THE CHANGING IMAGE OF TURKEY IN CONTEMPORARY BULGARIA
Études balkaniques (Sofia) 2025, N 2, pp. 446 – 466
DOI: https://doi.org/10.62761/645.EB.LXI2.05
Iskra BAEVA 
Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, Bulgaria
Abstract: The text is dedicated to the changes that have occurred in the image of Turkey in Bulgaria in the last three decades. After the end of the Cold War, geopolitical changes took place, which also affected Bulgarian-Turkish relations and, accordingly, led to changes in the image of Turkey in the minds of Bulgarians. During these decades, the image evolved from the traditional negative historical one, presenting Turkey as the successor of the Ottoman Empire, which ruled the Bulgarian lands for almost five centuries, to an ally of Bulgaria in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and a great neighbour. In the past few years, however, as hostilities flared up in the Middle East and Ukraine, the issue of refugees from the wars has again strained relations between President Recep Erdoğan’s Turkey and the European Union. These also affected the image of Turkey in Bulgaria, which again acquired features of foreign policy danger.
Keywords: Image, Turkey, modern Bulgaria, neo-Ottomanism, Erdoğan