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ORIGINS
The Crimean Tatar ethnos originated on the territory of the Crimean peninsula and inland steppes in the 14th and 15th century. The main ethnic components that were successively incorporated into the new ethnos were the ancient indigenous populations, the Kumans and, finally, the Kipchakized Mongol clans.Due to the slave trade and the military campaigns for the capture of slaves, economic mainstays of the Crimean khanate - other ethnoses also contributed to the Tatar genotype.
The Tatars in Bulgaria were formed as a group with a common identity as a result of the ethnic consolidation of the immigrants: Crimean Tatars proper, Nogay.Karachai and the distinct group of the Tats. Their consolidation was based on the close languages, common destiny and political idea of belonging to the former Crimean khanate and respective ethno-social formations.
The Tatars associate their common descent with the idea of a homeland: "we are all from the Crimea", "the Crimea is the homeland of our ancestors" - as well as with their knowledge about its history and the destiny of their own people.
The Tatars stress their specific anthropological type. They regard it as a main marker of Tatar identity’, second only to the language. For example, Tatars from Golyamo Vranovo say that those from Vetovo are "truer Tatars" not only because their language is "purer", but also because they have "larger heads and slit eyes. The Tatars also differ from the others in that most of them are "dark-eyed", with a "broad, flat face". Their neighbours likewise regard the specific appearance as a main distinctive feature of the Tatars. They talk of a "Tatar face".
Endogamy is perceived as an important factor for the preservation of the idea of common descent and Tatar ethnicity. Informants are unanimous that by the mid-20th century, intermarriage with Turks was an undesirable exception, whereas this has "now" become a commonplace phenomenon: "Until 1950 or 1951, the Tatars kept their distance and seldom married Turks"; "They didn’t mix with the Turks in the past, but now they do, very much so"; "before communism, we neither gave nor took [wives] from the Turks".
The Tatars consider the end of endogamy as a natural process that is self evident. Children from mixed marriages practically inherit both ethnicities, and it is up to them to decide which one they prefer to identify with. By rule, the Tatar community is patrilineal.
Tatar informants note that in mixed marriages Turkish daughters-in-law are more readily accepted by Tatar families than Tatar daughters-in-law by Turkish families. The renaissance of Tatar identity in the past few years has not led to a decline in intermarriage. Intermarriage with ethnic Bulgarians is also considered normal.
