Ahmed Nuri (BG-Swiss Fellowships for Bulgarian Junior Scholars, Oct ‘24 – Jul ‘25) will present his progress on:

The Majority of the Minority: Turkish Literature in Bulgaria’s Communist Semiosphere, 1944-1969

26 June 2025 (Thursday), at 16:30

Moderated by Oleksiy Polunin.

Abstract: In my second and final seminar, I will present a historical and contextual overview of Turkish literary culture that developed in Bulgaria between 1944 and 1969 —a field that has remained largely overlooked in existing literary scholarship. This presentation will focus on two key foundational channels through which this literary culture took shape. First, I will highlight the main characteristics of the Turkish literary press that emerged after 1944, with particular attention to Yeni Işık (New Light) and its supplement Çağdaş (Modern), Yeni Hayat (New Life) and its supplement Şafak (Dawn), and Halk Gençliği (People’s Youth), along with several regional newspapers. Second, I will present the first complete catalog of original literary works published by Bulgaria-born Turkish authors between 1952 and 1969. These works include poetry, short stories, long stories, novels, and anthologies, which were primarily published by state-sponsored publishing houses.

Drawing on extensive archival research conducted in libraries and collections across Bulgaria and beyond, I will offer broader insights into the mechanisms, themes, and stylistic features of Turkish literary culture during this period. By situating these literary works within their wider sociohistorical and ideological contexts, I will argue that this literature should not be understood merely as a local expression or minority literature. Rather, it offers a valuable lens for comparative literary studies — intersecting with broader Balkan and “minor” literary histories and contributing to a rethinking of Turkish literature and its historiography. In closing, I will propose several conceptual and methodological frameworks for future research.