Mapping Turkish Literary Culture in Communist Bulgaria (1944–1969): Institutional Frameworks, Printed Press, and Publications
Mapping Turkish Literary Culture in Communist Bulgaria (1944–1969): Institutional Frameworks, Printed Press, and Publications

Summary/Abstract: This article presents a historical and contextual outline of Turkish literary culture that developed in Bulgaria between 1944 and 1969. Taking as its starting point the general lack of scholarly attention to this field, it examines Turkish-language literary production within the broader historical and cultural framework of the Cold War. The first section analyzes how Turkish literary output took shape under state-controlled publishing institutions, particularly within the scope of the communist regime’s post-1944 educational and cultural policies toward the Turkish minority. The article highlights that nearly one thousand Turkish-language books were published during this period, including 113 original works by Bulgarian-born Turkish authors, most of whom remain little known today. This body of literature is evaluated through a classification into nine categories. The article proposes a new theoretical approach by using the concepts of literary space, Balkan literary zone, and Rumelian Turkish literature in analyzing the development of Turkish literature in communist Bulgaria. In this sense, it examines this literary production not only within the sociocultural and political context of the period but also in relation to the broader transformation of Turkish culture in the post-Ottoman Balkans. Ultimately, the article argues that Turkish literary culture in Bulgaria should be regarded as a source of comparative perspectives for the study of Turkish, Bulgarian, and Balkan literatures as a whole, as well as for Cold War studies, rather than merely as a local or minority literature.

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