TO COPENHAGEN AND BACK

TO COPENHAGEN AND BACK

During the Bulgarian Communist Party Plenum, held on November 10, 1989, a number of tumultuous announcements were made regarding the political changes in Bulgaria. When it was time to end the tyranny and depose the despot Todor Zhivkov. When it was time to end the failed experiments with the different types of socialism carried out over the past 35 years, a sufficient period to lead Bulgaria into its current absurd twelve billion dollar debt to the West, empty stores, total corruption in all areas of life and the introduction of a coupon system in peacetime, they “praised” and “thanked” Todor Zhivkov and thousands of his associates for their “merit”. But that was not all! The backwards steps Zhivkov and his regime took in relation to the demographic changes introduced in an attempt to “purify” the Bulgarian nation, were also deemed “very productive”; a credit to Todor Zhivkov’s efforts of which even Hitler would have been very proud. The first thing Zhivkov and his cronies did was “baptize” the Macedonians in Bulgaria, then the Gypsies and turned them all into Bulgarians even if it was done against their will. Some time later Zhivkov changed the names of the Pomaks. He did all that by force, by intimidation and by imposing long prison sentences. After that he went after the Turks and turned them into “Islamized Bulgarians”. And all this was “accepted” by the new regime as a good thing, “essential” to Bulgaria’s progress! I had discussions about this with Nikola Delev, an active communist from Petrich and husband to my first cousin. I said to him: “Nikola, Todor Zhivkov is going backwards with these issues, especially with the Turks!” “Why?” he asked puzzled. “Because the Turks are not Gypsies, Pomaks, or Macedonians, they have Turkey, a powerful country behind them which will not stand for Bulgarian regimes experimenting with its compatriots,” I said. To my surprise he strongly objected and said: “What compatriots? They are not Turks, they are Islamized Bulgarians!” “What kind of Islamized Bulgarians are you talking about? They are pure Turks. Have you forgotten what you were taught in school? For years, before this regime came into power, it was written in our Bulgarian history books that Turks, Bulgarians, Gypsies, Vlachs and others lived in Bulgaria and all of a sudden all these people disappeared! Where did they go? As you may recall, from the 1956 and 1965 census, these books used to also say that Macedonians lived in Bulgaria. Where did they go?” I asked. The man did not like what I was saying, especially when I mentioned Macedonians. After all, judging from the “special” pension

he was receiving, he was an “active” fighter working for the Bulgarian establishment. After that we did not talk about the Turkish situation in Bulgaria and Bulgaria’s attempts to change the Turkish people’s names. Then, as the saying goes, “the day of reckoning came”, when on November 10, 1989 Todor Zhivkov was removed from the Bulgarian political scene. After that the entire myth of the “Islamized Bulgarians” came crashing down. One day I decided to ask Nikola a question about his so-called “Islamized Bulgarians”. I asked: “Nikola, where did your Islamized Bulgarians go now?” The poor man did not know what to say. And what could he say in view of these stupid Bulgarian political tactics, which had forced Bulgaria into isolation from the Islamic world. On November 10, 1989 the sleeping consciousness of the entire Bulgarian nation was reanimated. Almost overnight new parties were formed and new movements organized. It felt like something new and wonderful was going to happen, but what, what kind of something and for whom?... only the future could tell! Behind these apparent political changes, we the Macedonians also decided that the long-awaited day had come for us and that we too could perhaps say, without fear, that we are Macedonians and that the Bulgarian government would recognize us as Macedonians and allow us to have our own organizations. In our supposed new found freedom, Giorgi Solunski created the organization VMRO (independent) “Ilinden” in Sofia, while others in Pirin Macedonia created several other organizations including: 1. Committee to protect the rights of Macedonians in Pirin Macedonia; 2. Cultural and educational society “Yane Sandanski” in the village Mikrevo; and 3. Committee of the repressed Macedonians and the Macedonian question. My old friend Iordan Kostandinov, from the city Sandanski, and I were very interested to know what kind of a person Georgi Solunski was, so one day in February we went to visit him in Sofia. After we met with him we went to his home. He lived in the attic in a small room with two wooden beds; a very poor living environment. But there was a telephone in the room! There were many books scattered all over the floor; they were all about Macedonia. He also had a Macedonian flag, the one with the lion. We talked with him for the entire day. Then after Iordan and I had left we talked about him and were convinced that he was a good Macedonian and not a vrhovist (a Macedonian supremacist in support of the Bulgarian annexation of Macedonia).

Our meeting with Georgi Solunski was on Saturday. The previous day I had visited the cultural organization “Gotse Delchev” located next door to the “Macedonia” cinema. There I ran into an old man sticking flyers on the windows. The flyers were invitations to a meeting. I asked the man: “What kind of people are attending this meeting?” He said: “Bulgarians from Macedonia!” He then asked me: “What kind are you?” “I am Macedonian!” I replied. “Where are you from?” he asked. “From Petrich, Pirin Macedonia!” I replied. “And what kind of person is this Georgi Solunski?” I asked. “Leave him alone! He wants an autonomous Macedonia!” he said. I thanked the old man and left and went to my younger daughter’s apartment. She lived in Sofia, near the stadium “Gerena”. I was happy to know that Georgi Solunski was not a vrhovist, so when I arrived at my daughter’s apartment at around 9 o’clock in the evening I contacted Solunski and made an appointment to see him the next day. I got to talk to Georgi Solunski several times after that about our organization and the problems we were experiencing. Solunski’s initiative was to submit a Petition to the Bulgarian People's Assembly and have the Macedonian people in Bulgaria and their rights recognized by the Bulgarian government. In the evening I heard the news on Bulgarian television and found out that VMRO (independent) “Ilinden” was going to submit a petition to the National Assembly the next day. I was delighted by the good news and all night I kept wondering what would happen the next morning at Sofia square. At ten o’clock in the morning the next day when I arrived in the square there was a crowd of supporters in front of the National House of Culture. But close to us there was also a gathering of vrhovist supporters with intent to derail the handover of the petition. The vrhovists had come prepared with anti-Macedonian slogans. If it wasn’t for the Bulgarian police, who remained neutral during the entire demonstration, we would have had a violent physical confrontation on our hands. PT Skopje television was witness to this; it filmed the entire episode. At eleven o’clock we went to the National Assembly. We were followed by the vrhovists all the way with booing and whistling but we marched peacefully and dignified all the way to Parliament while chanting the word “Macedonia”!, which for most of us was the very essence of our lives. The next few days, thanks to television footage from TV Skopje, the Macedonian people from the three parts of Macedonia and from around the world had the opportunity to become acquainted with this historic event.

On Saturday April 14, 1990 at about eight o'clock in the morning, the leaders of the aforementioned Pirin Macedonian organizations gathered together in Sandanski City to jointly coordinate our Macedonian struggle. Our first priority was to create a new joint organization. After much discussion and debate, it was decided that the name of the new organization would be: United Macedonian Organization “Ilinden” or OMO “Ilinden”. After that we discussed the Articles of the Organization’s Constitution and the Program which we eventually adopted. Following is the Organization’s Constitution: