The Sarakatsani in Bulgaria self-identify as Greeks, considering themselves the "purest of Greeks." They also call themselves Bulgarian Karakachans, since they live in Bulgaria, where their ancestors, in a few cases, were also born. Contrary to their Greek dialect and self-identification, the Bulgarian government regards the Sarakatsani as an ethnic group separate from other Greeks in Bulgaria. Bulgarians consider them to be probably of Vlach or Slavic origin. An alternative Bulgarian theory claims that the Sarakatsani are descendants of Hellenized Thracians who, because of their isolation in the mountains, were not Slavicised.