turks. Balkan-Gagauz is the main language, and the total number of Gajals is about 300,000 people, including about 20,000 native speakers. They are believed to be descendants of Pechenegs and Cumans. They are closely related to the Gagauz people, leading to claims that they are both essentially the same people, with the only difference being religion.
The term Gajal was first used in Ahmed Vefik's dictionary Lehçe-i Osmani written in 1873–1876. According to him, Gajal was a word used to describe gypsies of Varna and Balchik. In fact, his dictionary is the only Turkish dictionary which mentions this word. The Yearbook of the Varna State High School by the Škorpil brothers (Hermann Škorpil and Karel Škorpil) from 1898, says:
"In our research we paid attention to the questions - what happened to the first non-Slavic Bulgarians? Is it possible that these people, who won, disappeared completely in two centuries, mixed with Slavs, whose character was completely opposite to the character of the ancient Bulgarians? We came to an opinion that cannot be final until more material is collected, namely: that today's Muslim population of Deliorman - the Gajals, and perhaps the Christian Gagauz in Eastern Bulgaria are the remnants of non-Slavic Bulgarians."
Soon their theory became very popular and was accepted by a number of historians, such as Gavril Zanetov, one of the supporters of the Turkic theory of the origin of the Bulgarians. Zanetov perceived both the Gajals and the Gagauz as descendants of non-Slavic Bulgars. His source was also the Škorpil brothers - but with one difference - he added that the Alevi population of Balbunar, Silistra and Varna were also Bulgarians who had converted to Islam, because
"they give sacrifice for St. Elijah (actually Ali, local Christians believed that Ali was related to the Christian Elijah, which is not true), drink and don't hide their faces".
Lyubomir Miletich was another historian who also supported the Škorpil brothers' theory in his book The Old Bulgarian Population in Northeastern Bulgaria from 1902. Miletich, who had visited the Ludogorie region wrote in his book that:
"they (Turks of Deliorman) are old inhabitants, they did not come from Asia Minor, as the Turks from Tuzluk (region covering most of Targovishte) did, and that from time immemorial their ancestors knew each other as locals."
His other claims were that the Deliorman Turks have a different language and dialect.
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Gajals
Gajals or Gadzhals (Balkan Gagauz Turkish: Gacallar) are a Turkic ethnic group living mainly in the Eastern Balkans and Turkey. Gajals mainly settle in the northeastern Ludogorie region of Bulgaria, as well as in the region of Eastern Thrace. Because of the Turkic language, and the Islamic faith, Gajals are usually ranked as a subgroup among Turks. Balkan-Gagauz is the main language, and the total number of Gajals is about 300,000 people, including about 20,000 native speakers. They are believed to be descendants of Pechenegs and Cumans. They are closely related to the Gagauz people, leading to claims that they are both essentially the same people, with the only difference being religion.
The term Gajal was first used in Ahmed Vefik's dictionary Lehçe-i Osmani written in 1873–1876. According to him, Gajal was a word used to describe gypsies of Varna and Balchik. In fact, his dictionary is the only Turkish dictionary which mentions this word. The Yearbook of the Varna State High School by the Škorpil brothers (Hermann Škorpil and Karel Škorpil) from 1898, says:
"In our research we paid attention to the questions - what happened to the first non-Slavic Bulgarians? Is it possible that these people, who won, disappeared completely in two centuries, mixed with Slavs, whose character was completely opposite to the character of the ancient Bulgarians? We came to an opinion that cannot be final until more material is collected, namely: that today's Muslim population of Deliorman - the Gajals, and perhaps the Christian Gagauz in Eastern Bulgaria are the remnants of non-Slavic Bulgarians."
Soon their theory became very popular and was accepted by a number of historians, such as Gavril Zanetov, one of the supporters of the Turkic theory of the origin of the Bulgarians. Zanetov perceived both the Gajals and the Gagauz as descendants of non-Slavic Bulgars. His source was also the Škorpil brothers - but with one difference - he added that the Alevi population of Balbunar, Silistra and Varna were also Bulgarians who had converted to Islam, because
"they give sacrifice for St. Elijah (actually Ali, local Christians believed that Ali was related to the Christian Elijah, which is not true), drink and don't hide their faces".
Lyubomir Miletich was another historian who also supported the Škorpil brothers' theory in his book The Old Bulgarian Population in Northeastern Bulgaria from 1902. Miletich, who had visited the Ludogorie region wrote in his book that:
"they (Turks of Deliorman) are old inhabitants, they did not come from Asia Minor, as the Turks from Tuzluk (region covering most of Targovishte) did, and that from time immemorial their ancestors knew each other as locals."
His other claims were that the Deliorman Turks have a different language and dialect.