Abandonment crept into Tyurkmen, Bulgaria, gradually consuming the village over decades, leading to a drastic decline from a thriving community of 1,200 to fewer than 200 people.
Dimitrinka Dimcheva, the post officer, recalls the joyful past of Tyurkmen, a village that hosted vibrant weddings and dances, now faced with emptiness and remembrance.
Post-communism, Bulgaria’s villages emptied at alarming rates, with nearly 300 completely abandoned and over 1,000 with barely any residents, driven by emigration and low birth rates.
Bulgaria's population decreased sharply from nearly 9 million in 1989 to under 6.5 million, representing one of the worst peacetime population declines in modern history.
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