[2] In late December 1989, a month after the resignation of General Secretary Todor Zhivkov, the "Big Excursion" came to a genuine end, with the new government promising to restore the rights of Bulgarian Muslims.

Though modern use of the term "ethnic cleansing" dates back to the early 19th century,[6] it is usually understood to have come into common usage with the breakup of Yugoslavia, which began in earnest in 1991, two years after the start of the "Big Excursion".

The Bulgarian government described the forced migrations as the "Big Excursion" (Bulgarian: Голямата екскурзия, romanized: Goliamata Ekskurziya) because officially the border with Turkey was allegedly opened "to allow tourists to visit the neighboring country,"[2] and the regime in Sofia claimed that victims had only left temporarily to visit relatives abroad.

[13] Since Pomaks and Turks traditionally lived in different parts of Bulgaria, authorities used individuals' place of origin to "impose a preferred ethnic category on a person.

It will be like Cyprus or something.In discourse, the "Big Excursion" is sometimes merged with the longstanding assimilationist policies of the Bulgarian state towards its Muslim minority or the "Revival Process" in particular.

[18] Following on from the simmering tensions between the Communist regime and Bulgaria's Muslim population, the Bulgarian state increasingly cracked down, arresting many.

[19] On May 29, 1989, General Secretary Todor Zhivkov announced the opening of the border with Turkey, ostensibly "to allow tourists to visit the neighboring country,"[2] for three months at most.

[11] Large numbers of Muslims, many of whom, like Rasim Ozgur, had already prepared to leave the country in the face of state intimidation, surged to the Turkish border.

[22] In response to international backlash, particularly from Turkey with the support of the United States, the Communist Bulgarian regime insisted that the victims of the "Big Excursion" had left voluntarily on tourist visas and thus could not be properly referred to as deportees.

[26] Soon thereafter, however, a crowd of over 100,000 fueled by false rumors of Soviet military actions against Bulgarian Turks and Muslims gathered in Istanbul's Taksim Square shouting anti-Bulgarian slogans.

[31] Even after closing its shared border with Bulgaria, Turkey continued to reiterate its desire for a diplomatic agreement to address the refugee crisis caused by the "Big Excursion".

However, because records in both Russia and the United States remain sealed and the topic has received little scholarly attention, the precise role that the "Big Excursion" played in the larger context of the then-waning Cold War cannot be confirmed.

[33] The United States Senate officially condemned the "Big Excursion" and an international fact-finding mission was organized, albeit without participation from any Soviet Bloc nation.

Bulgarian Turks were themselves largely employed in the agricultural sector and the expulsions of the "Big Excursion" came about at the same time as the annual harvest.

[37] Zhelev even worked to defend the then-nascent Movement for Rights and Freedoms against a legal challenge from nationalists and the post-communist Bulgarian Socialist Party which could have led to the MRF's dissolution.

[38] In less than two years after the fall of Zhivkov, religious and Turkish-language schools were re-opened across Bulgaria, a new national constitution was adopted guaranteeing freedom of religion, and the state began to officially restore the previous names of Muslims which had been forcibly Bulgarianized throughout the Revival Process.

[38] Similarly, MRF leader Ahmed Dogan worked to marginalize ultra-nationalist elements within the Turkish community and refrained from calling for autonomy or independence.

"[3] While the events of 1989 were not front-page news in the West, the allure and moderating influence of potential European Union (EU) membership contributed to the subsequent re-integration of expellees into Bulgarian society.

[5] However, that recognition was largely ignored by scholars,[33] and to date Bulgaria does not officially commemorate the ethnic cleansing and the state has not brought criminal charges against any individual involved in carrying out the "Big Excursion".

"[43] Less than a week after the 2012 recognition of the event as ethnic cleansing by the Bulgarian Parliament, the far-right[44][45][46] ultranationalist[45] political party, Ataka, introduced a new bill officially contesting the declaration.

[47] According to the bill's authors the declaration and recognition of the 1989 ethnic cleansing would represent a "boost" for "'separatists'", presumably in reference to the nation's Turks and Muslims.

[47] This reasoning is in-line with that of Bulgarian nationalists more generally, who often cast the Turkish and Muslim minority in the "role of perennial anti-Bulgarian separatists.