By Krzysztof Popek, Ph.D
At the end of the 19th century, the Bulgarian lands were not ethnically homogenous. In 1887, about 73.75% (2 326 250) inhabitants pointed out Bulgarian as their native language, 19.25% (607 331) – Turkish, 1.85% (58 326) – Greek, 0.75% (23 541) – “Jewish” (Ladino), 1.59% (50 291) – Roma. Turks lived mostly in the North-Eastern parts of Bulgarian lands, Greeks were concentrated in the Black Sea’s coast and in selected cities as Plovdiv or Stanimaka. The other minorities lived in the smaller and irregularly located communities. In the first years after gaining the independence in 1878, the territory was divided into the two parts: the Principality of Bulgaria (a Turkish vassal and a Russian protectorate) and Eastern Rumelia (an autonomous province of the Ottoman Empire). They were united in 1885 and the structures of the Principality were transferred to Eastern Rumelia.
After 1878, in Bulgaria, the only official language was Bulgarian, which was one of the most important characteristics of the national nature of the state. The Bulgarian elites emphasized the unity between the state, nation, and language. The biggest critics of that regulation were the Sublime Porte and Great Britain which assumed that the Bulgarian constitution should recognize Turkish as second official language, and – as the result – Bulgaria should become the multi-ethnic state instead of a national one. It did not happen.
The system of Eastern Rumelia was not created by Bulgarians, but by the international commission consisted of the representatives of the Great Powers and Turkey. Bulgarian, Turkish, and Greek were introduced as the three official languages of the. Every document concerning the whole Eastern Rumelia was published in these three languages. The correspondence with the Sublime Porte, as sovereign of the province, was exchanged in Turkish. In the communes (obshtina), counties (okoliya), and departments (departament), the language of administration and courts was adapted to the majority (which gave an advantage to Bulgarians). In the case of territories, where two or more same numerous communities lived, their languages were recognized as official.
There was a big difference between the official status of languages and the real practice in Bulgaria at the end of the 19th century. The constitutional articles about the one official language in the case of the Principality and the three in Eastern Rumelia do not close the topic about the language reality of the Bulgarian public sphere after the Revival. The examples of the functioning of minorities in the parliaments, local institutions, courts, schools and election system show that the authorities accepted the use of a language other than Bulgarian, only if it was not contradictory with their interests. As a result, there were a lot of legal loopholes freely used by the government, which can be illustrated by the cases of canceling mandates or voting results because of the language issue. The concessions in that matter were made to get the support of the numerous Muslim minority (like during the regime of Prince Alexander Battenberg in 1881–1881, Stefan Stambolov in 1886–1894 or Konstantin Stoilov in 1894–1899). In other examples, the law became less important than the practice. It is worth to point out that long after 1878 the lingua franca in the East of Yantra river was still Turkish, and in the West – Bulgarian. Finally, we cannot say that the Bulgarian authorities led an assimilative policy regarding the minorities – the place of Bulgarian language in the public sphere was not linked to the nationalistic purposes, but to the practical matters.