The rise of the Ottoman Empire and fall of the Soviet Union left a deep impact across the

world,
by altering the global economy, inflating/destroying the local economies of nations directly
involved, and had a lasting effect on people’s perceptions of leftover imperialist families to this
day. Such nations are dubbed ‘Superpowers’ because of how much influence they have across
the world, a metaphorical keystone in the arch composed of nations under its influence. When
the keystone of an arch crumbles, so does the arch, and though it will eventually be rebuilt, this
takes time and forever leaves a mark, rebuilt but not forgotten. In this case, the crumbled
keystone is the Ottoman Empire, and the new is the Soviet Union. Both superpowers contributed
to major changes in lifestyle and stigmas across the world, such as the rise of the iron curtain and
fall of imperialism.

The rise of the Soviet Union left a significant impression on all the citizens under its influence,
one such country was Bulgaria. Being behind the iron curtain meant that most people lived a
very simplistic and isolated lifestyle, devoid of much variety and excitement. Life behind the
iron curtain was much different to that of someone in a capitalist country, everything was
provided; free healthcare, free education, and free child support. One of the major disadvantages
of the socialist system was that it didn’t promote any creativity or innovation, because there was
no need, one brand of dish soap, one brand of canned foods, generic and utilitarian. Although
restricted, the socialist system had many upsides, such as the near nonexistent population of
homeless people, and overall gender equality. Though the employers still preferred men, they
hired women as well because they were cheaper to pay and more hardworking.1 This was due to
the focus of the party being centralized around the community and society rather than the
individual, everyone was viewed equally as a citizen and member of the Bulgarian socialist
party, since everyone did the same jobs and lived the same lives. This general equality wasn’t
just confined to the workers, there was no gender separation in schools. In such schools, the
students were fed propaganda as well as normal schoolwork, preaching how horrible the other
countries were. This was quoted in an interview with Idil Çavuş, who lived in Bulgaria during
the time of the Soviet Union.

“So we read that in the capitalist system, workers are suffering and they’re all poor, and they’re
all these rich barons that are exploiting them, and the capitalist system and America was
portrayed as this incredibly vicious place to live. So we didn’t- growing up, the children, we
didn’t have any desire, we didn’t have any thinking that somewhere else life might be better.”

Such teachings being present in schools is out of the ordinary, to say the least, and provides an
example of how much the rise of a superpower can affect people’s day to day lives, down to an
individual’s worldview. Global events don’t only change one’s lifestyle, but also alter the minds

1
https://blogs.bu.edu/guidedhistory/moderneurope/molly-wolanski/
of generations to come. Having such a message plastered into your mind and everywhere you
look is a drastic deviation from the pre-Soviet era that was implemented with the Bulgarian
Socialist party, and by extension the rise of the Soviet Union.2

All the upsides of Socialism came at the cost of many of the most important freedoms that many
take for granted, the freedom of speech and expression were extremely suppressed if not banned,
for instance it was illegal to say anything negative about the Bulgarian Government. Those who
openly voice their opinions opposing the party were heavily monitored or punished. This is
illustrated by another interview conducted with Idil Çavuş about her father Embiya,
anti-Socialist activist, former Turkish intelligence agent and political prisoner. “my father had
been a political prisoner so every um.. I think every month or every week he had to present
himself to the police to make sure that he is not in any political activities.” This was another
effect of how demanding and restrictive the Socialist party was when it came to maintaining
complete power over its people. The rise of a global superpower as influential as the Soviets
managed to seep into the governments of all the other Communist or Socialist nations within the
Soviet Union, eventually turning them into facsimile reproductions of the USSR. The easiest
way to control a large population is by making them all think the same way, it was because of
this that a looming sameness forced upon people across the countries behind the Iron Curtain. All
variation and creativity was erased for decades, leading generations to live the same lives as their
parents and neighbors.

The Socialist System was already restrictive and demanding enough towards native Bulgarians,
and was even more astringent for Bulgarian citizens of Turkish descent. Most Bulgarians
harbored a very racist stigma towards Turks, or Anti-Turkism,3 owing to the fact that the
Ottoman Empire ruled over Bulgaria for nearly five hundred years, from the conquest after the
fall of the Second Bulgarian Empire in the late fourteenth century to its liberation from the
Ottomans in 1878. The five centuries of oppression left a sourced spiteful taste in the mouths of
native Bulgarian families, which led to many decades of racism which continues to be prevalent
to the modern day. It was because of this blatant and deeply rooted racism that Turks were
treated as second class citizens, and had to suffer through much more than other ethnic groups.
Although the people who were on the receiving end of this racism had no correlation with the
actions of their ancestors, they were treated like second class citizens nonetheless. One of the
apparent issues was the fact that the Bulgarian government passed laws that only applied to
Turks, putting the people affected by such racist laws in a serious predicament.

“By the time I was seventh grade i started to understand more about the difficulties of being
Turkish in bulgaria. For example, I wouldn’t have been allowed to go to any college, turkish

2
https://www.britannica.com/place/Bulgaria/The-early-communist-era
3
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Turkism
people, um could go to college only if they sign an agreement that they will never emigrate to
another country, that they’ll be staying in Bulgaria, or usually turkish students were not
truly-they couldn’t get into good colleges, that’s why actually my parents encouraged me to play
violin and thinking that maybe the music will be a more even playing field. But also, um overall
turkish people were treated as a second degree citizen, so I think my parents were primarily
concerned about my future, and that is why i was a good student, they wanted me to have a good
education.”

Such laws that affected a certain group of people are an example of how the fall of the Ottoman
Empire affected the way families interact with their society, and how global events influence the
socioeconomic dynamic between members of a certain group of people and the world around
them. Racism can place groups of people at an economic disadvantage if the people in power
belong to an ethnicity that resents another. Although some may not realize it, they could harbor
some feelings of racism towards others that were likely planted in your subconscious by those
who influence you the most; news, parents, or friends. If you ever walked through a
neighborhood and got a bad or spine tingling feeling because it was populated by a different
ethnicity, you have experienced a form of subconscious racial prejudice. Though one might think
that they have overcome such prejudice, they are often wrong, these feelings are passed down
through generations. Likely not taught verbally, but children learn from the actions of their
parents, who tend to mimic the ideologies of whoever yells the loudest, such is human nature.
These attitudes towards others are often triggered by a large international event, such as slavery
in the United States and the fall of the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East.

However, everything changed drastically when my mother moved to Turkey. Through a program
agreed upon by both the Turkish and Bulgarian governments, Turks could emigrate to Turkey if
they had relatives living there, so my mother and her parents hopped on a train across the
Turkish/Bulgarian border. Long gone was the sense of extreme comradery and the readily
available education and healthcare. Because Turkey was capitalist at the time, there were so
many new and amazing things my mother was exposed to that she was shielded from in
Bulgaria, and had to endure the hardships of being a Turk that didn’t speak a word of Turkish. At
first this proved to be an issue, though her parents were content with their new life, for the first
time being a Turk among Turks instead of being an outsider.

Finding any reliable sources was and still is very difficult, given that both countries have made
an effort to erase pieces of history, many of which being foreign relationships between the two
countries, and with the fall of the Soviet Union, much of Bulgaria’s history during the Cold War
disappeared with it. The only primary sources I could procure were my own mother,
grandmother, and grandfather. Although I can get information out of my mom, but my
grandparents don’t speak a word of English. Finding the bigger details hidden in my
grandfather’s mind that have been accumulated through years of being involved with the
Bulgarian government for protesting, and experience with Turkish Intelligence has proven to be
the most difficult. This being because he has Alzheimer’s, and often switches between the
multitude of languages he learned and picked up through his work as a Turkish spy. It’s been like
standing at the entrance of a goldmine filled to the brim with every possible detail of the Soviet
Union’s inner workings, but having a six door thick vault door standing between you and the
mineshaft. The only other sources I have been able to find are second hand sources and
Wikipedia, which has been dubbed an insufficient source by teachers across America. Even with
the advanced search engine (Jstor) provided, the relevant sources have been few and far between,
and very vague, giving a brief history at best.

Although finding specific examples of the two events I researched proved extremely difficult,
proving my thesis is relatively easy. When one analyzes the relationship of global events, the
correlation with an individual or group of individuals becomes clear. The Great Depression, both
World Wars, and the final fall of imperialism in the 1940s just to name a few. Events of
monumental proportions such as these impact people’s lives through what I like to call “the big
three;” Economy, Conflict, and Politics. These are the most prevalent categories by which a
global event triggers change in an individual’s life. The Great Depression drastically changed the
global stock market, affecting the lives of both investors and consumers by putting holes in their
pockets wherever American businesses were present. There is a reason why we call World War I
and World War II “World Wars,” because they drag nations across the globe into conflict with
each other, forcing them to pick a side or be trampled, switching the entire population to build up
and fuel the war machine. The final category, and the one focused on by this research paper is
politics, which not only is the biggest contributor to globalized events, but also factors into the
other two; Economy and Conflict are both controlled by politics. The downward spiral of
Imperialism first began with the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in April of 1920,4 and finally
ended after World War II, when the last bastions of imperialism; England and Japan fell into
rapid decline. The end of empires leave areas in a position of political instability, providing an
opportunity for otherwise unpopular political parties to seize control, in this case, the Soviets.
The nations of Southern Europe left vacant by the Turks and Brits were easily converted to
communism, finally out of one oppressive system, and tricked into joining another by believing
in unfulfilled ideologies and political promises.

We live in a globalized world, no longer are country specific events contained to that single
nation, but rather impact people and families worldwide. Whether it be through the economy, a
conflict, or political movements and decisions, the rise and fall of global superpowers impacts
and continues to impact the lives of individuals for years to come.

4
​https://nzhistory.govt.nz/war/ottoman-empire/collapse
Endnotes
1. https://blogs.bu.edu/guidedhistory/moderneurope/molly-wolanski/
2. https://www.britannica.com/place/Bulgaria/The-early-communist-era
3. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Turkism
4. https://nzhistory.govt.nz/war/ottoman-empire/collapse