Kardzhali Кърджали
History Museum of Kardzhali (Pomerantsev, Moorish Revival, 1910s)
Coat of arms
Kardzhali Location of Kardzhali
Coordinates: 41°39′N 25°22′E / 41.65°N 25.367°E / 41.65; 25.367Coordinates: 41°39′N 25°22′E / 41.65°N 25.367°E / 41.65; 25.367
Country	Bulgaria
Province (Oblast)	Kardzhali
Government
• Mayor	Hasan Azis Ismail (MRF)
Elevation	275 m (902 ft)
Population (Census February 2011)
• Total	43,880
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
• Summer (DST)	EEST (UTC+3)
Postal Code	6600
Area code(s)	0361

Kardzhali (Bulgarian: Кърджали, Turkish: Kırcaali) is a town in Bulgaria, center of Kardzhali Municipality and Kardzhali Province in the Eastern Rhodopes. Near the town is the noted Kardzhali Dam.

Geography[link]

Kardzhali is located in the low eastern part of Rhodope Mountains, on both banks of the river Arda between the Kardzhali Reservoir to the west and the Studen Kladenets Reservoir to the east. The town is 260 km (162 mi) southeast of Sofia. It has a crossroad position from Thrace to the Aegean Sea — part of European transportation route 9.

Climate[link]

Kardzhali has a Humid continental climate according to the (Köppen Climate Classification). It is mainly dry all year round with the wettest month being December with just ten days of rainfall. The city has warm summers and cold winters.

History[link]

The location of Kardzhali has been inhabited since the Neolithic. Many artifacts, comprising ceramics and primitive tools, have been found during the archaeological excavations. Most of them are now exhibited in the local historical museum.

Later Thracian tribes settled in the area and developed a highly advanced civilization. They built many sanctuaries dedicated to the gods of the sun and the earth. Near the village of Nenkovo (northwest of Kardzhali), an artificial cave was found in 2001. It has the form of a woman's womb. Exactly at noon, when the sun is highest in the sky, a ray of light comes in through a stone slit forming a falitic shade in the cave. According to the Thracian beliefs, this is the conception of the new sun god. This cave is considered a complex astronomic facility (compared to Stonehenge in Great Britain) as the ray of light enters the cave on a single day of the year.^[2]

There are many stone castles and palaces that the Thracians built in the region — Perperek, Ustra, Vishegrad. The most magnificent is Perperikon, where a Thracian king resided. The place is becoming more popular as archaeological works are in progress and new artifacts are being discovered.

During the Byzantine period, Kardzhali was the center of a Christian eparchy — Achridos.^{[citation needed]} During the reign of the Bulgarian Empire, Kardzhali's name was Zherkovo and it was used by the Bulgarians until the 17th century. The Monastery of John the Precursor (Bulgarian: Йоан Продром or Йоан Предтеча) was built in the 6th-8th century and is now a monument of medieval architecture.

The name Kardzhali is mentioned for the first time in Ottoman documents. It comes from the name of the Ottoman army leader^{[citation needed]} Kardzha Ali (modern Turkish spelling: Kırca Ali), who conquered the region in the 14th century.

The town developed because of its position on the trade roads during the Ottoman rule. However, it remained a small town with almost no industry. During the 18th century, Turkish brigands used this remote town as a hideaway and supply point, and the town was named after their leader. The best known of these brigands was led by Pazvantoğlu Osman Pasha, who ruled most of the northeastern Bulgarian lands and the Danube estuary until 1807.

Kardzhali and its neighborhood became part of the autonomous province of Eastern Rumelia under the stipulations of the Berlin Congress of 1878, but, after the reunification of the Principality of Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia in 1885, it was ceded back to the Ottoman Empire as a township of Gümülcine sanjak in Edirne vilayet. Ottoman rule ended during the First Balkan War, with its liberation by the Bulgarian General Vasil Delov on 21 October 1912. The day has been annually celebrated, since 1937, as a municipal holiday through concerts and commemorative events. Kardzhali was declared the center of Kardzhali Province, which was founded from in the southern part of Stara Zagora Province^[3] in 1949.

Demographics[link]

Memorial to the Jewish community of Kardzhali

According to the 2011 census, Kardzhali has a population of 43,880, while the Kardzhali municipality (which in addition to the city also includes 117 villages) has a population of 67,846.^[4]

During Ottoman rule before 1912 most of the population of the city were Muslims - Turks, Muslim Bulgarians and Muslim Roma. After the Second Balkan war and the First World War, Bulgarian Christian refugees from Eastern and Western Thrace settled in Kardzhali. Some Turks immediately moved to the remains of the Ottoman Empire in 1913 in response to the Bulgarian return to their lands. Further emigration to Turkey continued between 1913 and 1989. This included two emigration waves in the 1930s and 1950s as a result of treaties between Bulgaria and Turkey and most notably in 1989 in response to the state sponsored Revival Process which saw the forced Bulgarisation of ethnic Turks.

After 1990 the deteriorating economic conditions in Bulgaria (and especially the region) during the post-communist transition led to significant emigration by both Bulgarians and Turks, with the Bulgarians moving to other parts of the country or abroad and with the Turks moving mainly to Turkey.

According to the last census in 2011 Kardzhali Province is the Bulgarian province with the highest relative proportion of ethnic Turks, though Kardzhali municipality and the city itself have a lower proportion of ethnic Turks than the rest of the province. According to the optional question on ethnic identification, the city itself has a Bulgarian majority of 61%, while Turks are 34.9% and others and undeclared are 4.1%. The Kardzhali municipality has a Turkish majority of 55.5%, while Bulgarians are 40.5% and others and undeclared are 4%.^[5] In 2001, the population of Kardzhali municipality consisted of 53% Turks, 42% Bulgarians and others and undeclared.^[6] The municipal government today is primarily in the hands of the Turkish-dominated Movement for Rights and Freedoms.

In December 1989 and January 1990 there were a series of demonstrations in Kardzhali against the liberalization of anti-Turkish laws. A particular issue of contention was whether Turkish should be taught in state schools as an elective. In response Turkish students boycotted schools until the ban on using their mother tongue was discontinued.

Economy[link]

The new openmaket

Formerly Kardzhali was a tobacco processing center, but for economic reasons some of the communist era industrial plants are no longer operative. The large deposits of lead and zinc ore in the area make the town an attractive location for the metallurgy and machine building industry.

Retail trade and services constitute the largest share of local production. The abundance of cultural and natural sights in the area also make it a promising area for tourism.

Culture and tourism[link]

The Thracian town of Perperikon is located near the city on a rock high above the valley. It is interesting for the fact that it is cut in the rock.

The monastery from 11th century is located in the Vesselchane Quarter of the town. It was renovated in 2000 and a new bell tower was built.^[11]

The town clock is unique in Bulgaria because it sounds Bulgarian revolutionary songs every hour.

The Kardzhali Museum of History has one of the most extensive exhibitions in Southern Bulgaria. This includes pre-historic tools and ceramics from the Thracian cities of Perperikon and Tatul, Christian icons and ethnographic exhibits. It is located in the old konak (the Turkish town-hall built around 1870) with its period exterior architecture.

There are many open-air restaurants, offering a variety of drinks and cocktails in summer time on the dam. It is a popular place among fans of water sports and fishing.

The town has two drama theaters — "Dimitar Dimov" and "Kadrie Lyatifova", a puppet theater and a museum of history medrese, as well as an art gallery.

5 km (3 mi) from Kardzhali, near the village of Zimzelen, is a small badlands, where a series of white pillars have eroded out of the volcanic tuff which are referred to as the "Kardzhali Pyramids". Ensembles have been given names based on resemblances. One is known as "The Mushrooms" and another as the "Stone Wedding".^[12]

Kardzhali Point on Byers Peninsula, Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica is named after Kardzhali.^[13]

Dams[link]

There are two large dams on the river Arda. Studen Kladenets Dam is on the east and Kurdzhali Dam is on the west. The city is sandwiched between the two dams. Upper part of Studen Kladenets Dam is now up to the old bridge inside the city. The concrete wall of the Kurdzhali Dam is only about two kilometers upstream from this bridge. The reservoir of the Kurdzhali Dam was recently seeded artificially with European perch. The fish were taken from the Ovčarica (Ovcharitsa) dam.

The first historical moment of the dam was in the 1970s, when it was artificially seeded with sheatfish. Nowadays there are 100 kg representatives. Later, 45,000 carp were introduced into the dam as well.

Notable natives[link]

• Mehmed Talat Pasha (1872–1921), one of the leaders of the Young Turks
• Tahsin Özgüç (1916–2005), Turkish archaeologist
• Paraskeva Simova (b. 1920), Bulgarian professor in physics
• Ali Osman Sönmez (1926–2001), businessman and former member of the Turkish Parliament
• Georgi Georgiev (seafarer) (1930–1980), The first Bulgarian to make a World tour on the sailboat "Carter-30" in 1976, a Guinness record for the time, for less than 202 days as a single seafarer.
• Mümin Gençoğlu (1932–1993), businessman and former member of the Turkish Parliament, founder and former leader of the Balkan Turks Association
• Tanya Gogova (b. 1950), Bulgarian volleyball player
• Ivo Papazov (b. 1952), Bulgarian clarinetist
• Zdravko Zhelyazkov (b. 1953), Bulgarian pop singer
• Angel Naydenov (b. 1958), spokesman of Bulgarian Socialist Party
• Naim Süleymanoğlu (b. 1967), Turkish world and Olympic champion in weightlifting
• Houben R.T. (b. 1970), Bulgarian painter
• Emin Nouri (b. 1985), Swedish footballer
• Taner Sağır (b. 1985), Turkish world and Olympic gold medalist in weightlifting
• Enver Türkileri, Turkish coach in weightlifting

Gallery[link]

International relations[link]

Twin towns — sister cities[link]

Kardzhali is twinned with:

• Gaziosmanpaşa, Istanbul, Turkey
• Elkhart, Indiana, USA
• East Staffordshire, UK
• Vladikavkaz, Russia
• Vladimir, Russia

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Kardzhali

• Kardzhali municipality website (Bulgarian), (English), (Turkish)
• Kardzhali Province — cities and villages
• Kardjali.info — news from Kardzhali and the region
• Yumer Lyutfi Turkish Cultural Organization (in Bulgarian and Turkish)
• News from Kardzhali (in Turkish and Bulgarian)
• Kardjali Press - Online News from Kardzhali

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