The Romani people, also known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group who traditionally lived a nomadic, itinerant lifestyle. Linguistic and genetic evidence suggests that the Romani people originated in the Indian subcontinent, in particular the region of Rajasthan. Their first wave of westward migration is believed to have occurred sometime between the 5th and 11th centuries. They are thought to have first arrived in Europe sometime between the 9th and 14th centuries. Although they are widely dispersed, their most concentrated populations are believed to be in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia.
Kyustendil Province is a province in southwestern Bulgaria, extending over an area of 3,084.3 km2 (1,190.9 sq mi), and with a population of 107,673. It borders the provinces of Sofia, Pernik, and Blagoevgrad; to the west, its limits coincide with the state borders between Bulgaria and North Macedonia, and between Bulgaria and the Republic of Serbia. The administrative center of the Province is Kyustendil.
Pernik Province is a province in western Bulgaria, neighbouring Serbia. Its main city is Pernik, and other municipalities are Breznik, Kovachevtsi, Radomir, Tran, and Zemen.
Pazardzhik Province is a province in Southern Bulgaria, named after its administrative and industrial centre: the city of Pazardzhik. The territory is 4,456.9 km2 (1,720.8 sq mi) that is divided into 12 municipalities with a total population of 275,548 inhabitants, as of February 2011.
Plovdiv Province is a province in central southern Bulgaria. It comprises 18 municipalities on a territory of 5,972.9 km2 (2,306.1 sq mi) with a population, as of February 2011, of 683,027 inhabitants. The province is named after its administrative and industrial centre — the city of Plovdiv.
Stara Zagora, formerly known as the Stara Zagora okrug, is a province of south-central Bulgaria. It is named after its administrative and industrial centre—the city of Stara Zagora—the sixth-biggest town in the country. The province embraces a territory of 5,151.1 km2 (1,988.9 sq mi) that is divided into 11 municipalities with a total population, as of December 2009, of 350,925 inhabitants.
Bulgarian Turks are ethnic Turks from Bulgaria. According to the 2021 census, there were 508,375 Bulgarians of Turkish descent, roughly 8.4% of the population, making them the country's largest ethnic minority. Bulgarian Turks also comprise the largest single population of Turks in the Balkans. They primarily live in the southern province of Kardzhali and the northeastern provinces of Shumen, Silistra, Razgrad and Targovishte. There is also a diaspora outside Bulgaria in countries such as Turkey, Austria, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway and Romania, the most significant of which are the Bulgarian Turks in Turkey.
Bulgaria joined the Council of Europe and ratified the European Convention on Human Rights in 1992 and joined the European Union in 2007. Despite this, Bulgarian compliance with human rights norms falls below the standard expected of an ECHR signatory. The European Court of Human Rights noted that of 596 applications dealt with by the Court in 2022, 25 resulted in a judgement finding at least one human rights violation.
Šuto Orizari, often shortened as Šutka, is a neighbourhood in the City of Skopje, North Macedonia, and the seat of Šuto Orizari Municipality. It is often regarded as the cultural capital of the Romani people in North Macedonia. An independent Romanistan was proposed here in the early 1990s by leaders of the Party for the Complete Emancipation of Roma.
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.
Tvarditsa is a town in Sliven Province, Southeastern Bulgaria. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Tvarditsa Municipality. As of December 2018, the town had a population of 5,659.
Gurkovo is a small town in the Stara Zagora Province, south-central Bulgaria. It is situated in the Tvarditsa Valley at the foothills of the Balkan Mountains. The town is the administrative centre of the homonymous Gurkovo Municipality. As of March 2024, the town had a population of 2,999.
The Romani diaspora refers to the presence and dispersion of Romani people across various parts of the world. Their migration out of the Indian subcontinent occurred in waves, with the first estimated to have taken place in the 6th century. They are believed to have first arrived in Europe sometime between the 9th and 14th centuries, via the Balkans. They settled in the areas of present-day Turkey, Greece, Serbia, Romania, Croatia, Moldova, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Hungary, Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czech Republic, Slovenia and Slovakia, by order of volume, and Spain. From the Balkans, they migrated throughout Europe and, in the 19th and later centuries, to the Americas. The Roma population in the United States is estimated at more than one million.
Glavinitsa is a town in northeastern Bulgaria, part of Silistra Province. It is the administrative centre of Glavinitsa Municipality, which lies in the southwestern part of Silistra Province, in the historical region of Southern Dobruja. As of December 2009, the town had a population of 1,928.
Bratya Daskalovi is a village in southern Bulgaria, part of Stara Zagora Province with a population of 750 inhabitants as of December 2009. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Bratya Daskalovi Municipality, which lies in the western part of Stara Zagora Province. It is located in the Upper Thracian Plain, the historical region of Thrace.
Balkan Roma, Balkaniko Romanes, or Balkan Gypsy is a specific non-Vlax dialect of the Romani language, spoken by groups within the Balkans, which include countries such as Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Serbia, Slovenia, Turkey etc. The Balkan Romani language is typically an oral language.
The Romani people are known by a variety of names, mostly as Gypsies, Roma, Romani, Tsinganoi, Bohémiens, and various linguistic variations of these names. There are also numerous subgroups and clans with their own self-designations, such as the Sinti, Kalderash, Boyash, Manouche, Lovari, Lăutari, Machvaya, Romanichal, Romanisael, Calé, Kale, Kaale, Xoraxai, Xaladytka, Romungro, Ursari and Sevlengere.
Chelopech Municipality is a municipality in Sofia Province, Bulgaria.
The official language of Bulgaria is Bulgarian, which is spoken natively by 85% of the country's population. Other major languages are Russian (23%), Turkish (9.1%), and Romani (4.2%). There are smaller numbers of speakers of Armenian, Aromanian, Romanian, Crimean Tatar, Gagauz and Balkan Gagauz, Macedonian and English. Bulgarian Sign Language has an estimated 37,000 signers.
Granit is a village in southern Bulgaria, Bratya Daskalovi municipality, Stara Zagora Province. The village is famous for the oldest tree in Bulgaria and one of the most ancient in the world, the Granit Oak, estimated to be about 1,700 years old. It was formed in 1945 upon the merger of two villages, Golobradovo and Skobelovo. In 1989 its population was 1103, while this number declined to 665 in December 2017.
