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Gradets, Sliven Province
Gradets (, "small town") is a village in southeastern Bulgaria, part of Kotel municipality, Sliven Province. It lies at , 380 m above sea level. As of 2019, the mayor is Vesselin Urunov of the GERB party ( Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria) and the population of Gradets is 2,434, which makes it the second most populous village in Bulgaria, after Aydemir, Silistra Province, and the most populous in Bulgarian Thrace. Gradets is situated in the Eastern Balkan Mountains, along the valley of the Luda Kamchiya. Gradets is characteristic because the vast majority of its residents are Bulgarian Roma (in 2000, 5,500 of 6,000 according to the then-mayor). In the early 20th century, Gradets had only around twenty Roma households, but their number later grew rapidly. Notable natives include politician Petar Gudev (1862–1932), officer Radko Dimitriev (1859–1918) and Mustafa Shibil, a 19th-century Turkish Muslim Roma brigand who served as Yordan Yovkov's prototype fo ...
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Petar Gudev
Petar Todorov Gudev () (13 July 1863, Gradets – 8 May 1932, Sofia) was a leading Bulgarian liberal politician, who served as Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r .... Gudev was appointed prime minister following the assassination of his predecessor Dimitar Petkov (with Dimitar Stanchov serving a few days as interim). His reign proved fairly brief, running from 16 March 1907 until 28 January 1908, and during this time he became notorious for corruption, plundering public funds for his own use.R. J. Crampton, ''A Concise History of Bulgaria'', Cambridge University Press, 2005, p. 129 References 1863 births 1932 deaths Chairpersons of the National Assembly of Bulgaria People from Kotel, Bulgaria People's Liberal Party politicians ...
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Chitalishte
A ''chitalishte'' (, ) is a traditional Bulgarian public institution and building that fulfills several functions at once, such as a community centre, public library, and a theatre. It is also used as an educational institution, where people of all ages can enroll in foreign language, dance, music and other courses. In this function they could be compared to the folk high schools of Northern Europe. Some larger urban ''chitalishta'' are comparable to 92nd Street Y in New York City. Etymology The term ''chitalishte'' combines the Bulgarian Slavic root, ''chital-'' ("reading") and the suffix ''-ishte'' (a place where preceding verb happens). Thus ''chitalishte'' literally means "reading place" or "reading room", a place where books are kept for public use. History The chitalishta of the 19th and early 20th century had a crucial role in preserving and developing Bulgarian culture and thus played an important role during the Bulgarian National Revival. The first institutions of ...
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Christian Rakovsky
Christian Georgiyevich Rakovsky ( – September 11, 1941), Bulgarian name Krastyo Georgiev Rakovski, born Krastyo Georgiev Stanchov, was a Bulgarian-born socialist Professional revolutionaries, revolutionary, a Bolshevik politician and Soviet Union, Soviet diplomat and statesman; he was also noted as a journalist, physician, and essayist. Rakovsky's political career took him throughout the Balkans and into France and Imperial Russia; for part of his life, he was also a Romanian citizen. A lifelong collaborator of Leon Trotsky, he was a prominent activist of the Second International, involved in politics with the Bulgarian Workers' Social Democratic Party, Social Democratic Party of Romania (1910-1918), Romanian Social Democratic Party, and the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. Rakovsky was expelled at different times from various countries as a result of his activities, and, during World War I, became a founding member of the Balkan Communist Federation, Revolutionary Balka ...
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Socialism
Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes the Economic ideology, economic, Political philosophy, political, and Social theory, social theories and Political movement, movements associated with the implementation of such systems. Social ownership can take various forms, including State ownership, public, Community ownership, community, Collective ownership, collective, cooperative, or Employee stock ownership, employee.: "Just as private ownership defines capitalism, social ownership defines socialism. The essential characteristic of socialism in theory is that it destroys social hierarchies, and therefore leads to a politically and economically egalitarian society. Two closely related consequences follow. First, every individual is entitled to an equal ownership share that earns an ...
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Hajduk
A hajduk (, plural of ) is a type of Irregular military, irregular infantry found in Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and parts of Southeast Europe from the late 16th to mid 19th centuries, especially from Hajdú–Bihar County, Hajdú-Bihar county. They have reputations ranging from bandits to freedom fighters depending on time, place, and their enemies. In the European lands of the Ottoman Empire, the term ''hajduk'' was used to describe bandits and brigands of the Balkans, while in Central Europe for the West Slavs, Hungarians, and Germans, and Eastern Europe for the Ukrainians, it was used to refer to outlaws who protected Christians against provocative actions by the Ottomans. By the 17th century they were firmly established in the Ottoman Balkans, owing to increased taxes, Christian victories against the Ottomans, and a general decline in security. Hajduk bands predominantly numbered one hundred men each, with a firm hierarchy under one leader. They tar ...
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Yordan Yovkov
Yordan Stefanov Yovkov () (November 9, 1880 – October 15, 1937) was a prominent Bulgarian writer from the interwar period. Biography Born in the village of Zheravna, Yovkov studied at First Sofia Men’s High School, from which he graduated in 1900 with honors, and became a teacher. After teaching for one year in a village in central Bulgaria he entered into the School for Reserve Officers in Knyazhevo as a cadet, before moving to Sofia University to study law in 1904. When the First Balkan War began in 1912, he received the rank of enlisted, and along with his brother Kosta, joined the 41st division (probably 41st regiment) at Bourgas. He was wounded by a bullet in his leg fighting in the Second Balkan War in 1913, during a battle near Doyran. Following this, he settled in Sofia and became an editor of the People’s Army (Narodna Armiya) magazine, and then librarian for the Minister of Interior Affairs and editor of a state publication. During World War I, he was sent to ...
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Muslim Roma
Muslim Romani people or Muslim Roma are people who are ethnically Romani and profess Islam. They may also be known as Muslim Gypsies, with some Roma preferring to use the term, not perceiving it as derogatory. They primarily live in the Balkans but are dispersed throughout Europe, with the majority being cultural or nominal Muslims. Significant minorities of Muslim Roma are found in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Kosovo, Montenegro and North Macedonia. They are also notably present in Crimea, Croatia (where 45% of the country's Romani population is Muslim), Romania,Ana Oprişan, George Grigore"The Muslim Gypsies in Romania", in International Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World (ISIM) Newsletter 8, September 2001, p.32; retrieved 2 June 2007 Serbia and Slovenia. The majority of Muslim Roma in the former Yugoslavia speak Balkan Romani and South Slavic languages, while many speak only the language from the host country's like the Albanized Muslim Ro ...
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Mustafa Shibil
Mustafa Shibiloglu, shortened form: Shibil, (Turkish: Mustafa Şibil/Şibiloğlu, lit. Mustafa son of Shibil), was a notable Muslim Roma born in Ottoman Bulgaria in the village Gradets, to a Turkish Roma Drandari Musician Family. Life During the Crimean War (1853-1856), with the help of the Kirdzhalis (of which he was a member), he opposed Ottoman sovereignty and robbed the Orthodox Christian Bulgarian population. He gained local power in the Balkan Mountains around Sliven. Panayot Hitov described him as "well built, tall, fair-skinned and broad-shouldered". Shibil was in love with Radka, a Bulgarian woman. Shibil's other wife was Jenda, who was also a Bulgarian woman. Mustafa Shibil held the title of Agha and lived like a Sultan in Sliven, with many homes and a big herd of goats. It is said that the people around him feared him. Death Mustafa Shibil was killed sometime between 1856 and 1870. Legacy Several Turkish Roma families in Bulgaria and those who emigrated to Tu ...
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Radko Dimitriev
Radko Ruskov Dimitriev (; ; 24 September 1859 – 18 October 1918) was a Bulgarian general who served as the head of the General Staff of the Bulgarian Army from 1 January 1904 to 28 March 1907, as well as a general in the Russian Army during World War I. Biography He was born in the village of Gradets ( Sliven Province) and was raised by his grandmother in Kotel. He later studied in the Aprilov Gymnasium in Gabrovo and participated in the organization of the April Uprising (1876). During the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878, he was a translator in the 2nd Guards Division of the Russian Army. In 1879, he graduated the Military School in Sofia; in 1881, Dimitriev was promoted to a Lieutenant and in 1884 he became Captain after graduating the Saint Petersburg Academy. When only a captain he was one of the pro-Russian officers involved in the plot to kidnap Prince Alexander of Battenberg and force his abdication in 1886, for which he was exiled by Prime Minister Stefan Stamb ...
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Roma In Bulgaria
Romani people in Bulgaria (; ) constitute Europe's densest Roma minority. The Romani people in Bulgaria may speak Bulgarian, Turkish or Romani, depending on the region. Statistics According to the latest census in 2011, the number of the Romani is 325,343, constituting 4.4% of the total population, in which only one ethnic group could be opted as an answer and 10% of the total population did not respond to the question on ethnic group. In a conclusive report of the census sent to Eurostat, the authors of the census (the National Statistical Institute of Bulgaria) identified the census results on ethnicity as a "gross manipulation". The former head of the National Statistical Institute of Bulgaria, Reneta Indzhova claims to have been fired by the Bulgarian Prime Minister in 2014 for attempting to check the actual number of the Romani and implied that neither the census did enumerate the Romani, nor its statistics did provide the "real data". The previous 2001 cen ...
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Bulgaria
Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey to the south, Serbia and North Macedonia to the west, and Romania to the north. It covers a territory of and is the tenth largest within the European Union and the List of European countries by area, sixteenth-largest country in Europe by area. Sofia is the nation's capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city; other major cities include Burgas, Plovdiv, and Varna, Bulgaria, Varna. One of the earliest societies in the lands of modern-day Bulgaria was the Karanovo culture (6,500 BC). In the 6th to 3rd century BC, the region was a battleground for ancient Thracians, Persians, Celts and Ancient Macedonians, Macedonians; stability came when the Roman Empire conquered the region in AD 45. After the Roman state splintered, trib ...
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