In North Central Bulgaria (the regions of Lovech, Teteven, Lukovit, Byala Slatina) the Ottoman authorities requested in 1689, after the Chiprovtsi Uprising, for military reasons Bulgarian Paulicians (Christian heretics) to convert to one of the officially recognized religions in the Ottoman Empire. One part of them converted to the East Orthodoxy (some of them to Catholicism) and became "Bulgarian-Christians", while the other part converted to Islam and began to be called "Pomaks". So, in North Central Bulgaria Pomaks became those of Bulgarian Christian heretics, for which it was unacceptable or impossible to convert to the East Orthodoxy because of dogmatic, economic, family or other reasons.