| Summary/Abstract |
The Bulgarian decision to deport 250,000 Bulgarian Turks to Turkey in August 1950 came as a shock to the Democratic Party (DP). As a party that had taken power only three months ago, the DP was not prepared to accept the influx of thousands of immigrants. The deportation initially challenged the DP’s legitimacy at home and abroad because the DP tried to exercise its political hegemony over the opposition and to become a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). To counter criticism in Turkey and to protect its image in the international arena, the DP formulated a set of policies, ranging from diplomatic channels to anti-communist discourses and victimization of immigrant children and women. Based on primary and secondary accounts, the article argues that the deportation of Bulgarian Turks was a challenge – and simultaneously a source of legitimacy – to the DP at the beginning of its rule.
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