ocr: The government has sought to assimilate seperate ethnic groups, thereby suppressing culturalidentities. During the 1970 Os, Bulgarian Mus. lims, or "Pomaks, had been torce dto change Muslim names to Bulgarian ones.Bulgarian Turks were targetedin the 1980s.Despite the granting of linguistic freedom 111 1989, there was a mass exo dus of ethnic Turks, when 3UU,UU - or 40%,left for T'urkey. Their farming slalls have traditionally made an important contribution to the agricultural sector. Recent privatization pro. gramme. S left many Turks landless and provoked new emigration. The Turkash party, ,t ...
