Bulgaria Boasts First 'Euro-Mahala' on Day of Europe

Bulgarian MEP Urutchev (middle) presented the flags of the 27 EU member states to the mahala (hamlet) of Batkovtsi. Photo by Darik Kardzhali

The first “euro-mahala” – or a hamlet – was formally recognized in Bulgaria on the Day of Europe, May 9.

Mahala is a Balkan world for neighborhood or quarter. It is of Arabic origin, and appeared in the region in the time of Ottoman Empire when such settlements would host ethnically diverse or ethnically segregated communities.

On Sunday, Member of the European Parliament, Vladimir Urutchev, visited the mahala of Batkovtsi in the Rhodope Mountain near Kardzhali, to meet with Hasan Sadak, a local community leader who has championed the turning of Batkovtsi into the first “euro-mahala”, reported Darik-Kardzhali.

The MEP presented to the population of Batkovtsi the flags of all 27 EU member states that he brought specially from Brussels.

It is unclear how exactly the local people will benefit from the declaration of their hamlet “an euro-mahala” but the very represents a unique combination of east and west.

In the first half of the 20th century mahalas were separate administrative units in Bulgaria. However, later they were made parts of larger settlements, or were declared towns of villages, and towns and cities are formally divided into quarters.

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