Exposing Bulgarian Myths and Lies

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  • Carlin
    Senior Member
    • Dec 2011
    • 3332

    "It is conceivable that the internment of some Aromanians at this time was justified by the occupiers on the basis of alleged or real Partisan sympathies, rather than Vlach ancestry. But this is implicitly contradicted by the young man who claimed that "the Bulgarians kept camps for Vlachs and gypsies" from which his grandfather had escaped. There is evidence from others of our sources that the general attitude of the administration was anti-Aromanian. For example, one of our sources says that children who were in elementary school during the occupation were "fined if they spoke Vlach."

    There was another phrase in Bulgarian which was alleged to be used against Aromanians, either in the First or Second World Wars or both: nebulgarski proizvod. This has a somewhat comical sound in Macedonian as proizvod in that language generally means industrial produce. However, the meaning would seem to be racial and to mean "not of Bulgarian descent." Vlachs were, according to the account from which we obtained this phrase, sometimes able to escape internment by claiming to be "Bulgarian products" in this sense.

    There is also testimony regarding anti-Vlach feelings and actions by some of the occupying soldiery in the region. A woman said that her father had been beaten after having been identified as a Vlach, and her sister who was five was beaten as well; and that property was taken from self-identified Vlachs and given to non-Vlach neighbors. Ultimately her mother and another, twelve year old, sister were killed, allegedly by the Bulgarian occupiers, although the reasons or circumstances were not given -- and may indeed have had to do with Partisan sympathies or activities. The kmet of this woman’s ancestral village killed himself after the war and was said by this woman to have been a "Macedonian who declared himself to be Bulgarian."

    Many of the Aromanians of the Bitola area are proud to have joined the anti-Axis partisan movement, which was the movement led by Tito's Communists. Most of these Partisans do not seem to have had any Communist background before the war, and they perceived themselves primarily as fighting for liberation against an occupying power.

    We encountered stories of eight Partisans in Macedonia, and an ninth in the United States before coming to Bitola. Specifically we interviewed four older men who had been comrades in arms in the Seventh Battalion of Partisans. Their knowledge of the terrain in the mountains was very helpful to their service, which was mostly in the highland regions of western Macedonia. They were extremely proud of their Partisan record. Of course, during the period of Yugoslav Communism, Partisan status was the basis for special State benefits and privileges (which continue). Yet one of my own relatives (Mike Kara), who was in the Seventh Battalion and was fondly remembered by his comrades in arms who we interviewed in Bitola, turned his back on the potential privileges of former Partisan status and emigrated to the United States, making a life for himself there. We did not focus specifically on the war experiences of Partisans, but we heard enough so as not to doubt in any way the sacrifice of those we interviewed and of others. The Aromanian contribution to the Partisan cause in Macedonia was substantial."

    -- by Gail Kara with Phillip Guddemi, The Spark and the New Leaf

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    • Liberator of Makedonija
      Senior Member
      • Apr 2014
      • 1597

      Felt this was the best place to put this. Supposed quote from the-then future Bulgarian president Georgi Dimitriv from 1934 in an address to the American Ministry of Internal Affairs:

      "Јас се чувствувам нераскинливо врзан со судбината на македонскиот народ и како бугарски пролетерски револуционер и како син на семејство што потекнува од Разлог - долината на историското Илинденско востание ....... Македонското движење има многу непријатели . Меѓутоа, најопасниот негов внатрешен непријател се агентите на бугарскиот империјализам, бугарскиот монархизам, бугарскиот фашизам и, пред се бандата на Ванчо Михајлов ...... Не може дада има успешна борбаа против националното угнетување и за ослободување на македонскиот народ без конечно изолирање на македонските маси од таа опасна банда, без полното елиминирање на нејзината јудинска улога во македонското движење и во натрешниот живот на Бугарија (се мисли на ВМРО на Ванчо Михајлов)...... Само единствената револуционерна борба на македонскиот народ во најтесен сојуз со работниците и селаните во Бугарија, Југославија и Грција може да доведе до победа на македонската ослободителна револуција"
      Last edited by Liberator of Makedonija; 06-23-2019, 02:38 AM.
      I know of two tragic histories in the world- that of Ireland, and that of Macedonia. Both of them have been deprived and tormented.

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      • Carlin
        Senior Member
        • Dec 2011
        • 3332

        An American newspaper reported in 1914 about a liturgy in honor of Cyril and Methodius

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        • Liberator of Makedonija
          Senior Member
          • Apr 2014
          • 1597

          Would like to read what Vic has to say about that.
          I know of two tragic histories in the world- that of Ireland, and that of Macedonia. Both of them have been deprived and tormented.

          Comment

          • Liberator of Makedonija
            Senior Member
            • Apr 2014
            • 1597

            "Serbia has no Bulgars for an exchange of populations with Bulgaria" - Taken from the 'Evening Star' newspaper published in Washington D.C, USA on 16th August 1925.

            I know of two tragic histories in the world- that of Ireland, and that of Macedonia. Both of them have been deprived and tormented.

            Comment

            • Carlin
              Senior Member
              • Dec 2011
              • 3332

              Andrey Tasev Lyapchev (Tarpov) (30 November 1866 – 6 November 1933) was a Bulgarian Prime Minister in three consecutive governments.

              Lyapchev was born in the Macedonian city of Resen.

              Lyapchev's family is thought to have originated from a certain Dore, a Megleno-Romanian potter who fled the Islamization of his native Notia and settled in Resen in the 18th century.

              URL:

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              • Carlin
                Senior Member
                • Dec 2011
                • 3332


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                • Carlin
                  Senior Member
                  • Dec 2011
                  • 3332

                  1) Bulgaria’s denial of its Ottoman past and Turkish identity

                  URL:
                  Despite more than five hundred years of Turkish rule, the majority of present-day Bulgarians demonise and reject “non-Bulgarian” – that is, Turkish, Muslim, or Roma – influences in their history and culture. While the Bulgarian government’s harshest policies of ethnic cleansing concluded with the fall of communism, this exclusivist narrative of Bulgarian national history nevertheless continues to discriminate against such communities.


                  "For four decades between 1878 and 1908 in Bulgaria, Osmanlıca (Ottoman Turkish) was an official language, alongside the national tongue of Bulgarian. Numerous Bulgarian documents were written in Osmanlıca, and quite a few books and periodicals were published in this language in the Principality. And yet, although modern Bulgarian history is commonly defined as the post-1878 period, students and researchers of modern Bulgarian history do not acquire Osmanlıca, unless they specialise in “Oriental” or Turkish studies. It is as though Osmanlıca had never been an official language in modern Bulgaria."

                  2) The starting point of Bulgaria in national mythology

                  URL:


                  "This paper examines the dynamics of ideas on the beginnings of Bulgaria, such as were developed by early nationalism in the 18th and 19th centuries. Surveys show that there were different theses which competed tacitly. It is immediately noticeable that the figure of the Founder was imposed with difficulty and relatively late – in fact not until the 20th century. Paisius of Hilendar and the other authors of early histories presented Bulgarians in the context of Biblical history, and thus the beginning of Bulgarian time was associated with Noah and his sons. This idea was not openly attacked by successive generations, but they alternatively associated Bulgarian time and Bulgaria with the medieval kingdom, and especially with the baptism and deeds of Saints Cyril and Methodius. Among pre-Christian rulers, Khan emerges as significant, presented as Law-Maker and great Warrior, but not as Founder.

                  It is typical for the nationalism of any ideological (and not only ideological) structure to strive for extension – in this case to seek its starting point at an ever earlier date. This proces can also be observed in the structures of Bulgarian nationalism: in the second half of the 20th and early 21st centuries there was a clear focus on the time before the Founder Khan Asparukh (7th century), and scholars and journalists still take pleasure in finding older Bulgarian states. However, before the founding of the Principality of Bulgaria (1878), the opposite was true. (Some) representatives of the revolutionary movement in fact rejected the medieval period and preferred to focus on more recent periods, if not on their time itself and even on the immediate future. More or less unexpectedly, this idea was re-vitalised in the late 20th century with the catch-phrase “the most Bulgarian time” associated with the 1870s."
                  Last edited by Carlin; 10-12-2019, 11:30 AM.

                  Comment

                  • Risto the Great
                    Senior Member
                    • Sep 2008
                    • 15660

                    If the Bulgarians didn't receive so many Macedonian immigrants in the 19th and 20th centuries, it would have been a very different place right now. Interesting to see the Macedonian influence wasn't just when we taught them how to speak their language way back when they were speaking their Turkic languages.
                    Risto the Great
                    MACEDONIA:ANHEDONIA
                    "Holding my breath for the revolution."

                    Hey, I wrote a bestseller. Check it out: www.ren-shen.com

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                    • Liberator of Makedonija
                      Senior Member
                      • Apr 2014
                      • 1597

                      I had no idea Ottoman Turkish was official in Bulgaria during that period actually. I suppose it makes sense when you think about it but still great bit of info just there.
                      I know of two tragic histories in the world- that of Ireland, and that of Macedonia. Both of them have been deprived and tormented.

                      Comment

                      • Carlin
                        Senior Member
                        • Dec 2011
                        • 3332

                        "... it has been suggested by competent scholars that at the time of the founding of the Bulgarian state in 1878, less than 50% of the new state's population may have been Bulgarian. Within a few decades this percentage rose to form an unchallengeable majority, partly, at least, through the assimilation of non-Bulgarian elements in the population. [Stefan Troebst, 'Nationale Minderheiten'. in Klaus - Detlev Grothusen (cd.). Sudosteurope-Handbuch. Band VI: Bulgarien (Gottingen. 1990).]"

                        -- NATIONALITY IN THE BALKANS: THE CASE OF THE MACEDONIANS, by F. A. K. Yasamee (Balkans: A Mirror of the New World Order, Istanbul: EREN, 1995; pp. 121-132)

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                        • Carlin
                          Senior Member
                          • Dec 2011
                          • 3332

                          1) ПИСМО ОД ЕГЕЈСКА МАКЕДОНИЈА ОД 1862: Нашите луѓе овде не знаат бугарски, туку нашиот македонски јазик

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                          ПИСМО ОД ЕГЕЈСКА МАКЕДОНИЈА ОД 1862: Нашите луѓе овде во Ениџе Вардар не знаат бугарски, туку нашиот македонски јазик


                          Ќе ти пишувам почесто, ама не знам по бугарски, нашите луѓе овде не знаат бугарски, пишува во писмо од Ениџе Вардар на 10 септември 1862 година.

                          Јазикот на Македонците во Егејска или Беломорска Македонија не бил бугарскиот, туку македонскиот или како што стои во оригиналот „Мачедонски език“.

                          Под фотографија од албумот „Сведоштва за постоење на македонската национална свест“, објавена на Фејсбук, стои назнака дека писмото е од 10 септември 1862 година.




                          2) URL:
                          (фото) ВАШИНГТОН ТАЈМС ВО 1903 ОД СОФИЈА: Близу половина од населението во Бугарија се Македонци по род или по потекло


                          (фото) ВАШИНГТОН ТАЈМС ВО 1903 ОД СОФИЈА: Близу половина од населението во Бугарија се Македонци по род или по потекло

                          Last edited by Carlin; 10-19-2019, 06:36 PM.

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                          • Carlin
                            Senior Member
                            • Dec 2011
                            • 3332

                            The 'Second Bulgarian Empire.' Its Origin and History to 1204
                            R. Wolff


                            1) When, after more than a century, the fourth uprising did take place in 1186, it was under the auspices of two local chieftains, Peter and Asen, whom all the sources, Byzantine and western, agree in calling Vlachs, and who lived in the Balkan mountains. The most elaborate theories have been resorted to by Bulgarian historians to prove that the word 'Vlach' had by 1185 come to mean a 'Bulgar from the northwest part of the country.' They explain this phenomenon as the result of a conspiracy of silence on the part of Byzantine writers, who, they argue, were trying to avoid the use of the word 'Bulgar' and to substitute 'Vlach.' In fact, however, it can be demonstrated that Byzantine writers use the word 'Bulgar' quite freely when they are talking about Bulgars, and use 'Vlach' only to refer to Vlachs. It has long been realized that any other interpretation involves the twisting of the sources until they bear no relationship to the ascertainable facts about the origin and development of the ‘second Bulgarian Empire.’

                            2) Not long thereafter, one of Asen's captives, a priest, who spoke the Vlach language, begged for his freedom, and was refused, Asen saying with a grim pun (a pun, it is true, only in Greek, and we are told that they were speaking Vlach) that he intended not to let him go but to kill him. The priest, weeping, told Asen that God would show no future mercy to a man who had refused to heed the request of a poor suppliant. And indeed Asen was shortly thereafter killed by Ivanko, a Vlach, who was having an affair with Asen's wife's sister. Angered at the scandal, Asen had begun by threatening his wife, but soon turned his anger against Ivanko, whom he sent for late at night, refusing to postpone the interview. Taking council with his friends, Ivanko concealed a sword under his cloak for use only if Asen drew first. Asen reached for his sword immediately, and Ivanko struck. It was said that the captive sebastocrator Isaac had been at the root of the plot, and that he had promised Ivanko his own daughter in marriage. But even before the killing of Asen, Isaac had died in his chains. Ivanko's friends agreed that he would make a better ruler than the tyrannical Asen; and, seizing Tirnovo, Ivanko prepared to hold out against Asen's brothers Peter and Ioannitsa. ... He requested Byzantine aid, offering to hand over Tirnovo, Vlach capital and the key to their Balkan defenses.

                            3) It was at this juncture, in 1198 or 1199, that local Vlach chieftains other than the family of the Asen brothers began to set up independent principalities. Chrysos (Dobromir Chrysos), a Vlach, had at first not joined in the original insurrection of Peter and Asen, but had helped the Byzantines against them with a force of 500 men. Later he was captured, and drawn over to the side of his own people, disappointing Alexius by setting himself up as local ruler at Strumnitsa. The Emperor undertook one fruitless expedition against him, and some time later set out on a second, Chrysos having by this time taken possession of the virtually impregnable fortress of Prosakon (Prosek) on a cliff jutting out into the Vardar, and almost surrounded by water. Here Alexius foolishly undertook siege operations, which, however, nearly succeeded. Had it not been for a shortage of battering rams, Prosakon might have fallen, and much later trouble saved.
                            Last edited by Carlin; 10-25-2019, 12:48 AM.

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                            • Carlin
                              Senior Member
                              • Dec 2011
                              • 3332

                              Fulcher of Chartres (c.1059 in or near Chartres - after 1128) was a priest and participated in the First Crusade. He served Baldwin I of Jerusalem for many years, and wrote a chronicle of the Crusade, writing in Latin.

                              In his chronicles he wrote as follows about the Bulgarians: "Hinc iter aggressi per fines Vulgariorum, quos vocitant Thracas, ut habent monumenta priorum", which translates roughly to "Bulgarians who are called Thracians according to the old monuments".
                              Last edited by Carlin; 12-25-2019, 08:48 AM.

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                              • Carlin
                                Senior Member
                                • Dec 2011
                                • 3332

                                In the 15th century, Bertrandon de la Broquière traveled through the Balkans and left behind an account of his travels. Among other things, he writes "...and I remembered the heavy oppression of the Turk over the emperor in Constantinople and over all Greeks, Macedonians and Bulgarians, and even over the Despot of Rascia and all his subjects, which is very unfortunate for all of Christianity.... And there are many Christians who are forced to serve the Turk, like the Greeks, Bulgarians, Macedonians, Albanians, Sclavonians, ...."



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