GREAT POWER ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL INFLUENCE IN THE BALKANS

GREAT POWER ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL INFLUENCE IN THE BALKANS

Macedonia was liberated in the spring of 1878 and was given back to the Ottomans in the summer of the same year. After waiting for a long period of time for something to happen, Russia took its chance and attacked the Ottoman Empire in 1877. The official cause of the attack was in response to complaints from the peasants in the Balkans who were claiming to be exploited to the point of starvation. The Turkish armies were decimated and on March 3rd, 1878 Turkey was forced to sign a peace treaty with Russia. This treaty became known as the “San Stefano Treaty”. One of the requirements of the treaty was that a large Bulgarian state be formed that included most of present day southern Bulgaria, all of Macedonia and other parts of the Balkans. The peace treaty was unfortunately signed without the consent of the Western Power who convened in Berlin in June 1878 to decide what to do. Russia’s real motive for the attack it would seem had to do more with self interests and less with the interest of the people it was trying to protect, so Russia took the opportunity to realize a long held ambition in the Balkans, gain access to the Mediterranean Sea. The western powers of the time which included Great Britain, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy unfortunately did not agree with what Russia was doing for two main reasons; 1. Britain and France, particularly Britain, did not want Russia to gain access to Mediterranean waters. 2. Both Britain and France had made many investments and had companies operating in the Ottoman Empire and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire would have meant the loss of their investments. The western powers, including Russia, convened in Berlin on June 13th, 1878 and by July 13 they had concluded, among other things, to

allow Bulgaria to become an autonomous state and to give Macedonia back to the Ottomans. So Macedonia was free for 132 days from March 3rd, 1878, when the San Stefano Treaty was signed, to July 13th, 1878 when the Congress of Berlin decided to give it back to the Ottomans. The Macedonian people’s high hopes were dashed when they were handed back to the Ottomans to be further abused and exploited. This not only fostered hatred and mistrust for the Great Powers but also made the people realize that they would have to depend on themselves to gain their freedom. Outside of dashing the Macedonian peoples’ hopes, the actions of the Berlin Congress placed doubt on Macedonia’s future which opened the question, “What will happen to Macedonia when the Ottoman Empire collapses completely?”

ACTIONS AND INFLUENCE OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCHES IN MACEDONIA

One of the most frequently asked question is “What were foreign Christian Churches doing in a predominantly Muslim State?” On the surface it seemed that everyone was interested in the well-being of the Macedonian people, especially Macedonia’s neighbours Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria, and they wanted to make sure the Christian Macedonian people’s rights were observed. The reason however for allowing only churches to exist in Macedonia as opposed to clubs, political and other organizations is because of Muslim law. Being Muslims, the Ottomans would only recognize religion as the sole entity allowed to operate in Muslim lands. The legal system was created around the Seriat which had its basis in Islam. The Koran and Hadith were the books from which the ideals and fundamental principles for the construction of the legal system were drawn. No law could be passed which in principle contradicted the Seriat. Only the supreme religious leader, the Sejh-ul-Islam, had the right to interpret and assess the legal norms and only from the point of view of Islamic law. The Koran dictated Muslim conduct and behaviour, including punishment for crimes. In the Ottoman mind only religion and the word of God had sole authority over peoples’ lives. Religion was the official government of the Ottoman State. Islam was the only recognized form of rule that suited Muslims but could not be directly applied to non-Muslims. So the next best thing was to allow other religions to rule over the non-Muslims. The obvious choice for Macedonia of course

was the Eastern Christian or Orthodox religion, which was the foundation of the Byzantine Empire, the Ottoman Empire’s predecessor. On the insistence of the Great Powers, especially Russia, to give the Ottoman non-Muslim citizens more rights, the Phanariot Patriarch church under the authority of the Ecumenical Patriarch in Constantinople was re-established in Macedonia in 1850, 73 years after it was abolished by the Sultan Mustafa III in 1767. Unfortunately the language of the Patriarch church was Koine, which was foreign to the vast majority of people in the Balkans who spoke dialects of the Slav language and after much complaining, Russia who saw itself as the protector of the Christian Orthodox believers, pressured the Sultan (Ottoman Supreme Leader) to establish the Exarchate Church in 1872 which catered to the Slav speakers of the Orthodox region. But after the formation of the Bulgarian state in 1878, Bulgarians adopted the Exarchate Church as the church of the Bulgarian people. Faced with the prospect of having no church of their own, the Macedonian people also made an attempt to establish a Macedonian church in 1891 but without success. On the recommendation of the Patriarch, the Sultan would not grant the Macedonians their wish to have their own church. So, having no church of their own, the Macedonian believers in Christ could not only NOT form their own Macedonian government but had no choice but to attend the foreign churches for their prayer. So: “What were foreign Christian Churches doing in a predominantly Muslim State?” The real reasons for establishing the foreign Patriarchate and Exarchate Churches in Macedonia, as it turned out, were to promote foreign nationalist propaganda.