The Rumelians: (Byzantine) Greco-Bulgarian Culture and Nation

[Oba Cahokia]

Is it possible, what have to happen for Bulgarian and Byzantine Greek culture to perfectly fuse together and possibly for entirely new ethnic group?

Map was created by u/KingofFairview on Reddit I just cropped it for a 'realistic' border of Rumelia. Link to the original map will be below the image.

https://www.reddit.com/r/imaginarymaps/comments/10ihpbu

 

[Madhukar_Shah]

I don't see how a Byzantine (orthodox, Constantinople is the capital, claim Roman legacy- even if the ruling dynasty is Bulgarian it's the byzantines) empire able to keep control of so much of the Balkans would ever settle for zero territory in Anatolia, not even the coasts.

 

[WotanArgead]

Is it possible, what have to happen for Bulgarian and Byzantine Greek culture to perfectly fuse together and possibly for entirely new ethnic group?

The northern territories may be more densely populated by the Bulgarians and the Slavic-Macedonians, and on the Pelloponesse there are more persistent Slavic populations - but I doubt that they will be able to completely displace the Hellenic-speaking population.

 

[Ogrelord420]

Looks like Catherine the Great’s Greek Plan. If it succeeded I could see the revitalized Byzantine Empire trying to Hellenize the Bulgarian lands. I mean the Patriarch of Constantinople was already doing this under Ottoman rule, with the Bulgarian Orthodox Church being almost destroyed.

Greek Plan - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[NotAMyth]

I think this is possible if the Asens of Bulgaria conquer Constantinople before Niceans. They came very close, though they would still have to deal with the Mongols.
If the Bulgarians can do that, they would definitely be able to utilise the post seljuq collapse in Anatolia and expand there.
Also something helpful is how much romanized the Bulgarian nobility was at this time, with the urban culture completely appropriated from the Rhomiaoi.

 

[TickTock The Witch's Dead]

I’ve thought of an idea where the Nicopolis Crusade succeeds and Bulgaria becomes independent with the Byzantines gaining some land and later somehow the Bulgarian czar gets the Byzantine emperorship somehow. That’s how I would envision it.