Mustafa Shibil
The Muslim Roma Mustafa Shibiloglu,[1] shortened form: Shibil, (Turkish: Mustafa Şibil/Şibiloğlu), Mustafa son of Shibil was born in Ottoman Bulgaria at the village Gradets in a Turkish Roma Drandari Musician Family.[2] Mustafa Shibil was in love with Radka a Bulgarian woman.[3]
During the Crimean War (1853-1856), with the help of the Kirdzhalis to which he belonged as a member, he opposed the Ottoman sovereignty and robbed the Orthodox Christian Bulgarian population, and he gained local power in the Balkan Mountains around Sliven. Mustafa Shibil was killed in 1856.[4] Several Turkish Roma families in Bulgaria and those who emigrated to Turkey claim to be descendants of Mustafa Shibil, especially the musician Roma groups in Bulgaria.
His life served as the fictional title character of the novel Shibil by Yordan Yovkov, which was filmed twice.[5]
Panayot Hitov described him as a well build, tall, fair-skinned and broad-shouldered. Mustafa Shibil's other wife was Jenda, also a Bulgarian woman. Mustafa Shibil had the title of a Agha (title) and had lived like a Sultan in Sliven with many Konak (residence) and a big herd of goats. The people around him feared him.[6]
References
- "Ottoman Empire". Rm.coe.ont. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
- "CALENDAR HOLIDAYS | Център за междуетнически диалог и толерантност АМАЛИПЕ". Amalipe.bg.
- "Shibil". Southeastern Europe. 12 (1): 235–242. January 1, 1985. doi:10.1163/187633385X00213 – via brill.com.
- Marushiakova, Elena; Popov, Vesselin (April 27, 2022). "Bulgaria". Roma Portraits in History. Brill Schöningh. pp. 33–98. doi:10.30965/9783657705191_004. ISBN 9783657705191 – via www.schoeningh.de.
- "Dimitar Bechev".
- "Gypsies in Ottoman Empire".