Muslims in Bulgaria constitutes about 12.2 % of the entire population, hence Islam in Bulgaria is one of the sought out Bulgaria religion. The Bulgarian Muslims are the healthy mix of Turks, Pomaks, Roma, Muslim Bulgarians and Crimean Tatars. They inhabits the northeastern Bulgaria as well as the Rhodope Mountains. Majority of the Bulgaria Muslims are Sunni Muslims and few are the followers of Shi'a sect. Historians assume the conquest of Bulgaria by Ottoman Empire took place around 14th Century.
The Muslims in Bulgaria are categorized in the following groups:
- Bulgarians - 131,000
- Roma- 103,000
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- Turks- 713,000
- Others- 20,000
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The Muslims in Bulgaria were subjected to various persecution in the later years as the Christians considered them as foreigners, despite being their ethnically Bulgarian. Sunny days of Bulgaria Muslims again rose in after the fall of Zhivkov regime in 1989. During those days new mosques were constructed in large number in various cities and villages of Bulgaria.
Muslims in Bulgaria also developed themselves culturally and they started publishing their own newspaper "Musulmani" in Bulgarian and Turkish language. Muslims schools also started functioning across the entire Bulgaria. Despite undergoing so much turmoil in the past and present years, the Muslims in Bulgaria has retained their cultural and civil rights with full co-operation.
