Introduction - Part 05

But in order for the Macedonians to be Greek, as required by the “re-engendered” ancient historical model, the revisionists had to erase and cover up everything that was Macedonian. If the Macedonians were “Hellenized” then they were Greek and no longer Macedonian.

There could be no Modern Greece without the Ancient Macedonians! And there can be no Macedonia and Macedonians if there is to be a Greece and Greeks! It was as simple as that! And thus, as mentioned earlier, the slogans “The Ancient Macedonians were Greek”, “Macedonia is Greek” and “Macedonians do not exist”, were coined.

Earlier I explained that before these modern Balkan “nation states” were created, out of the remnants of the crumbling Ottoman Empire, the people living in the Balkans had a common past, a common history. But after these “nation States” were created new histories were written for them; a foundation to build on. A myth was created for each state which claimed the state was “homogeneous” consisting of only a single people leaving no room for diversity or minorities, even though many existed.

Greece, for example, declared itself “pure Greek”, ignoring the fact that the “Greek” identity did not exist before the 19th century and that its population at the time consisted of people who identified themselves as Albanians, Macedonians, Vlachs, Turks, Roma and a few other minorities.

The Greeks, Bulgarians and Albanians, for example, have all made claims that Alexander the Great was Greek, Bulgarian and Albanian, identities which did not exist in Alexander’s time… which is fine. But at the same time each claims that Alexander was uniquely

“Greek”, “Bulgarian”, or “Albanian”, which is not fine. Alexander the Great was a king of all the people who lived in the Balkans during his time, which would make him king of the distant ancestors of the present day Greeks, Bulgarians and Albanians. He was king of all of our ancestors but at the same time he identified with the Macedonian people, which makes him Macedonian. He may have been everyone’s king but he was a Macedonian.

Also, today we have Greeks claiming that the “Slavs” (Macedonians) are “stealing” their Greek history… that the “Slavs” are stealing Alexander the Great from them… We have Bulgarians complaining of the same thing. We have Bulgarians claiming that Kiril and Metodi, the Macedonian Solun brothers, were Bulgarians and that the “Yugoslavs” (Macedonians from the Republic of Macedonia) are expropriating them.

These Greeks and Bulgarians unfortunately are forgetting that those historical figures existed before their nation states were created and Alexander and Kiril and Metodi belonged to the ancestors of all the people in the Balkans. They are not exclusively Greek or Bulgarian.

Kiril and Metodi made contributions to all the Slavic speaking people in Europe but the fact remains that they were from Solun, a Macedonian city and that they were Macedonians.

So, how could the Macedonians have stolen something that already belonged to everyone anyway, especially to the Macedonians?

For example, I can claim that my great grandfather was “mine and mine alone” but he is not uniquely only my great grandfather. In fact there are at least a few dozen great grandchildren who can also lay that same claim and accuse me of robbing them of “their” great grandfather. My great grandfather was a common great grandfather to all of us, to all of his great grandchildren; he was never mine and mine alone. The only things I can claim to be “mine and mine alone” are things I acquired after I was born.

We all must accept the fact that before the Balkan nation states were created, Balkan history was common to all the people and belonged to everyone in the borderless Balkans. This is how pre 19th century

Balkan history must be treated. If we want to be honest about it, we have to accept the fact that the Balkan people, before each nation state was created in the 19th century, had a common history and no one should be claiming historical events or historical figures to the exclusion of the others.

We must also accept the fact that the Balkan territory also belongs to all the people in the Balkans. Unfortunately that has not been the case and we have hundreds of examples where Macedonians have been driven out of their homes and lands for wanting to be Macedonians and for not wanting to be Greeks, Serbians, Bulgarians, or Albanians.

On the question of who has the right to the “Ancient heritage”? I would say all the Balkan people do! Unfortunately that’s not how history has been re-written. Balkan history has been “re-written” so that each modern Balkan nation state can fit in its new artificial environment. In other words the past has been changed so that it can fit the present… This is precisely what is causing the problems among the various people in the Balkans today. The accusations of infringing on each other’s territory… on each other’s history… accusations of theft of historical figures… people being exiled from their homes for non-compliance… These are symptoms of misunderstanding stemming from the historical myths that pass as history especially written for each of the Balkan nation states by their patrons the Great Powers. Especially written for them to keep them divided!

As I mentioned earlier, this behaviour is not accidental, it is part of the long-term plan to keep these nation states from recombining; from forming a large state and from reclaiming their common heritage. Being small and existing among “belligerent neighbours”, who constantly have territorial claims against each other, also makes these states dependent on their patrons, the Great Powers, and they must remain loyal to them in order to be protected.

This is how the Balkans was set up by the Western European Powers after the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire and this how the situation has remained to this day, over 200 years later.

Greece has a custom made history, a fictional history, for Greeks only. There is no room for anyone else, even if that “anyone else” is indigenous to the territory today called Greece. Bulgaria has done exactly the same.

Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria took chunks of Macedonia in 1913 but their histories did not change to reflect that. There is no history to show who these new people were. In other words, Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria acquired Macedonian territories with Macedonian people living on them and these Macedonians were simultaneously treated as if they were Greeks, Serbians and Bulgarians and the histories of these countries remained unchanged. Non-Greeks, non-Serbians and non-Bulgarians were forced to conform and fit into Greece’s, Serbia’s and Bulgaria’s fictional molds because there was no room or tolerance for anything else...

So, when the Greeks today say “Macedonians do not exist” and “Macedonia is Greek”, they literally cut the Macedonian people completely out of existence, not only from Greece, but also from the entire planet, so that the Greek world can conform to its fictional setting and history.

The Macedonian people, however, do exist and have lived on Macedonian lands for many generations, side by side with the people who today call themselves Greek, Serbian and Bulgarian and don’t want to be cut out… assimilated or exiled…

If you ask me “what is the most important period of time for the modern Macedonian people as a nation”, the way “nationalism” defines a nation, I would have to say the 19th century. This was the time when nationalism was brought to the Balkans. One cannot talk about nationalism before nationalism was introduced.

When Greece was born for the first time in 1829 it was unclear what its national character was going to be. To quote David Holden, “the Greek nation-state was a product of western political intervention-‘the fatal idea’ as Arnold Toynbee once called it, of exclusive western nationalism impinging upon the multi-national traditions of the eastern world. By extension, therefore, at any rate in theory, it

was a child of the Renaissance and of western rationalism. (Page 28, Greece without Columns)

None of the modern Balkan nation states had a defined national character or a unique history of their people when they were first created. Like I said, everything was intertwined and everyone was mixed. It took outside intervention to forcefully define each nation and give it its unique characteristic which, as I said, in most cases, infringed on the others. For example, Macedonia had to die in order for Greece and Bulgaria to live. There was no room for a Greece or for a Bulgaria to exist with a living Macedonia… Their true histories (not the myths that have been written for them) are so close and intertwined that their distinctions are blurred. The ancestors of the people who lived in Greece and Bulgaria before the 19th century, before those two states were created, as I said, have a 2,300 year-old common existence.

The Macedonian people’s unique history as a modern nation began when the modern Macedonian people made their bid for independence. Macedonia’s unique history began when the Macedonian people understood what a nation was by definition and recognized themselves as a nation, a unique Macedonian nation. Unlike Greece and Bulgaria where their “nations” were created after their “states”, the Macedonian people considered themselves a nation, unique and separate from the artificially created Greek and Bulgarian “nations” long before they had a state. Unlike the Greeks who had “never” had a state before, and unlike the Bulgarians who only had a “fluid empire” that belonged to a Turkic Tatar tribe, the Macedonian people had a name, a state and an empire upon which to build and model their state and nation.

The Macedonian people’s first aim was to free the entire Balkans of the Ottomans and regain the old Eastern Christian Empire under Christian rule. But as small nation states like Serbia and Greece began to pop up in the Balkans, the Macedonian people started to make their own bid for an independent Macedonia with a multi-ethnic, multicultural and multi-religious character. Proof of this can be found in the various Macedonian proclamations and manifestos.

Here is a bit of Macedonian history that deals with that:

[On April 17th, 1880 the Ottoman government informed the Great Powers that the anticipated reforms had been drafted and prepared for their approval. Many Macedonian intellectuals, however, were not happy because the reforms neglected their demands, including the recognition of the Macedonian language. In May 1880 about two hundred prominent Macedonians signed and submitted a request to the European Commission protesting against the Ottoman Constitutional amendments because, among other things, the Ottomans neglected to recognize the Macedonian language. Unfortunately their written pleas were yet again ignored so a Macedonian delegation lead by Karandzhulov was dispatched to meet with Lord Fitzmorris, the British representative of the European Commission. Even though Lord Fitzmorris met with the Macedonians in person and heard their pleas, the Commission still ignored their demands.

Dissatisfied with the way the reforms were carried out, particularly by the attitude of the Great Powers, Macedonian leaders began to look inwards to find a solution to their problems.

A number of prominent leaders, including Leonidas Vulgaris from Berovo Region, Pop Kostandin Bufski and 30 others, got together and held a National Assembly from May 21st to June 2nd, 1880 in Gremen, Ostrovo Region (now Greek occupied Macedonia). Among other things, one of the items on the agenda was the Macedonian situation after the Berlin Congress. On this item the Congress concluded that the reason Macedonia was given back to the Ottomans was because of the neighbouring propaganda, mainly that of Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria, which falsely represented the ethnic composition of the Macedonian population. The Congress came to the conclusion that once the foreign propaganda was exposed and neutralized, the Macedonian people would have a better chance of uniting behind a Macedonian cause and creating an Autonomous Macedonian state within the Ottoman Empire or creating an independent Macedonian state. The Assembly also decided to challenge Ottoman authorities on articles 23 and 62 of the Treaty of Berlin which called for political and religious rights for the Macedonian people. If those rights were ignored then the Macedonians would have no other choice but to arm themselves and

fight under the slogan “Macedonia to the Macedonians, for reestablishing Ancient Macedonia”. (Vanche Stojchev. “Military History of Macedonia”. Military academy. Skopje, 2004. Page 252)

The National Assembly was concluded with the formation of an executive authority responsible for carrying out political decisions under a Macedonian Provisional Government called “Unity” which was to represent all ethnic groups living in the territory of Macedonia. Vasil Simov was appointed President of the Provisional Government and Stefo Nikolov was elected President of the National Assembly. Pop Kostandin Bufski and Leonidas Vulgaris were given the task of organizing the Macedonian military.

Decisions made at this Assembly were communicated to the Great Powers diplomatic missions in Solun which initially ignored them but later accepted them as the “Macedonian way” of dealing with problems.

On March 23rd, 1881 the Provisional Government of Macedonia approved a Manifesto and submitted it to the various diplomatic missions in the Ottoman territories.

The opening statements of the Manifesto began as follows:

“Macedonians, our precious fatherland Macedonia was once the most glorious country in the world. The Macedonian people have civilized Asia and mankind by the victorious Phalanx having laid the foundation of military arts, and Aristotle of education and enlightenment. Unfortunately the once so glorious Macedonia today is on the brink of disaster because we have made mistakes and forgotten our past. Aliens are now trying to take our country away from us and destroy our Macedonian identity, the brightness of which can never be darkened.

Macedonia has become a poor widow abandoned by her sons and no longer flies the glorious flag it once flew in triumph by its victorious Macedonian armies. Today Macedonia has been reduced to a geographical term as if someone is attempting to extinguish its glory and send it to oblivion.

Intriguers are digging Macedonia’s grave and trying to destroy it by bringing in Austrian- Hungarian troops, but replacing the shackles of one with another will only destroy Macedonia. Macedonia will not be regenerated, and our nation will perish.

This moment is critical for Macedonia- it is a matter of life or death.” (Vanche Stojchev. “Military History of Macedonia”. Military academy. Skopje, 2004. Page 253)

Realizing that Macedonia had become a pawn of the Great Powers, the Provisional Government of Macedonia called upon all the Macedonian people, regardless of religion and ethnicity, to unite and fight for liberation and the creation of an independent Macedonian state.

“True Macedonians, faithful sons of Macedonia! How much longer are you going to put up with the decay of our fatherland?

Macedonia is calling you, crying out the words ‘You, my faithful children, successors of Aristotle and Alexander III of Macedonia, you who bleed with Macedonian blood, do not let me die, help me!’ What a sad sight it will be for you, genuine Macedonians, if you become witnesses to my death. Do everything in your power, carry my flag of unity and call out the words ‘United Macedonia!’ Be brave, throw out those murderers who hold in their hands the flag of disunity and divide you, my children of various ethnicities.

Gather under the flag of Macedonia, raise it high and write on it unanimously: Long live the Macedonian people! Long live Macedonia! Let them hear the voice of our fatherland; let us gain liberty, the most precious heritage of nations. Say these words, for the liberal people who will applaud you. Call their noble hearts to hurry and give their help, to join your Holy fight for liberty, which has been away from our precious country for so many centuries. Macedonians, think about our origin, and do not give it up.” (Vanche Stojchev. “Military History of Macedonia”. Military academy. Skopje, 2004. Page 253)

The Manifesto was signed by President Vasil Simon, secretary Nikola Trajkov and three other members of the Provisional

Government of Macedonia, Petro Jovanov, Kosta Bufski and Hriste Gorgov. The signatures were confirmed by two government seals and on April 11th, 1881 and the Manifesto was taken to Kjustandil where the transcript was translated to Russian and French and distributed to various foreign and domestic diplomatic representatives in Tsari Grad (Constantinople).

While the Provisional Government of Macedonia operated in Gremen, another Macedonian organization was formed in northeastern Macedonia called the Macedonian League. The League’s purpose was to unite Macedonian immigrants in neighbouring countries, particularly the large Macedonian Diaspora in Bulgaria. After the creation of the Macedonian League and the establishment of a General Headquarters in Pirin Mountain, the League initiated the drafting of a constitution in order to define the aims and structure of a future government in Macedonia. All in all the constitution was divided into fifteen chapters constituting 103 articles. The first article dealt with Macedonia’s territory within Ottoman borders, which consisted of the Solun, Bitola and Skopje sanjak vilayets comprising historic and geographic Macedonia.

Among other things the constitution defined the various ethnic and religious populations living in Macedonia, the ministries and departments necessary to run the administration, the division of power in the legislative body of the government and the regulation of security including the army and police.

The government structure proposed was based on gaining broad autonomy within the Ottoman Empire. Through the drafting of the constitution Macedonians made it clear that they wanted an autonomous Macedonia, based on Article 23 of the Treaty of Berlin, emphasizing the distinct Macedonian national identity that was to be separate from the other Balkan countries.

Article 99 of the constitution called for use of military force to be exercised by the Macedonian Liberation Army should Ottoman authorities or the European Powers disagree with the request to form an autonomous Macedonian state within the Ottoman framework.

On matters of the Macedonian army, the Chief of the General Headquarters responsible for drafting the security part of the constitution added a separate chapter to the constitution for regulating the military. This Chapter known as the Military Instruction constituted 246 Articles was divided into two parts. The first part defined the structure and organization of the Macedonian army and the second part defined the tactics required if the liberation of Macedonia became necessary. The second part was put in place in case the Ottoman government or the Great Powers refused to grant Macedonia autonomy and the Macedonian people would then have to fight for it.

The constitution drafted by the Macedonian League in aid of establishing a Macedonian government and a military organization was quite detailed and comprehensive, especially the Articles regarding the formation of a Macedonian army. For more information see chapter 14 of Vanche Stojchev’s book “Military History of Macedonia”.

After the Macedonian League established its General Headquarters it began sending out communiqués. On June 23rd, 1880 it sent a letter with a copy of the Macedonian Constitution to the six Great Power ministries of the European Commission requesting their approval. Expecting no reply, the General Headquarters then went ahead and created a Manifesto calling on all the Macedonian people to organize a united national uprising. Among the signatories of the Manifesto were Iljo Maleshevski, Vasil Dijamandiev and eight other leaders.

Among other things the Manifesto said: Article 23 of the Treaty of Berlin was the last hope for our freedom and that hope is now lost. It is time for us to rise and settle the century-old account with our oppressor. We call on you to unite under the Macedonian flag and fight for liberty and independence. Only united we will be able to reclaim our precious fatherland for ourselves and gain absolute autonomy.

The Manifesto also warned the Macedonian people to watch out for opportunists who claimed to be fighting for the Macedonian cause while they were supporting alien interests.

The Manifesto ended with the slogans “Liberty or Death!” and “Long Live Liberated Macedonia!”

Even though the Manifesto was distributed far and wide, and the call for an uprising was loud and clear, the people could not muster the will because the Ottoman government had learned its lesson in the past and was prepared for such an event.] (Risto Stefov, “Macedonian struggle for Independence”)

As you can see from the above Manifestos, the Macedonian people in the 1880’s knew exactly who they were and what they wanted, even before they had a country. But, it seems, the European Great Powers did not want them to have a country of their own and this is how it has been for the Macedonians since then until 1944 when the People’s Republic of Macedonia was established by the will of the people… by accident and without Great Power consent.

The Macedonian people’s bid for independence and for creating a Macedonian state

After 1878, while the Macedonian economy was crashing down by leaps and bounds, the Bulgarian economy was improving dramatically. This was partly due to the cheap labour provided by a large influx of Macedonian pechalbari (migrant workers). Experiencing a very different life in Sofia, in contrast to life in the village, many Macedonian pechalbari were seduced by the good life and tended to believe Bulgarian propaganda.

After 1878, the first Macedonians to take up arms against the Ottomans were those who were wronged and wanted to see justice done. Soon, however, they realized that their efforts were futile and their revenge only resulted in the loss of innocent lives (relatives and neighbours were punished for their crimes, sometimes by death). Macedonian leaders came to the conclusion that what they truly wanted could only be achieved if the Ottomans were expelled from Macedonia for good.

It was the charismatic humanitarian William Gladstone, a three time British Prime Minister, who uttered the words “Macedonia for the Macedonians” which rang out like loud church bells throughout Macedonia. “Macedonia for the Macedonians” was the signal that rallied the Macedonians into action and gave them hope that finally the West would support their cause. In spite of his great sympathy for the Macedonian people, unfortunately, Gladstone was not in a position to help. The most the Great Powers wanted to offer were “reforms”. A great number of reforms were drafted and agreed upon but never implemented. The Ottoman Pashas continued to humour the westerners with reams of fictional statistics and accomplishments, while the Begs (feudal lords) continued to dominate the “Chiflik” (estates) and squeeze the village peasants out of their existence.

Ironic, isn’t it? While he was Prime Minister, the so-called charismatic humanitarian Englishman, William Gladstone did nothing for the Macedonians but he was all for them when he was in opposition!

The western powers wanted to “squeeze” as much as they could out of the Ottoman Empire, their goose that continued to lay golden eggs, for as long as possible so they offered to help in ways that would only benefit them and their capitalist ventures inside the Ottoman Empire. They knew very well that the Macedonians were economically squeezed to a breaking point but they couldn’t care less. Or was there another, more sinister motive? Yes, there was! This motive, however, did not become apparent until later, until after the 1903 Macedonian Ilinden Uprising commenced.

It became apparent to the Macedonian people, and the entire world for that matter, that the Great Powers were not going to help the Macedonian people liberate themselves from the Ottomans. This became most obvious when English warships docked in the Aegean Sea did nothing to stop the Ottomans from burning down Macedonian villages. The English sat in their ships and watched Macedonian villages burn in the distance and did nothing! They did nothing to stop the Ottoman slaughter of innocent Macedonians. Why? Because perhaps they did not want to interfere in local affairs! If that were true then why did they have their ships standing by in the Aegean Sea? Was it because they didn’t want the Macedonian people to win and were there to make sure they didn’t? Or was there another motive?

One thing is for sure, they did not want the Macedonians to liberate themselves and form a Macedonian state. The English wanted to weaken both the Macedonians and the Ottomans by fighting each other so that they could later have their proxies easily invade and occupy Macedonia, just as they had in 1912.

“Let the Ottomans and Macedonians fight it out and when they are both weak and unable to defend themselves we will let our proxy states, Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria finish them off and divide the spoils amongst themselves!” And that is exactly what happened!

The English were well-aware of what was going on in Macedonia and while the Macedonian villages were burning, they sat in their ships in the Aegean Sea watching and waiting. What else were they waiting for?

Obviously they were not waiting to help the Macedonians? They could have and had the power to stop the Ottomans from burning down Macedonian villages but obviously they did not. They were probably also waiting to pre-empt a Bulgarian invasion in Macedonia.

The Macedonian people in the mid 1800’s had high hopes that after Serbia and Greece were freed from the Ottomans, the Greek and Serbian people would also help the Macedonians free themselves. Many Macedonians took part in both the Serbian and Greek uprisings in hopes that the Greeks and Serbians would do the same for them when their turn came. Macedonians even participated in the Russian-Ottoman war of 1875 in an attempt to drive the Ottomans out of Bulgaria and Macedonia but in the end the Western European Powers intervened and while Bulgaria was given autonomy and eventually independence, Macedonia was handed back to the Ottomans. And, as we know, Macedonia was later invaded, occupied and partitioned by Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria.

Right after Bulgaria was given autonomy the Macedonian people came to the realization that “no one” was going to help them if they did not help themselves, so they took matters into their own hands and began to prepare for a massive uprising of their own.

The first step they took was to form a national revolutionary organization.

On October 23rd, 1893 in Solun two high school teachers, Damian Gruev and Anton Dimitrov, together with Petar Pop Arsov, a former editor of the newspaper Loza and Hristo Tatarchev, a doctor, got together in bookshop owner Ivan Nikolov’s house for an informal meeting to discuss the plight of the Macedonian people and what to do about it.

As word got around a committee was formed, more Macedonians got involved and a second (formal) meeting was held on February 9th, 1894 which resulted in the formation of a revolutionary organization known as the Vnatrezhna (Internal) Makedonska (Macedonian) Revolutsionerna (Revolutionary) Organizatsia (Organization), VMRO (IMRO).

It was called an “Internal” Macedonian Revolutionary Organization to distinguish it from the “External” Macedonian Revolutionary Organization more commonly known as the “Supremacist” Organization that pretended to struggle for the Macedonian cause but in reality supported the Bulgarian cause for Macedonia to be annexed by Bulgaria.

The Supremacists were based in Sofia. Most of them were military officers in the Bulgarian army. Pretending to work for the Macedonian cause, this organization actually worked for Bulgarian interests and was responsible for starting the 1903 Ilinden uprising early, before the Macedonian people were ready.

In time every time the Macedonian people took a step forward, this Bulgarian sponsored organization did something to impede them. Its aims were to make sure the Macedonians did not win if there ever was an uprising against the Ottomans.

To rally the masses the charismatic Gotse Delchev, a man of vision matched by only a few, dubbed as the father of the Macedonian Revolution and the soul of the movement, was chosen to lead the revolution.

By 1896 IMRO was able to exert influence to a point where it acted like a state within a state, taking over administrative positions from the Ottomans, leading boycotts against Ottoman institutions and offering isolated villages protection from Greek and Bulgarian sponsored brigands.

In time IMRO operatives were able to penetrate Ottoman economic, educational and even judicial functions.

IMRO demonstrated great leadership by its ability to organize Macedonia into seven revolutionary districts (Solun, Serres, Strumitsa, Shtip, Skopje, Bitola and Endrene {Dardanelles}). It also demonstrated its weaknesses. Having allied itself with the poor village peasants, because no Great Power was prepared to help the Macedonian people, and striving to refrain from obligations and debts, IMRO found itself strapped for finances.

The lack of funds to purchase sufficient arms brought home the realization that this “uprising” was going to be a long one.

Delchev knew what was at stake but tragically the Ottomans killed him on May 4th, 1903 before he had a chance to put his plans into action. In Delchev’s absence Gruev took charge of the organization and preparations for the uprising began.

In Delchev’s absence the Bulgarian supremacists were able to exert their influence over the Macedonian district leaderships and convinced them to start the uprising early, before the districts were prepared.

In due time plans were made, a military strategy prepared, weapons, medical supplies and food-stuffs were requisitioned and stock piled. Cheti (fighting units) were organized and training drills were performed.

On July 26th, 1903, by a dispatch to the Great Powers via the British vice-consul in Bitola, the General Staff formally announced the uprising. Then on July 28th, 1903 IMRO dispatched mounted couriers to all the sub-districts with the message “let the uprising begin”.

On the same day the Macedonian Revolutionary General Staff informed the Ottoman Director of Railways to warn travelers to choose a different mode of transportation in order to avoid being hurt.

Following Damjan Gruev’s orders from Smilevo, the village Cheti combined forces to form the following: the Smilevo and Giavato Region Cheta (650), the Krushovo Region Cheta (400), the Kichevo Region Cheta (350), the Bitola Region Cheta (250), the Ohrid Region Cheta (880), the Resna Region Cheta (450), the Demir-Hisar Region Cheta (420), the Prespa Region Cheta (300), the Kostur Region Cheta (700) and the Lerin Region Cheta (450).

The Cheti, under the command of capable leaders such as Damian Gruev, Vasil Chakalarov, Petar Pop Arsov, Pitu Guli and others,

faired well and enjoyed considerable success in the few weeks before the Ottoman militia began to amass. The local villagers also joined the movement giving moral support to the fighters. Even men from other regions that had not yet risen left their homes and came to fight. All in all the Macedonian people possessed the will to fight but lacked the rifles and ammunition with which to do it.

As battles raged on throughout western Macedonia, the Cheti put down most of the local Turkish garrisons. They destroyed bridges, railway lines and communications centres, captured most chifliks (Ottoman estates) and briefly liberated some regions such as Kichevo, Demir-Hisar, Kostur, Lerin, Klisoura and Neveska.

The cities of Kostur and Lerin themselves were not liberated. The most successful and highly celebrated of all battles was the storming of the town Krushevo. Nikola Karev led the Cheti in the attack and defeated the local Ottoman garrison with ease. The Macedonians quickly took over the most strategic points like the Post Office, Town Hall and local Police Station and declared Krushevo liberated.

True to their democratic commitments, the leaders of the liberating force constituted the Krushevo assembly which appointed a committee of sixty members, twenty from each of the community’s Macedonian, Vlach and Albanian populations. The Krushevo Manifesto was drafted, which basically recognized each ethnicity as an equal partner in the struggle and declared Krushevo a multiethnic community.

The committee in turn elected an executive body of six delegates, two from each community, which operated as a provisional government. The government in turn established a financial, judiciary and police force.

[“At Krushevo, under the rays of temporary liberty, fraternity and equality, national hatreds were dispelled and peace and concord reigned. For eleven whole days Krushevo lived as a little independent state, and although in miniature, clothed with flesh and blood that idea which spurred Macedonians to fight, against tyranny up to the Ilinden rising.”] (Page 193, Vasil Bogov, Macedonian

Revelation, Historical Documents Rock and Shatter Modern Political Ideology)

The “Krushevo Republic” unfortunately, only lasted two weeks but it was a glorious Republic that will forever remind the Macedonian people of their eternal struggle for independence and thirst for freedom. The liberation of Krushevo imprinted on the new Macedonian generations the legacy of a timeless and irreversible march towards self-determination.

The initial success of the rebellion was a surprise to the Ottomans especially since the Ottoman forces were numerically superior to those of the rebels. The Cheti, however, demonstrated their abilities in battle and more than matched the numbers with will. The Ottomans, unfortunately, were determined to put down the rebellion and amassed additional forces, deploying a total of 167,000 infantry, 3,700 cavalry and 440 pieces of artillery (all cannons).

Krushevo alone was surrounded by 20,000 Ottoman troops with 18 cannons against an encircled force of no more than 1,200 rebel fighters. The battle to retake Krushevo began on August 12th with the Macedonians crying out “Sloboda eli Smrt” (liberty or death) against the onslaught of Ottoman cannon fire. Pitu Guli and his men fought gallantly. They provided stiff opposition to the Ottoman advance but were no match for General Baktiar Pasha. Baktiar was a skilled war veteran who overwhelmed the Cheti by attacking the entire region simultaneously. The region was surrounded by soldiers, encircled by cannon fire and every Macedonian stronghold within was attacked simultaneously, cutting off all reinforcements and outside support.

Once Krushevo fell, one by one other IMRO strongholds began to yield, winding down the ten-week-old rebellion. In Krushevo, Baktiar Pasha allowed his troops to kill, pillage and rape for three days. The town was permanently devastated with 117 civilians murdered, 150 women raped and 159 houses burned down.

In the Ilinden aftermath, according to Michael Radin, in total 4,694 civilians were murdered, 3,122 women raped, 12,440 houses burned, 201 villages razed, 75,835 people left homeless and about 30,000

people left the country for good, becoming permanent refugees. (Page 105, “IMRO and the Macedonian Question”)

Besides the atrocities committed against the civilian population in Macedonia, the most significant impact of the uprising was the loss of so many great IMRO leaders.

(For more information on the Macedonian people’s bid for independence and for creating a Macedonian state please read chapters twenty-three and twenty-four of my book “History of the Macedonian people From Ancient times to the Present”, published in 2005).

Why the 1903 Macedonian Ilinden Uprising failed

There are several obvious and some not so obvious factors that contributed to the failure of the 1903 Macedonian Ilinden Uprising.

Even though the conditions for an uprising were right and the people were ready to fight they were not properly prepared and supported.

Here are some of the reasons why the Macedonian Ilinden Uprising failed:

1. The Macedonians were pitted against a much bigger and more powerful opponent who had a massive army and the resources to support a long and massive war.

2. The Macedonians lacked the arms and ammunition to sustain a prolonged struggle.

3. The Macedonians lacked inside and outside sponsorship and depended on the poor people for their resources and for financing the war.

4. The start of the Ilinden Uprising was instigated from the outside by the Supremacists behind whom stood the Bulgarian government and behind which stood the Great Powers.

5. The Macedonian people did not have the support of the Great Powers.

6. The Macedonian people were set up to fail by the Western Great Powers.

As I mentioned several times earlier, the Western Great Powers in 1878 gave Macedonia back to the Ottomans after most of it was liberated by Russia. I also mentioned that Macedonia was given back for the financial benefit of some of the Western Great Powers, such as England and France, because capitalists from those countries had a vested interest in the Ottoman Empire. But there was also another reason, a more sinister reason why Macedonia was given back to the Ottomans.

If England and France had a vested interest in the Ottoman Empire then why did they force the Ottoman Empire to give Bulgaria autonomy? The Western Europeans also had a vested interest in Bulgaria. There must also have been another reason why only Macedonia was given back to the Ottomans.

As I mentioned several times before, the Western Great Powers did not want a Macedonian state to exist in the Balkans and did everything in their power to prevent it. But there is more. Unfortunately preventing a Macedonia from surfacing was not enough. Something had to be done to get rid of it and its people permanently.

The Western Great Powers wanted to get rid of both the Ottoman Empire and Macedonia and replace them with their own creations. They had two options of how to do it. The most obvious and easiest option was to attack the Ottoman Empire from the outside. But because the Great Powers did not trust each other they were reluctant do this themselves. The second option was to have their proxy states, Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria, attack the Ottomans and drive them out, as was done later. This is why Macedonia was promised to them. But even though the proxy states had the will and were eager to expand their territories, they did not have the strength to take on both the Ottoman Empire and the Macedonian people at the same time.

Something had to be done to weaken them both. So, the Great Powers created the right conditions where there would be a conflict between the Macedonian people and the Ottoman Empire, which as we know culminated into the 1903 Ilinden Uprising.

This explains why the Western Great Powers gave Macedonia back to the Ottomans in 1878 but allowed Bulgaria to become autonomous. This also explains why the Western Great Powers, England in particular, did not ask for safeguards or guarantees for the Macedonian people. England knew that the Ottomans would exact their revenge on the Macedonians for their participation in aid of the 1876 Russian invasion.

After 1878, living conditions in Macedonia became predictably harsher while the Bulgarians began to enjoy their autonomy protected by the Great Powers.

After Bulgaria became autonomous it began to take an active role in controlling the development of the Macedonian struggle. As much as the Western Great Powers wanted a massive clash between the Ottomans and the Macedonians, they did not want the Macedonians to win. So the Bulgarians were there to make sure that did not happen…

There were two reasons the Western Great Powers wanted to start the uprising in Macedonia early. The first and most obvious was to do it before the Macedonian people were fully ready so that it would fail. The second was to prevent Macedonia from becoming autonomous and an Ottoman province.

But in order to make sure the Uprising failed it had to be controlled and to do that it had to be taken out of the hands of the Macedonian revolutionary leadership. But in order to do that the top Macedonian leadership had to be removed.

Since the Bulgarians already knew who the Macedonian leaders were and where they were located, all they had to do was inform the Ottoman authorities so that they could capture them.

When the time was right the Bulgarians gave the Ottomans a list of names of people to arrest and after they were arrested Bulgaria sent its own people from the Supremacist organization to take over the leadership in Macedonia and start the uprising. Almost every one of the Macedonian leaders was arrested and put in jail except for Gotse Delchev. Delchev was really good at avoiding capture.

After the Macedonian revolutionaries were betrayed to the Ottomans and arrested, the Supremacists began to take their place and declared, on their own, that an Uprising needed to take place and better sooner than later.

Right after the Macedonian leaders were arrested in February 1903, the Supremacists arrived in Macedonia from Bulgaria and coaxed

the various district revolutionary leaders to prepare for an early uprising, even after almost every district reported that it was not ready for an uprising.

Gotse Delchev, the supreme commander of the Macedonian revolutionary forces, was against an early uprising and was determined to stop it. Unfortunately he was killed by Ottoman forces on his way to the meeting.

History has failed to adequately inform us that Gotse Delchev was well aware of the Western Great Power plans to have Macedonia invaded, occupied and divided between Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria and was against an uprising, especially an early one. He also knew what the Bulgarians were up to. His plan was for Macedonia to remain a province of the Ottoman Empire and agitate the Ottomans for its autonomy. In Delchev’s mind, this was the safest way for Macedonia to survive, and it would have probably worked. The Great Powers also knew that a Macedonian-Ottoman alliance was in the works and were eager to start the Uprising as soon as possible under the condition that it would cause maximum damage and weaken both the Macedonians and the Ottomans.

In order to prove my point that the Bulgarians were indeed involved in a conspiracy to start a war in Macedonia, I would like to raise the following questions:

1. How did it come about that almost all the Macedonian revolutionary leaders were captured and sent to jail at the same time?

2. Why was a massive general uprising raised in their absence?

3. Why was the Uprising initiated by the Supremacists, especially at a time when the people were not ready for a general uprising?

4. Why was Delchev, the supreme commander of the Macedonian forces, bypassed and ignored on this issue, and