In Bulgaria the government also took possession of Turkish land which had been vacant for three years. A number of returning Turkish refugees who demanded restitution of or compensation for their lands were denied both on the grounds that they had without duress left their property unworked for three years. Land rights of Muslim owners were largely disregarded despite of being guaranteed by the powers. The historian Michael Palairet has claimed that de-Ottomanization of Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia led to the economic decline in the region, which is contradicted by many other historians, who show rapid growth of the economy as well as rapid industrial development and growth of exports in Bulgaria after 1878.