Similarities and Differences between Bulgarians and Croats

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    20089 e ++4"*+4 nA . watq+a # 6+1rfiet*f ol*;tt"alet E'LCultural Understanding inEast EuroBe

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    SIMiLARITIES AND DIFFERENC ES BETWEENBULGARIANS AND CROATS: PERCEPTIONS OF HISTORY

    AND DEFiNING NATIONAL ROOTS IN PERIODS OFREViVALS AND POLITICAL CHANGES

    Dr. Ivan G. Iiiev

    The point of this article is to show how Bulgarians and Croats used their historical mithsin favor of different national doctrines. Today no serious scientist doubts that Bulgariansand Croats are two Slavic people, with verv similar laaguages and culture. Besides thecommon Slavic language, Bulgaria and Croatia also have a similar history, lasting iongerthan 1000 t''ears, characterized by short periods of glorv. and long periods of foreigndor.rinance. Despire rireir c!rnilon preclftlrinant Slar,ic toots. Eulgarians antl Cloats at-e nor10rl - Sla..ic. Ir.lrr 'rr'r-,'-',1.i:rimi.'r, Il'ini l{ "ier". ha'.-iirg siqnifir:ant srrl-rstrates ii oirllvleotLerra[ean inhabiranrs. ttlese u]crudc r[e Thracians, iii-vrians anri ]viacccionial:' tiirt:latter being either from Thracian, Greeh or lllyrian tribes or a separate people), whoseiands the Slavs inhabited in the VI-VII centuries, as weil as some later Turkicsuperstrates (Bu1gar, Avar, Kunan, etc.).B.tlr irr:h!tOn j nts, Eulgarians arrC O-ral-s. are of non-.-Sla!il origin. and are deri\.ed ironlthe names oI non-Slavic tribes. n-ho merged into the last Slalic popuiation The nameBulgarian is interpleted most serjotrsl" a:.meaning mi,':ed people oi: rebels. in Old Iuriiic.The nane CroaL is most probal_rll oi ir allian origill, aud al:t, has diiierenL inrerpreratious'possessing Ltrrcls , possessing \',.onlcn , friencls , etc. Jn ar similar $'a1-, other Slavic p.^otlleshat,e been knori'n throughout historl'by non-slaYic names examples are the Russians.l^,ho receir,ed their name from their firsi Scandinavian rulers, and the Czechs , q'ho havebeen also called Bohemians, after the name ol the Celtic tribe, that inhabited their lands inthe past. Despite the controversy of opinions, regarding this matter, the reference to thepast glory, associated I'ith such non-Slavic names, has Plal's6.t important role in thepreservation of the national consciousness and unity o{ the above - mentioned, alread-vSlalic peopl.-s.

    In the VII century, the Slavic tribes of the Eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula wereunsuccessful in creating tribal unions in present-day Macedonia, and present-day NorthernBulgaria, due to the Byzantine Empire and the probablv Turkic, Bulgar(ian) state bvAsparuch, created in 681 A.D. Little b1' little, the language of the Bulgar(ian)s wasreplacecl b1' the local Slavic dialect, and then ultiniateh- disappeared The new language.Siavic in nature, \\,as also called Buigarian. first by the Greehs, then from Bulgarian SlaYs

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    themselves. At the end of the X centurv, and the beginning of XI century the center 0f theBulgarian kingdom moved from Presra' to ochrid, after the Russian invasion led bySreiosl:ri. anri rhe coniru.sl of l.onh-Easi liulgaria b]. the Greeks. In 10ig, rire thole ofBulgaria was under Greek rule, which iasted for almost 200 years. The following era was ofthe 11 Bulgarian kingdom, which was finally destroyed by the Turkish invasion. in 1396. In1878, the Slavic Bulgarian state was rebu t, but it never reached its previous glory, and hasalwavs been a political satellite of Germany, Russia, or the uSA. The South-\\estern partof the former mighty Bulgarian kingdom became a part of yugosiavia, after world war I,under the name of x4acedonia, and, in 1991 - an independent country, with the same name.The slavic tribes of the west part of the Balkan peninsula underwent a rong process ofhistorical changes, which resulted into the existence of the present-day countries ofSlo'enia, croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegor)ina, N{ontenegro, and the above-mentionedMacedonia. The croats'were most powerful under their king Tomislav, at the beginning ofthe x centurl' After that, they were under the influence of Hungary, Turkey, and Austria.croatia became a separate independent country again in 1991, separating from yugoslavia- more than 100 years after the Bulgarians.

    N. Pavlovich - Asparuclt and his band heading for the Danube (Ig67 _69.)The neeci for national doctrines, or for the changing of national doctrines, appear aitimes, v'hen a nation is under foreign rule, or after sharp political changes, inside thenarirn. F.-.: Bulgarians, r*'o such pcrlods are cliscussecr: rhe Bulgarian Naiioual Rer.lral(r,hich occun.ed during most of the XIX century), when, as a part of the Otroman Emplre.Bulgarians fought against the Turkish, and the Greeks, for national identitl,. Jhg 5ss0116important period was after the collapse of the Soviet union (at the end of XX century),when the countrl' found itself in political and economic chaos, and all prer,ious values lrerelost. For croats. similar moments ri'ere the Croatian National Rer,ival (hnown also as ,fe

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    Illyrian moveme,rl), during the {irst half of XI century' u'hen Croats' being part of theHabshurg Empire. fought against Hungarisationi and the separation from Yugoslavia (at theend of XX century), when the country began to look for its new nationai identit-v'

    I. The nationai revivals 1n the XIX centuryTheBulgarianRer,ii,albegantnirT62,whenamonk,calledPaisiiofHilendar'wrotethe

    first history of Bulgarians. The beginning of the Croatian Revival was in 1813' r'hen thebishopofZagreb,MaksimilianVrhovac,issuedapleaforthecolleCtionof.nationa]treasures'.

    A comparison between Bulgarian and croatian national movements, at that time, showsthat Bulgarians began to search for their roots, without looking into the prehistoric past ofthe Balkan region (the exception being the above-mentioned present-day Macedonia, aformer Bulgarian territory, which separated from Yugoslavia as an independent country, andneeded an official nationai doctrine, too). Since the personalitv o{ Alexander the Great, atthe ,^nd of I\/Ill. anrl the beginning of XTX centurl'. among Bulgarians' was associaied I'iihGreecr lregar.rijng ancietlL I'laccclonia ir Gr.eeli regiol) ald rhe Thracjan hero Spaiiacusnh!r iirili!l sLrirrassfLrjl'\ 1'lar ih'- rnli' r'l a :r-mlrll ir thr []''riqat ian iiqht aqairlsi the TLrrl;ish'\''as nor known lor bulgarlans, tne lifsl persoo, \'Ilcr ilcrardeLi tllc r'uiBaLl'rl' r- ' -l I "l'"of Hilendar. considered the Bulgarians of Asparuch to be SlaYs That is why the name cftheBulgarians,duringthattime,wasa]t.a],sassociatedu'ithotherSlavs,andallbooktitleSof the period had the inseparable word combinatior, slavonic-Bulgarian slavonic-Bulgarianliisior.t.. siatonic-f)ulgarian Grantmar. and so ot'r. lnstead of looiiing for their- Thracjanroors. son,e li.lgarian jnt.-11ecrrra1s, such as Iasil Aprilor'. initia11l' accepierl lhe iclea o{li:lllnizatirn. L-ater thel. realizi.d that thel \'et.e Iiulgarian'. 2n I lregrrr L1r r'l]rl. i I iiL'r,;.lr rr al : r on'l.l'- o olr o.' s tiat '

    J. N'liicire The Croats arrive at Croatia (1867)

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    The croats rvere a different case altogether, being carhorics and closer to ihe westerntrvorld, and rne'itabry - to the Roman historiography, rong before the beginning of theirRer-j',a1. r::r,ria1c,i 1h:irsel-i... ir'ri Ljilli iiiih slar,s (ior eranplt, Lhe Glagoiirir riadiiionsof cyril and Methodius were kept longer, namely in croatia), but arso with the ancientI1i1'rs. It is not a coincidence that the first Croatian grammar, published in Roma b:, BartolKaSii. in 1604, rvas entitled Institutionum Linguae Ilyricae (Irlvrian Grammar). That ist'hy the croatian revir.-al rvas also called the lllyrlan A,Ioremena That movement claimedthat the homeland of slavs was actua y in the area of southern croatia, and they spreadnorthwards and *estwards rather than the other rva1. round. A revision of the theor1.,developed b5' Ivan Muzic, however argued that the Slav migration from the north didhappen, but the actual number of Slavic settlers was small and that the Illyrian substratewas pre'alent for the formation of croatian ethnicity. Both Bulgarians and croats regardedtheir 'new' homeland, as the Jews regarded the promised Land, and that was refrected inlater paintings.

    II. The post-communist erailjlilrlllr grrals and rtrans aan lrt' obserr-eri, tegarCing the sec.rnil (anrl thjrd) ,r-arr'oi't e'ir al: ir |rrlg:riia ;:r.l -.ro,tili. :lr rir- i]ir,r L,i th: Lr, -oirL r.. :rnrl ar tira rregirnirr..a,h-xxl centurl'. something similar could be seen in Sror.akia and Ukraine, for example. r,herelocals tried to delete connections r,ith Russians and Czechs. Tr_ving to distance theirnations from Turhs ald Russians, on the one hand, and {rom Serbians, on the other, someBulgarian and croatian schcrars anc.r pseudo schorars, began intensi'e propaganda. *.hichgoai r.'a:, ro sh0\i tha' borl-L lSulgalian aud cl,arian rllots \1 er-a lrom L.aLrian origin.

    O. ir,ekoyii - The Croats arrive ar lle.9ee (1905)

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    Some modern Croatian authors (Miatovii' etc ) defend the theorv' based on somefragrn"nturv data, that Croats' initialiy non-Slavs' moved from Central Asia to the BalkanPeninsula. It is true that the name oi this peopie is mosr probablv o{ Iranian origin' butethnonyms can be easily borrowed - a good example of this is the Turkic name Hungarian'however, Hungarians are not Turks' but Ugric people (as well as the 'Prussian' Bismarckdid not belong to some Baltic tribe' etc')

    SELIDBE HRVATA

    c'1,

    I HA8!Ai ltd {}4: ! Arslrdr

    ::164r00c0

    From Mitatovit - Iz riznice hrvatske povijesti i cultureInBulgaria,evenearlier,betweenthetwoworldwars,popularityacquiredthatthereis

    nothing Slavic in Bulgarians, but the language (what an insignificant detail!) Furthermore'it claimed thar the] are Huns Such a tireorl' exaggerated the role of that element of th-'Slavic -Bulgarian nation' who came from Asra with khan Asparuch The 'communist'historical thought in Bulgaria' after 1944' could boast of some serious rvorks' b1' V'Gyuzelev, V. Tapkova-Zaimova, D Dimitrov' regarding the origin of (Proto-) Bulgarians'Unlike that time' the post-communist Bulgarian 'historians' (some of them economists bymajor P. Dobrer') chose a neu' direction of investjgatjon Nol having linguisticpreparation, u'hich should at least include knorl'ledge of Greeli several Slavic' Turkic and

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    Iranian languages and making elementary mistakes about iinguistic facts, they began toclaim that the Bulgarians of Asparuch were not Turks, but lranians, and derived their rootseien ironr Lire ancient...Sunerians. '\n eloquent exantpli:.rI ihe iinguisric ignorance of P.Dobrev can be found on pages 95-96 in his cited book, where he says, making nodifference between Old Slavic (Oid Bulgarian) and Modern Russian, that in the List ofNames of Bulgarian Khans. the sentence I4PHI'IK X{HT 150 ,TET '(Khan') Irnik iived for 150years' is noi in Old Slavic, because in that case it should have been UeHI{K )I{UI 150 -\IET,but is rn Pamirian, because some inhabitant of the Pamir mountains could sav the samesentence, s,ith the same meaning in his lranian dialect)-

    Some of these modern 'historians', like t\e pre-war scientists and non-scientists, whodenied the role of the Slavic element in the building of the modern Bulgarian nation.followed their example, and reached conclusions, such as:'(Proto-) Bulgarians are neitfrerTurks, nor Slavs, because they are an older people than those ones' (see flnar,.ren I-{aerr

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    :

    There are almost no 'Aryan' nations in the world, and, for sure, the Steppe peoples ofEurasia were also not among them- In the steppe empires, rvhich Huns, Bulgars, Hazars'Nlongois created, ihere was a mixture of lribes, peoples, and ianguages' and after tlledecline of the corresponding superpower, a new configuration, and a new mixture of tribesand languages followed. The (Proto-) Bulgarians themselves were also not a homogenousmixture. Different tl'pes of burials were found in graves in North-Eastern Bulgaria' anddifferent language elements could be observed in the few preserved n'ords of the Bulgarlanguage. Along with possible lranian words, some Ugric elements in the nation and rvordsinthelanguagewerepossible,too:boththenameofVhanKormisos't'andhisdynasty-Vokit, cal be obviously compared to the Ugric eth-nony65 Cheremis (Mari)' and l/oguls(Mansi). The names .Kurt (used in some sources, regarding khan Kubrat), and Boris,however. are Turkic, as l'ell as the Bulgar tribal name Onogurs (from v'hich is derivedHungarians), as well as many other rvords. some titles, such as zhupan or kolobar, wereused both by Bulgars and Avars (another Turkic people). Even later, the ottoman Turkshad (and have) many Iranian and Arabic borrowings in their language, but nobodv savs thevarePersiansorArabs,although,anthropologicaliytheyareraiherlranians,unlikerealTurks. such as Kazakhs.

    There is ro dorLb,, that the (Proto-) BLrlgarians cante from Central Asia. But thc rerr.iar,: ol siir..niisis hegarr io search. in rhl spit-it oi lropulal-elr-niol0gr'. ctruniel.!aits ci iil',.-1 q, 1 i,111:rirl'. !l;t"jr l:ltre: oi llulgarian ilti.': sLri!l :15 \ 'lljl irill rLl i r llrL'l(Shuman) jn central Asia (see the map), uilhout e\en citing the sources, from which thisinlormation had been acquired. Such comparisons could

    be reasonable. if made by seriouslinguists;butsuchcoincidences,astheJapaneseandUpperSorbianu'ords'hztmeaning'1'es, in both languages. or the l\'lodern Bulgar-ian and S\iahiLi $'ort1 u.a meaning foI. mostpr.obabit mcan nothing.

    I tdlrrltte.llt,Iran.,-Sla., ji c,,o1.l.rs \r-1. ,ell, .'liL,us rl soni hisLltiiai period \1hi'-h i-'rarit, t.,lls ir.,[-, ilt:' iilui,. ]i iruiil[ ]rliljiril .'al i'r-tri i';llrrl in lhl Sle|ii 1:llllll''lges -ltrld il i: llinpossible. er-en actrrallt. probable. thaL some lranian (sarmarhian or Alanic) aristocratjcfamilies unified around themselyes some Slavic groups' in ihe same \\a) as rProluBulgarialandScanclinar'ianfarrriiiesdjclthlstOtheEast-Ba]lianicandpresenLdal'Ukr ainian and Russjan Slavs But' despite this fact' the search for the Croaiian andBulgarian roots in Central Asia, instead in East Europe' is some kind of a romaniicadventure. not truly scientic \4oreover' the ethnonym Serb is also from lranian origin andaccording to some scholars (Ii' Dobrer'), it is iust a phonetic variant of Croat'

    In concluslon, $,hat the best Bulgarian linguist. prof. Ivan Dobrer', says, is true: 'Ever]'atlemp'L that we, Bulgarians, make to give up our Slalic past' makes us look for our falsr'identity, in ridiculous places (such as Tibet or Pamir)' verl'often in a way' which sciencedenies and neglects'. This is true not only for Bulgarians but for- aL1 Slavs' too'

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    , nmrtocRaerivStrrrapcKara qxsurtr3aqff. Codur- 2005.lo.lAulais, kI.I4croqux xa Xr'pnaru.x. Ilroa.qna. 2003.,Ilnxsrpos, 5. Farraplrr. llnoctpora.ua xcropst. Codsr, 1994.,Ilnmrpor, E. 12 *rNra a 6lnrapcxara xctopu.a. Co$xa. 2005-.Itrnxnrpos, A. flpaOraraprre no ceBepHoro n 3atraAuoro gepxovopre. Co0!s. 1897.,{o6per, I4n. Ernrapcr