events changed the ethnic and religious makeup of Bulgaria. Like the practitioners of other beliefs including Orthodox Christians, Muslims suffered under the restriction of religious freedom by the Marxist-Leninist Zhivkov regime which instituted state atheism and suppressed religious communities. The Bulgarian communist regimes declared Islam and other religions to be "opium of the people." In 1989, 310,000 to 360,000 people fled to Turkey as a result of the communist Zhivkov regime's assimilation campaign. That program, which began in 1984, forced all Turks and other Muslims in Bulgaria to adopt Bulgarian names and renounce all Muslim customs. The motivation of the 1984 assimilation campaign was unclear; however, many experts believed that the disproportion between the birth rates of the Turks and the Bulgarians was a major factor. The event became known as "the revival process" or "the renaming." Bulgarian historian Antonina Zhelyazkova estimated that, during the period of 1990–1996, almost 400,000 more people from Bulgaria emigrated to Turkey in a second "revival process." Muslims in Bulgaria enjoyed greater religious freedom after the fall of the Zhivkov regime. New mosques were built in many cities and villages; one village built a new church and a new mosque side by side. Some villages organized Quran study courses for young people (study of the Quran had been completely forbidden under Zhivkov). Muslims also began publishing their own newspaper, Miusiulmani, in both Bulgarian and Turkish. Demographics According to the 2011 census, there were 577,139 Muslims in Bulgaria, making up 7.8% of the country. According to more recent 2014 estimates, almost one million Muslims live in Bulgaria, forming the largest Muslim minority in any EU country (percentage-wise, not in absolute numbers). According to a 2017 survey by the Pew Research Center, 15% of Bulgaria's population is Muslim. Almost all Muslims in Bulgaria are Bulgarian citizens. Geographical distribution According to the 2001 census, 43 municipalities out of 262 have a Muslim majority. There were five municipalities with a Muslim population over 90 percent: Chernoochene (96.8 percent) has the highest share of Muslims, followed by Venets (95.9 percent), Satovcha (91.3 percent), Ruen (90.9 percent) and Kaolinovo (90.0 percent). Other municipalities with a mainly Muslim population are: Ardino, Momchilgrad, Borino, Hitrino, Samuil, Rudozem, Kirkovo, Dzhebel, Madan, Krumovgrad, Yakoruda, Dulovo, Omurtag, Belitsa, Varbitsa, Garmen, Loznitza, Opaka, Stambolovo, Glavinitsa, Zavet, Kaynardzha, Nikola Kozlevo, Isperih, Tsar Kaloyan, Vetovo, Antonovo, Kubrat, Kardzhali, Tervel and Mineralni Bani. Demographic indicators Muslims in Bulgaria have slightly