The Destruction of Thracian Bulgarians in 1913

"The Destruction of Thracian Bulgarians in 1913" (Bulgarian: "Разорението на тракийските българи през 1913 г.", Razorenieto na trakiiskite balgari prez 1913 g., also translated as "The Devastation" or "The Ruin of the Thracian Bulgarians in 1913") is a book, published by Bulgarian academic Lyubomir Miletich in 1918, which describes the mass extermination and ethnic cleansing, caused to the Bulgarian population in Eastern Thrace and Eastern Rhodope Mountains (now mainly in Edirne Province, Kırklareli Province and Tekirdağ Province in Turkey and in Evros Prefecture in Greece) during the Second Balkan War and in a short period after it.

Although not explicitly stated in the book, the murdered Thracian Bulgarians are estimated to have been 50,000- 60,000, which was 20% of the Bulgarian population in Thrace; the rest of the Christian Bulgarians either died or fled. The ethnic cleansing targeted 300,000 Bulgarians, who were killed or expelled.

Whеn the military actions between Serbia, Greece, Montenegro and Romania against Bulgaria were in full progress, the Ottoman Empire took advantage of the situation to recover some of its former possessions in Thrace including Adrianople. In the beginning of July 1913 its forces crossed the Bulgarian border on the line Midiya-Enos, settled by the Treaty of London in May 1913. Because the Bulgarian troops had all been allocated to the front with Serbia and Greece, the Ottoman armies suffered no combat casualties and moved northwards and westwards without battles. Thus reoccupied territories were given back to the Ottoman Empire by the Treaty of Constantinople, signed on September 16. Despite that, the mass extermination and etnic cleansing continued in the areas controlled by the Ottomans even after this date. Shortly after the end of the hostilities the author interviewed hundreds of refugees from these regions, travelled himself in the places where these tragic events happened and systematically depicted in detail the atrocities, made from the Young Turks' regular army, Ottoman paramilitary forces and partly from local Greeks. As a result of this violent process approximately 200,000 Bulgarians were killed or forced to leave their homes and properties forever, seeking salvation in territories, controlled by Bulgarian army and paramilitary formation IMORO. The entire community of the Thracian Bulgarians was wiped out. Their inheritors in contemporary Bulgaria are about 800,000 people.

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