| Kiril i Metodi |
1. PREHISTORY OF "MACEDONISM"
Until the movenment for an independent Bulgarian church which was started in Macedonia in 1861 (3 April) the general attitude of Serbia towards the Bulgarian consciousness of the population in Macedonia was sooner that of compassion rather than hostility. A huge number of Serbian schollars, statesmen and politicians expressed in documents that the population in Macedonia was Bulgarian and a sympathy for their struggle for independence was amply expressed.
In a multitude of Greek, Serbian, French, British, German and may other sources the Bulgarian ethnic composition of the population inhabiting present-day Bulgaria, Macedonia and the Northern part of Greece was fully and extensively documented. (For more detailed citations click here!)
Serbia was on its part aspiring to liberate its compatriots still under Ottoman or Austro-Hungarian rule and the Bulgarians who were under Ottoman domination were their natural allies.
After the liberation of Bulgaria, Serbia directed its efforts to Bulgarian lands which renained under Turkish domination after the Berlin Treaty, 1878. It deffinitely followed Garashanin's political ideas to achieve Serbian territorial expansion through consecutive dismembering and annexation of neighbouring countries, Bulgaria included.
1. First Committee "Odbor" (1868)
In 1866 on his return from his studies in Russia Milosh Miloevic presented a memoir to the Serb king Mihajlo Obrenovic in which he expresses the idea that Bulgarian Renaiscance in Macedonia should be blocked.
In 1868, in Belgrade, mitropolite Mihajlo founded a Committee. The members of the Committee were: archmandride Nikifor Ducic, Prof. Panta Sreckovic, Milosh Miloevic and Prof. Stoyan Novakovic.
Objective of the Committee:
To launch a pro-Serbian propaganda in Macedonia and the creation of Serbian Schools.
Note: See the book: "Prosvetne i politicke prilike u yujnim srpskim oblastima u XIX veku" by Dr. Jovan Hadjivasilevic, Belgrade, 1928, p. 319-320.
Milosh Miloevic demanded Ilija Garashanin, the prime minister of Serbia , to send 50 teachers in Macedonia and Old Serbia (Kosovo and Metohia). Also in 1868 it was attempted to open Serbian schools in Skopie and Veles but all failed.
Reference: See "Kulturno-obshtestvenite vrski na Makedoncite so Srbja vo tekot na XIX vek", by Kl. Djambazovski, Skopje 1960, p.95
In 1873 a School was opened by the Belgrad Seminary with the objective to prepare teachers and clergymen for work in Macedonia. The initial idea came from mitropolite Mihajlo in 1868. The school was opened at the time when Stoyan Novakovic was a Minister of Education.
The efforts to open Serbian Schools in Skopie and Veles suffered a complete failure. The population did not simply support the idea.
Jovan Dragashevic published the book "Geography for Secondary Schools", Belgrade, 1871, in which the Bulgarian population in Macedonia is declared as a separate people. The text reads:
"The Macedonians ... are the most ancient Slavs on the Ilirian peninsula, and possibly in Europe..."
"They inhin Thrace, to the West - with the Albanians in Albania and Epir, to the North the Shar mountain separates themn from the Serbs"
"And although one can find in their customs and language traces of all the nations which ruled them at different times (especially the Bulgarians and the Serbs), yet nowadays they are characterized as a separate people and stay midway between Bulgarians and Serbs" (pp. 127-128)
Note: The above lines are written in the year after the population in Macedonia, after a ten year struggle managaged to restore the Exarchate (in 1871) and during all those years the population defined itself as Bulgaria.
Georgi Pulevski from Galicnik published a dictionary under the name "Three language dictionary: Macedoniaa, Turkish and Arabic".
The above initial actions to propagate Serbian, or "Macedonian" ethnic consciousness among the Bulgarians in Macedonia finally failed.
The Serbian Committee"Odbor" for Macedonia was dissolved in 1878!
2. Second Committee "Prosvetni Odbor"
After the Liberation of Bulgaria and the Berlin Congress where it was imposed that Bulgarians in Macedonia should remain under Ottoman rule, a second committee was founded in Serbia. The leading figure was M. Mloevic and the serbophile immigrant from Macedonia Despot Badjov (Badjovic).
Objective of the Committee.To create a "Serbo-Macedonian" language which should progressively approach Serrbian Language.
The Second Committee comprised of a cental committee in Belgrad (principal figure Miloevic) and a subcommittee in Vranya (principal figure - Despot Badjov- a serbophile emigrant from Krushevo, who started signing as Badjovic). Despot Badjov(ic) was one of the first to be entirely devoted to installing Serbianism in the Macedonia region. Here is what he writes in 1885 to the prime minister of Serbia Milosh Garashanin (the son of Ilija Garashanin):
"Bulgarianism has conquered Macedonia almost everywhere" ...
and then recommends:
"In each town and the more significant villages we should have 5-6 persons, native and permanently residing such as merchants andother craftsmen, and ready to work for the widening of the Srbian idea, to prepare the soil for the Serb teachers and at any moment to help Serbianism; such persons should be materially rewarded by an amount of 5 caeserean crowns a month, and some even more - depending on their needs"
Reference: See "Kulturno-obshtestvenite vrski na Makedoncite so Srbja vo tekot na XIX vek", by Kl. Djambazovski, Skopje 1960, p.159
The above simply means that no local "Macedonian" initiative existed (Bulgarian-speaking Macedonian poulation managed to restore the Independent Church and the Bulgarian Exharchate in 1871, but remained out of the Mother-country after the Berlin Treaty)and the whole noise was to impose Serbianism through overt bribery.
3. External pressures
At the beginning the above committees were only Serb initiatives. However, in the period 1878-1885, the Austrian-Hungarian Empire made it clear to Serb politicians that if they seek territorial expansion it is to the south i.e. in Macedonia and not in the lands under the Danubian Monarchy.
Citation from Jovan Ristic, Serb minister of Foreign Affairs (1878):
On July 13, 1878 in Kraguevats at a secret meeting of the Assembly (the Skupshtina), Jovan Ristic, the then Foreign Minister of Serbia gave the following explanations regarding the Austrian desire that Serbia does not undertake anything along the Drin river:
"On the part of Russia, we were recommended not to provoke it. When we asked Austria which its spheres of influence were, we were told that they reach the rivers Drin and Lim. Therefore, if we cross these two rivers we shall hurt its interests and go into conflict. We therefore, must not think of crossing these two rivers,as during the war (the Russo-Turkish war of 1877/78); we abstained from crossing them, but we entered Old Serbia as far as we could. We looked for new political borders"...
Reference: See "Otacbina" year 24,1890, p 227, by Jovan Ristic. International Relations of Serbia. Belgrad 1887-1901.
Citation from an article by Prof. Slobodan Jovanovic, 1885
"At the beginning of 1885 the Austian-Hungarian minister Kallay in his desire to discourage our intentions towards Bosnia, drew our attention to the development of Bulgarian propaganda in Macedonia. (Conferred to our ambassador in Vienna on February 10). Our government prepared a whole programme for a cultural action in Macedonia..."
Note: See "Politika" newspaper, No 7501, March 19, 1929, Belgrad. Prof. Sl. Jovanovic was an outstanding specialist in international relations.
Citation from "Macedonia, its races and their future" by H.N.Brailsford , London, 1906
"It is only recently that Servia has taken much interst in Macedonia" (p. 103-104).
II. STOYAN NOVAKOVIC - THE GODFATHER OF "MACEDONISM"
Prof. St. Novakovic is an imminent Serbian schollar and diplomat .
From 1880 until 1883 he was a Minister of Education of Serbia. He was the person principally in charge with the political task to direct the activities of all pro-Serbian organizations in Macedonia, the publishing and dissemination of books, recruiting of agents among local population etc.
From 1886 until 1892 he was aSerbian ambassador in Constantinopol (capital of the Ottoman Empire). During this period he launched a large scale campaign for Serbian penetration in Macedonia which at the time was under Ottoman rule.
In a letter from December 4, 1887, Prof. Stoyan Novakovic writes to the Ministry of Education of the Kingdom of Serbia:
..."Since Bulgarianism, as we all very well know, has deep roots in Macedonia, I think that it is impossible to exterminate it if we oppose to it the Serbian idea alone. I doubt that this idea will be able to suppress the Bulgarian idea as long as it is a mere confrontation. Therefore, we would greatly profit from an ally, sharply confronted with Bulgarianism, and including in itself elements that would attract the people and which would be intimate to his feelings - it is precisely they that will split it from Bulgarianism. I see "Macedonism" as such an ally...
(Kl.Djambazovski, "Kulturno-opshtestvenite vrski na Makedoncite so Srbija vo tekot na XIX vek.", Skopie, 1960 g., str. 178)
The above writings of Prof. Stoyan Novakovic simply mean that:
1. There are practically no Serbian ethnic roots in the region of Macedonia, due to which the Serbian idea is barren.
2. The objective is to conquer and assimilate Macedonia which is deffinitely an overt Chauvinism on the part of Serbia. In fact these are the ideas of Garasanin.
3. The greatest obstacle is Bulgarian ethnical consciousness of the population in Macedonia.
4. To achieve the goals of Serbian Chauvinism a cancerous formation whithin the Bulgarian consciousness of the people of Macedonia must be implanted.
This mental cancer of national consciousness is defined by Novakovic in 1887 as "Macedonism"!
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Definition of "Macedonism": A political idea according to which the Slav-speaking population in Macedonia:
* represents a separate Nation, other than the Bulgarian;
* has a separate Language, different from the Bulgarian;
* has a separate History, independent of the Bulgarian.
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The idea of "Macedonism" as expressed by Prof. Novakovic means simply that:
1. "Macedonism"is not a popular Macedonian movement coming from the Macedonian people itself!
2. "Macedonism" is an ideological weapon of the Serbian Chauvinism!
3."Macedonism" is an officialstate policy of Serbia since 1887!
4. "Macedonism" is by definition aimed at splitting the Bulgarian nation so as to enable its subsequent assimilation by Serbia .
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Apart from what Prof. St. Novakovic explicitely states in his deffinition of "Macedonism", it is no less important to outline what he diplomatically did not say.
What Prof. Novakovic did not say, and hence did not mean was:
1. "Macedonism" is not a tool, though made in Serbia, for autonomy and liberation of the people of Macedonia.
2. "Macedonism" is not a tool against the Turkish domination or against Hellenization.
III. SERBIANISM AND "MACEDONISM" IN MACEDONIA.
As late as 1885, Serbian propaganda developed two types of behaviour with respect to Macedonia:
The first line was followed by the ultranationalists such as Milos Miloevic who declared simply Macedonia as Southern Serbia, and as a century old Serbian land.
The second line was followed by more sober politicians who had a very realistic view on the matter. They adopted "macedonism" as a policy towards Macedonia. The founder of this policy was Prof. Novakovic.
In practice both lines went hand in hand. If the first failed, the second came to replace it. But the ultimate objective was always the serbianization and conquest of Macedonia.
Since 1887 the practical Serbian policy towards Macedonia has been:
"Macedonism" and Serbianization when Serbian Army is out of Macedonia;
Terror and Serbianization when Serbian Army is in Macedonia.
There has been no exception to the rule regardless of whether Serbia was a Kingdom, or a Republic, whether it was bourgois or communist, whether it was in peace or in war, whether its allies were democratic or non-democratic countries!
The reason is defined by Novakovic himself:
The objective of "Macedonism" is to eradicate the Bulgarian ethnos from the geographical region of Macedonia either physically or mentally!
This, by contemporary deffinitions, is nothing else but GENOCIDE!
The idea for a separate and independent Macedonia is not a "Macedonist" idea.
It is a Bulgarian idea!
See IMRO
Prof. Pavel Milyukov - an imminent Russian specialist on the Macedonian question writes in his "Letters from Macedonia" that Serbian propaganda in Macedonia is imposed through money. Anywhere the Serbs were looking for some "honorable" persons to bribe. When a Russian academic expedition led by Prof. Uspenski was working in the Slimnitski Monastery, a group of peasants came to Prof. Milyukov to complaine against Serbian propaganda.
Here is what Prof. Milyukov writes:
..."We know from fathers and forefathers that we are Bulgarians, told us the peasants, and now there come Serbian propagandists and try to convince us that we are Serbs. We do not want to be Serbs!".
The British traveller Henry Brailesford is cathegorical:
..."The Serbian cause in Macedonia is an artificial movement"... |