Millet people

The Millets (, also in Turkish pl. Milletler) are a Turkish-speaking ethnic group residing in Bulgaria, Romania, and Ukraine. They are native speakers of the Turkish language, and the majority adhere to Islam.

Etymology

The term "Millet" derives from the Millet system (e.g., Millet-i İslâm), an Ottoman administrative structure that categorized ethno-religious communities within the Ottoman Empire. For the community, identifying as "Millet" has evolved into an endonym representing not only adherence to Islam, but also speaking the Turkish language, maintaining traditional artisan crafts, and committing to Turkish and Ottoman cultural heritage.

Also known endonyms are Türkmen ("Turkmen") or Tayfa ("group", "tribe"), specially in Crimea. The term Tayfa was used by Turkmens to describe their tribes (still used by Turkmens in Central Asia as Taýpa).

Ottoman Period

Historical and archival research, particularly studies by anthropologist Egemen Yılgür, indicates that the origins of the community trace back to nomadic Turkmen tribes in Southern Anatolia (Kahramanmaraş, Çukurova) during the Seljuk and early Ottoman periods. The Millets have the same origin with the Abdals of Turkey, who are also Turkmens. According to Orhan Köprülü, the Abdals of Turkey are descendants of the Hephthalites. In other words, they are from the Khorasan region, the Millet community itself also nominates regions like Afghanistan.

In 18th- and 19th-century Ottoman tax registers (tahrir defterleri), Imperial Council registers (Mühimme Defterleri), and Sharia court records (Şer’iyye Sicilleri), this group was recorded as Göçer evlü Türkmān Ḳibṭīleri ("Nomadic Turkmen Copts"). These groups maintained symbiotic relationships with Turkmen tribal confederations, such as the Dulkadirli (İfrāz-ı Ẕūlkadriyye), Beydili, Komarlı, Tekeli, and Varsak—providing specialized services including blacksmithing, musicianship, woodworking, and animal husbandry.

In the late 17th century, in response to compulsory Ottoman settlement policies (such as the Resettlement Policy of 1691), these groups altered their traditional migratory routes and dispersed to Rumelia (the Balkan Peninsula) and the Crimea under the administrative category Rūmėli Perākendesi.

They settled with other Turkmens to the Balkans. Later, groups of them went to Desht-i Kipchak, even further to Crimea. Records show that Turkmens were mentioned in Desht-i Kipchak during the Crimean Khanate and afterwards. They came into contact with the Tatars. Some of them settled in Dobrudja in the late 19th century.

However in Crimea some researchers suggest Kurdish origin.

Taxation Differences

In the Ottoman fiscal system, settled Balkan Roma paid the "Roma Poll Tax" (Cizye-i Gebrān), whereas the Türkmān Ḳibṭīleri were taxed under state revenues (Māl-ı Mīrī) applicable to Turkmen tribal communities until the Ottoman tax reforms of 1858. This fiscal distinction confirms that the Ottoman administration kept this group administratively and fiscally separate from standard Romani groups.

Subgroups

The Millet community is internally divided into two subgroups based on their traditional occupational specializations and geographical distribution:

• Usta Millet ("Craftsman Nation / Nation of Masters"): Traditionally engaged in blacksmithing, metalworking, carpentry, and construction crafts. The name derives from the Turkish word usta ("master craftsman").
• Mehter Millet: Professional musicians who perform on the davul (drum), zurna, and other instruments at weddings and ceremonies, continuing the mehter musical tradition in civilian life.
• Turkmen Tatars: They established close historical contact with Nogais and Crimean Tatars in Dobruja and Crimea. Their primary languages are Turkish and Crimean Tatar.

Roma

Romani groups that gradually adopted the "Millet" identity for social status and religious alignment, but speak the Romani language at home. There is a distinct social distance between the core Millet groups and the Roma.

Language

The native language of the Millet community is Turkish (specifically Balkan Turkish dialects). In Dobruja and Crimea, Crimean Tatar is also spoken.

In the early 20th century, ethnologists such as Bernard Gilliat-Smith (writing under the pseudonym Petulengro) documented that the Millet group in and around Varna "did not speak a single word of Romani" and were indistinguishable from the local Turkish population.

Teberce

The artisan and musician branches of the community preserved a secret in-group jargon (argot) called Teberce, which is also used by the Abdals (Tebers) of Anatolia. The vocabulary used by the Ghurbet-Turkmens in Crimea shares significant similarities with that used by Abdals in Kırşehir and Adana (e.g., yeken "money", yersit/hersit "bread", genne "to come/go", aşınna "to take/steal").

Religion

The vast majority of the community adheres to Islam. Circumcision ceremonies, Islamic holidays, halal dietary principles, and funeral customs are central to social life. Historically, traces of Alevi, Bektashi or Shia traditions (such as mourning during Muharram and singing of Ilahs) have also been documented among certain branches in Crimea and Rumelia. A small minority adheres to Christianity.

Distribution

Today, the Millet population is concentrated in the following regions:

• Bulgaria: Silistra Province (Glavinitsa), Plovdiv Province (Stolipinovo, etc.), Varna Province, Shumen Province, Dobrich Province, Sliven Province, Haskovo Province, Burgas Province, and Yambol Province.
• Romania (Dobruja): Constanța, Medgidia, Mangalia, Babadag, Tulcea, and Călărași.

Social Status

The Millet community faces double marginalization within the ethnic landscape of the Balkans:

• From the perspective of state institutions and majority populations: State agencies and academia in Bulgaria and Romania often label this group sociologically as "Muslim Roma" or "Turkish Roma" (Turski Tsigani in Bulgarian, Țigani Turci in Romanian) and include them in EU Roma integration projects.
  • Far-right and nationalist political parties in Bulgaria (such as Revival or VMRO) oppose the registration of community members as "Turks". They refer to them as "Turkish-speaking Gypsies" and criticize their self-identification as Turks as an "inaccurate statement" or a "Turkification strategy".
• From the perspective of ethnic Turks: The local settled Turkish population, despite shared cultural and religious ties, sometimes maintains a subtle social distance from the Millet community.

Although frequently categorized under "Muslim Roma" or "Turkish Roma" in official censuses and academic literature, members of the community firmly reject Romani ethnic identity. They define themselves ethnically and culturally as Turkish/Turkic and specifically use the endonym "Millet".

However, among the community in Crimea, the term "Millet" is less common due to geographical and historical factors, instead, the similar designation "Tayfa" is used.

The Tayfa, also called as Turkmens of Crimea, in media and academia, also struggle to present their own identity because people simply classify them as Roma. Scholars argue that they have been mistaken for Roma due to their dark complexion. An article in a Crimean Tatar newspaper, which claims that they are not of Romani origin, states: "The Turkmen living in Crimea, along with other Turkic clans, belong to a tribal group closely related to the Uzbeks and Kyrgyz who inhabit the coast of the Caspian Sea. According to the accounts of Arab historians, the Turkmen - a people of half a million people who originally lived along the Amu Darya River - appeared in those ancient times and settled on the shores of the Caspian Sea. Their native language is Turkic. Part of the Turkmen population currently lives in Turkey. The Turkmen arrived in Crimea together with Turkic-Tatar tribes. The Crimean Turkmen live exclusively in the Adzhibey mahalle (quarter) of Karasuvbazar and constitute a very small community. A few families among them are located in the cities of Kerch and Akmesjid. Family ties between the Turkmen and the Crimean Tatars date from 1906. Turkmen customs and dialects differ from those of neighboring Roma tribes; in particular, Akmesjid and Karasuvbazar have their own language. For example, words such as dest, pay, kelb, nan, and ap indicate that the Crimean Turkmen belong to the Iranian peoples. The Turkmen, in contrast, differ from the Roma in language, customs, and social etiquette."

Contemporary Political and Legal Struggle

Because there is no separate ethnic category for "Millet" in official Bulgarian censuses, the vast majority of community members declare their ethnicity as "Turk".

In recent years, the community has initiated a legal and social struggle through civic associations. For example, the Usta Millet Council organized in Glavinitsa, Silistra Province, submitted a petition to the Council of Ministers of Bulgaria, declaring:"We are not Roma, we are Usta Millet. Our native language is Turkish. We demand that official institutions and the media stop calling us Roma and that incorrect statements in publications be corrected."

In the mid-2020s, the official status of the Millet community and the question of whether they should be recognized as an independent ethnic group became widely debated in Bulgarian public discourse, media, and politics.

In his field study titled "The Millet Ethnic Community in Bulgaria" (Миллетската етническа общност в България), researcher Dr. Asen Kolev brought the insider perspective into academia. By examining the conceptual differences between "people" and "nation/community", Kolev argued that the identity developed by the group does not fully align either with classical Romani categories or with settled Turkish sociology, representing a distinct ethno-social structure.

In politics, during the 2024–2025 Bulgarian general elections, statements by Delyan Peevski, a leader of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS), brought the issue onto the national agenda. Peevski discursively separated the Millet community from the traditional ethnic Turkish voter base during election campaigns and promised that they would be treated "not as second-class, but as first-class citizens".

These developments sparked debate among Bulgarian scholars and ethno-sociologists over whether the state should officially recognize the Millet community as a distinct ethnic or minority category.