Historical Conflict between Macedonians and Bulgarians

[Soldier of Macedon]

I will post a few examples now and update the list on the first post as more information is added. Anybody who wants to contribute, feel free. There are instances where people of Macedonia and Bulgaria worked together and were friendly towards each other. Nobody is denying that. But there are also many examples where that was not the case. This thread will demonstrate that.

1871 - The condescending article of Bulgarian publicist Petko Slaveikov regarding the Macedonians expressing their identity. A short excerpt below, the full article can be found here: http://www.macedoniantruth.org/forum...ight=slaveikov

We have many times heard from the Macedonists that they are not Bulgarians but Macedonians, descendants of the Ancient Macedonians, and we have always waited to hear some proofs of this, but we have never heard them. The Macedonists have never shown us the bases of their attitude. They insist on their Macedonian origin, which they cannot prove in any satisfactory way.

1886 - Macedonians murder Bulgarian politicians. More here: http://www.macedoniantruth.org/forum...70&postcount=1

Occasional riots took place between Russian partisans and the supporters of the Bulgarian Government, but on the whole the elections passed off without any serious disturbance, except at Dubnitsa, where two deputies and a prefect were murdered by Macedonians.

1903 - Bulgarian authorities taking measures against Macedonian revolutionaries, seizing their weapons and firing at them. More here: http://www.macedoniantruth.org/forum...12&postcount=3

Advices received here from Sofia say the Bulgarian Government is taking active measures against Macedonian bands and has seized a large quantity of their arms which were hidden in Sofia. Bulgarian gendarmes on the frontier near Dubnitsa have fired on insurgents who were attempting to smuggle guns into Turkey.

1903 - Letter from the Bulgarian Exarch to the Bulgarian Minister of Foreign Affairs in Sofia regarding concerns over Macedonians obtaining their own church. More here: http://www.macedoniantruth.org/forum...8&postcount=26

“...We need to bear in mind that in an autonomous Macedonia the survival of the Holy Bulgarian Exarchate would be called into question, even if it remains there as a religious institution. In any case the question will also arise about her name “Bulgarian Exarchate”, because as “Bulgarian” it can not be a base for the unification of the “Srbomans” and “Grkomans”, which is the basic aim of the “Internals” [VMRO (Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization)]. Thus, the Holy Bulgarian Exarchate will have to give up the holiest and to identify with another name, which will reflect the political government of autonomous Macedonia, in fact it will have to identify as “Macedonian”. We consider that this will not be the end of the transformation process. Turkey herself, if she consents to an autonomous Macedonia, will insist that the religious question be solved along the same basis, in that way to end future encroachment of the neighbouring Balkan states, in the first place the Principality, as the most dangerous to her. In that situation, the road leads towards the renewal of the Ohrid Archbishopric, an idea [ideal] which since long ago has been circulating in the heads of some “separatists”, among whom there are bishops, such as the likes of former Skopje bishop the Reverend Theodosius...”

2000 - The treatment of the indigenous Macedonian population in Bulgaria when they've attempted to establish a political party. More here: http://macedonianhr.org.au/contents/131

At present the Bulgarian state does not recognise the existence of a distinct Macedonian ethnic group and has actively pursued policies to suppress individuals and organisations expressing such an identity. One such organisation is OMO "Ilinden" PIRIN, a political party founded on 28 February 1998 and based in south-west Bulgaria, in the Pirin region. On 29 February 2000 the Bulgarian Constitutional Court declared the party unconstitutional and dissolved it. However in 2005 the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the ban was in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights and ordered the immediate re-registration of the party. Since that judgement, the party has tried on no less than three separate occasions to reconstitute itself, however all applications have been rejected by Bulgarian authorities.

2011 - Bulgar NGO in Macedonia shamelessly mixing our historical figures with Bulgars and insisting that Macedonians declare as such in the census. More here: http://www.macedoniantruth.org/forum...ebels+bulgaria

The motto of the video, which features major Bulgarian historical figures from Macedonia such as St. Kliment Ohridski (author of the Cyrillic alphabet), medieval Bulgarian Tsar Samuil, Farther Paisiy Hilendarski (author of Bulgaria's first history), revolutionary Gotse Delchev, among others, as well as Bulgaria's Apostle of Freedom Vasil Levski, is "Ancestors' Memory Calling". The campaign further poses the question, "All of them were Bulgarians. What about you?"

[Pelagonija]

Appreciate the effort , I will review in detail and reply accordingly.

[Karposh]

Originally Posted by Soldier of Macedon

1871 - The condescending article of Bulgarian publicist Petko Slaveikov regarding the Macedonians expressing their identity. A short excerpt below, the full article can be found here: http://www.macedoniantruth.org/forum...ight=slaveikov

We have many times heard from the Macedonists that they are not Bulgarians but Macedonians, descendants of the Ancient Macedonians, and we have always waited to hear some proofs of this, but we have never heard them. The Macedonists have never shown us the bases of their attitude. They insist on their Macedonian origin, which they cannot prove in any satisfactory way.

This observation by Petko Slaveikov really speaks volumes about how Macedonians saw themselves back then (i.e. 1871, to all those who buy into notion that the commintern invented the Macedonian nation). Even back then, you can really feel the frustrations coming from the Bulgarian nationalists such as Slaveikov in the face of overt Macedonian national pride. It's quite evident and obvious that Macedonian national self awareness was alive and well back then and the proof in the pudding is in Slaveikov's candid observation. Add to this the Bulgarian ethnographer Vasil Kanchov's candid observation that, what he calls, the "Bulgarians" of Macedonia in fact refer to themselves as Macedonians, and a pattern begins to appear where the Macedonians are perhaps something more than merely a figment of Tito's or the evil commintern's imagination.

[DraganOfStip]

Originally Posted by Karposh

This observation by Petko Slaveikov really speaks volumes about how Macedonians saw themselves back then (i.e. 1871, to all those who buy into notion that the commintern invented the Macedonian nation). Even back then, you can really feel the frustrations coming from the Bulgarian nationalists such as Slaveikov in the face of overt Macedonian national pride. It's quite evident and obvious that Macedonian national self awareness was alive and well back then and the proof in the pudding is in Slaveikov's candid observation. Add to this the Bulgarian ethnographer Vasil Kanchov's candid observation that, what he calls, the "Bulgarians" of Macedonia in fact refer to themselves as Macedonians, and a pattern begins to appear where the Macedonians are perhaps something more than merely a figment of Tito's or the evil commintern's imagination.

There were a series of articles by Risto Stefov on this forum called something like "Tito's time machine" if I remember correctly, in which the author notes many cases where Macedonians refer to themselves (or are referred to by others) as Macedonians prior communism, noting how the Macedonian nation isn't "invented" by the commintern or Tito as foreign (especially Bulgarian) propagandists claim.
If you can find them it would be worth the read.

[Soldier of Macedon]

Originally Posted by DraganOfStip

There were a series of articles by Risto Stefov on this forum called something like "Tito's time machine" if I remember correctly, in which the author notes many cases where Macedonians refer to themselves (or are referred to by others) as Macedonians prior communism, noting how the Macedonian nation isn't "invented" by the commintern or Tito as foreign (especially Bulgarian) propagandists claim.
If you can find them it would be worth the read.

See links below.

http://www.macedoniantruth.org/forum...o+time+machine
http://www.macedoniantruth.org/forum...o+time+machine
http://www.macedoniantruth.org/forum...o+time+machine
http://www.macedoniantruth.org/forum...o+time+machine
http://www.macedoniantruth.org/forum...o+time+machine
http://www.macedoniantruth.org/forum...o+time+machine
http://www.macedoniantruth.org/forum...o+time+machine

[Stevce]

I don't have the full text as I could not find it.
But this is from the fortnightly review 1907 volume 88
https://www.facebook.com/macedoniaen...type=3&theater

[Stevce]

https://macedonia1912-1918.blogspot....ir-bitola.html

In any case it must be admitted that, in view of their behavior during the occupation and their continuous destructive bombardment, the Bulgars have a queer way of proving to the world that Monastir is peopled by "brothers of their race." I am inwardly convinced that not one of these "brothers of their race " wishes to have any more to do with them. The good folk of Monastir have had a taste of the Bulgar and that is quite enough for them for good.

[Liberator of Makedonija]

Why then were so many Macedonians complaisant with Bulgarian rule post 1913?

[Liberator of Makedonija]

Bulgarian massacre of Macedonians:

1915

https://mk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9C...B0%D0%B5%D1%86

1916

https://mk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9C...B8%D0%B2%D0%B0

[Liberator of Makedonija]

Taken from Victor Friedman's The Modern Macedonian Standard Language and Its Relation to Modern Macedonian Identity. Linguistic conflict between Macedonians and Bulgarians: