Part 31 – The Young Turk Uprising

Part 31 – The Young Turk Uprising

It appears that the Christians were not the only ones being targeted for exploitation and abuse by the high Ottoman authorities and the Ottoman system in the Balkans during the early 1900’s. After the Ilinden Macedonian National Uprising was suppressed, conditions in the Ottoman Empire continued to deteriorate distressing even elements of the Ottoman ruling class. Pushed to the limit, the first to react were the foreign educated Ottoman military officers who later came to be known as the Young Turk Committee of the “Unity and Progress” party. Having run out of options as to what to do about the distressful situation in which they found themselves, the Young Turk Committee decided it was time to take matters into its own hands by organizing a rebellion, later termed the Young Turk Uprising. The decision to start an uprising was made in Bitola at the “Unity and Progress” party headquarters on July 3rd, 1908. Here the Young Turk Committee ordered the commander of the Resen garrison, Ahmed Niazi Bey, an Albanian by origin, to leave the barracks and take his soldiers to the mountains. Soon afterwards the commander with 160 of his soldiers took whatever they could, including 74 rifles, 30,000 cartridges and all the money possessed by the garrison, and left for the mountains. When word of the rebellion spread throughout the civilian population Niazi Bey was joined by many of the policemen in the region. Soon after Niazi Bey declared his intentions to the Ottoman authorities in Istanbul, Solun and Bitola that he had raised a rebellion against the Sultan's regime, on July 5, 1908, he sent a proclamation to the Macedonian people also informing them of his intentions. In his proclamation, among other things he said: "Christian and Muslim brothers, this is to inform you that the time has come to put an end to the terror and abuse which we all have suffered for centuries. We are in this situation because up to now we have been listening to the Great European Powers and their proxies, Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece. Our authorities have contributed a great deal to this situation by exerting pressures on us, the Ottomans, Macedonians, Vlachs, Albanians and others... Today we have stood up to fight against this tyranny, to eliminate the pressure imposed on us, and to create a future where all of us will have independence and liberty, equality and justice… That is why I call on you to disband your Chetas and to join us in a common struggle against tyranny and injustice. Liberty, to borrow a word from the Macedonian language, for all will be guaranteed… Those who oppose us, be it Muslim or Christian, will be severely dealt with…" (Vanche Stojchev. “Military History of Macedonia”. Military academy. Skopje, 2004. Page 387)

On July 7, 1908 Sultan Abdul Hamid II ordered Shemsi Pasha, commander of the 18th Division stationed in Mitrovitsa, to take two Ottoman battalions and crush the Young Turk rebellion. But as the situation developed, as soon as he arrived in Bitola, Shemsi Pasha was killed. Then on July 20, 1908 the entire 3rd Ottoman Army stationed in Solun deserted and joined the new insurgency. The 2nd Ottoman Army stationed in Odrin also joined the insurgency. After the Young Turks appealed to the Macedonian Revolutionary Organization’s (MRO) Chetas to join their fight, the Young Turks formed new armed forces consisting of the Ottoman soldiers who deserted and the Macedonian insurgents from the MRO village Chetas, forces which continued to grow with each passing day. On July 20th, 1908, led by Niazi Beyand Sabri Bey, about 3,000 Young Turk insurgents entered Bitola and emptied its jails releasing about 1,200 political prisoners, mostly Macedonian revolutionaries. On July 24th, 1908 Niazi Bey took control of Prespa, Struga, Resen and Debar Regions, punished those who had aided the Sultan and established revolutionary authority over those regions. Shortly afterwards Solun became the new centre of the Young Turk Uprising. On July 24th, 1908 Sultan Abdul Hamid II issued a decree ordering the Ottoman Empire’s State Constitution to be rolled back to the Constitution established in 1876. The day after the Constitutional roll back order was given, Yane Sandanski from Nevrokop and Hristo Chernopeev from Strumitsa called a meeting to discuss the situation during which the Macedonians decided to give the Young Turks their support. On July 27th, 1908 the Young Turk committee of the “Unity and Progress” party in Bitola, led by Niazi Bey, organized a welcoming reception for the MRO Chetas. The Macedonian leaders including Apostol Petkov, nicknamed “the Sun of Enidzhe Vardar”, and Vasil Chakalarov from Kostur were welcomed with special honours. In Pehchevo, Vojvoda Gerasim Naumov gave a speech in which he also said: “Brothers and sisters, Turks, Macedonians, Gypsies, Vlachs, Jews, we are all in this together and together we will fight to destroy the Empire but preserve the Republic of Turkey as it is now, with no sultan”. MRO insurgents were also welcomed as they arrived from the mountains. On July 30, 1908 Yane Sandanski arrived in Solun where he was welcomed by thousands of Ottoman citizens, including Enver Bey and Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. On July 31st, 1908 Sandanski issued his famous Manifesto, calling on all nations in the Ottoman Empire to unite as brothers and together fight against the Sultan’s tyranny. After that all political prisoners in the regions under Young Turk control were amnestied. More Vojvodas and their

Chetas came down from the mountains and were welcomed and allowed to operate legally. On August 8th, 1908, while in Solun, Sandanski participated in the reformation of the MRO to include Odrin, a region east of Macedonia. After that MRO became known as the MORO (Macedonian Odrin Revolutionary Organization). MORO was also reformed to include some of the Young Turk goals which were supported by the Macedonian leadership, including Sandanski but with some reservations. Before committing himself fully to the Young Turk cause, Sandanski warned the Young Turks that if they did not keep their promises he would not hesitate to take his insurgents back to the mountains. It was clear that Sandanski did not fully trust the Young Turks because, besides making threats, he also ordered some of his Chetas in Seres, Melnik and Shtip to hide weapons, just in case the Young Turks were not on the level. During August 1908 the Young Turks elected a new National Parliament in which many of the Empire’s nations participated, including the Macedonians. Elected in the first National Parliament were 275 delegates of whom 142 were Turks, 60 Arabs, 25 Albanians, 23 Greeks, 12 Armenians, 5 Jews, 4 Macedonians, 3 Serbs and 1 Vlach. The Macedonians elected were Todor Pavlov from Skopje District, Pancho Dorev from Bitola District, Dimitar Vlahov from Solun District and Hristo Dalchev from Seres District. The fact that Macedonians were invited to participate in the elections and the fact that Macedonians were actually elected in Parliament raised the Macedonian peoples’ hopes and their trust in the Young Turks. On December 17th, 1908 the new National Parliament held its first session with the passing of an anti-strike law directed at ending all strikes, most of which took place in Macedonia; the revolutionary core of the Ottoman Empire. Unfortunately, being prejudiced against the Macedonians and unable to let go of bad habits, the Young Turks exercised the usual violence and anarchy which their predecessors had employed when putting down strikes, thus creating confusion and distrust for the new regime. At the start of January 1909 the MORO created the National Federal party (NFP) which supported democracy in Macedonia and was against Macedonia separating from the Ottoman Empire. The NFP was in support of an Ottoman Empire as a Federation of States with all of Macedonia existing as a Republic inside that federation. Unfortunately, the Young Turk Uprising in general and the NFP’s goals and objectives in particular were not popular with the Great Powers who at the time had different ideas. The Young Turk revolt, no matter how popular inside, was a threat to Great Power plans particularly to those to whom Macedonia had been promised. The neighbouring countries, with help from the Great Powers, carried out numerous activities designed to disunite the Macedonian revolutionary movement. Some of these activities manifested themselves in a class struggle between left and right. The right it seems was promised an independent Macedonia while the left fought for a Macedonian republic under an Ottoman Federation. After the MRO was disbanded in early 1908, left wing forces, including the insurgents from Seres, Strumitsa and Solun Districts, followed Sandanski’s lead. Odrin District also joined Sandanski after it was incorporated into MORO by the Young Turks. In September 1908, under the influence of the Bulgarian government, members of the right wing MRO created the Association of Bulgarian Constitutive Clubs (ABCC) whose main goal was to “group Bulgarian nationalities in new administrative units, homogenize the regions and give them power to self-manage”. Clubs such as these were created all over Macedonia and worked hard to separate Sandanski and the NFP from the Young Turks. In the fall of 1909 after the Law on Associations was passed, which prohibited the creation of organizations on a national basis, the ABCC was disbanded. So to avoid condemnation the Bulgarian government participated in the creation of various Macedonian and Odrin organizations, which again were used for the realization of Bulgarian national objectives.

These organizations were created on Bulgarian territory then dispatched to operate in Macedonia and Odrin. While world politics was polarizing the MORO leadership pulling it to the left or to the right, many Macedonian insurgents remained neutral and fought for the original MRO ideals. One such group was the Bitola District Cheta, which at the time operated legally in Bitola District. On October 13th, 1908 the Bitola District Committee submitted an official protest to the city’s Vali, the Young Turk committees and to the Great Power diplomatic representatives in Bitola declaring that the Committee had noticed change for the worse in the Young Turk attitude towards the Macedonian people and unless the proper authorities took measures to alter this change, the MRO would be forced to act. But in spite of the strong words, the MRO continued to operate legally under the rules created by the Young Turks. The Serbian government in the meantime, in view of the changes brought on by the Young Turks, instructed its diplomatic representatives to support Young Turk initiatives but to also emphasize and promote Serbian interests in Macedonia. During the elections Serbian diplomats demanded that the Young Turks recognize the so-called “Serbian nationality” in Macedonia and to allow the appointment of a Serbian metropolitan to the Veles-Debar eparchy. All this Serbian political maneuvering was carried out through the Serbian Democratic League established in August 1908. It was renamed “Educational-charity organization of the Ottoman Serbs” in 1910. Besides using this organization, Serbian propaganda was spread by the Serbian church, schools and other Serbian cultural and educational institutions and clubs established in Macedonia. Greek interests in Macedonia were also affected by the Young Turk Uprising but that did not stop the Patriarchate church, Greek consular representatives and the Greek sponsored armed bands from spreading Greek propaganda in Macedonia. Before the Young Turk Uprising, the Patriarchate, being a legal institution in Macedonia, was authorized by the Sublime Porte to oppose Bulgarian Exarchate influence in Macedonia. But with the Young Turk victory that privilege was threatened so on August 6th, 1908 the Greek silogos convened a meeting in Istanbul. A decision was made to create Greek political clubs in Macedonia and use them to spread Greek propaganda and promote the Greek national ideology. The Young Turk regime did not meet Albanian expectations so in 1908 the Albanians fought against the Young Turks, struggling for their own independent national, political and economic freedom. Albanian clubs were also created in several Macedonian cities including Skopje, Bitola, Solun and Debar. The club in Skopje at the beginning of September 1908 had 120 members many of whom were of the Christian Catholic religion, which attracted the attention of the Austrian-Hungarian consul. In June 1909 the Albanian Constitutive Club in Solun submitted a letter of protest to the Young Turk committee condemning the violence and terror perpetrated in Albania by General Javid Pasha. In the spring of 1910, Midhat Frasheri, president of the Albanian Solun committee, was removed by the Young Turk government from his position as Political Department Director of the Solun Vilayet and was sent to work in Baghdad. This was yet another blow to Young Turk-Albanian relations. Dissatisfied with the treatment they received from the Young Turk regime, the Albanian people in Albania, in the spring of 1911, began to riot spreading their havoc from northern to southern Albania. As the protests widened a large number of Ottoman officers deserted, joined the Albanian side and began to organize riots against the Young Turk regime in Macedonia. In early 1912 several Ottoman officers and about sixty soldiers from the Bitola, Ohrid, Prilep and Debar garrisons deserted and some officers in command of the Ottoman battalions began to disobey orders demanding that the Young Turk committee schedule new elections.

In June 1912 a number of Ottoman officers created the “Peoples’ League of Saviours” (“Ishadia”). Then on July 5th Major Halil and Lieutenant Arif, representing the “Ishadia”, met with Chernopeev and Chavdarov in Dupnitsa to discuss what to do about the Young Turk situation. After much discussion the various representatives agreed that they would unite and counter-revolt against the Young Turk regime. The Ottoman officers also agreed to supply the Macedonian insurgents with weapons, ammunition and the targets to attack. The Macedonians in turn agreed that they would not attack the “counter-revolutionaries” and would try to establish relations with the Albanian and Greek bands and gain their assistance in the fight against the Young Turks. According to this agreement the Macedonian revolutionaries were to receive armaments, free movement and the cooperation of the counter-revolutionary Ottomans, Albanians and Greeks. The extreme pressure placed on the Young Turks by the counter-revolutionary movement was too much to bear and in July 1912, the Young Turks finally cracked with the dismissal of parliament. Immediately afterwards more than 10,000 insurgents stormed Skopje and released about 440 political prisoners. Because of all these countermeasures, the Ottoman government passed even more restrictive laws, took stricter measures and brought new police and military forces into the region. Life in Macedonia became harsher and the only way out of it was seen to be through a war against the Ottomans; a war which could be carried out by reestablishing MRO and its original military activities. The Young Turks did not succeed in achieving their goals mainly because their “revolutionary ideals” were not supported by the rich Ottoman feudal lords. In fact on April 13th, 1909 in Istanbul, the feudal lords called for a coup against the Young Turks, instigating the April 15th, 1909 protests in Solun where Yane Sandanski and the NFP were called on to participate in putting it down. Sandanski was again called on April 20th, 1909 to participate in another attack against the old Ottoman regime; this time to a place called Chataldzha near Istanbul where the 3rd Ottoman Army consisting of 40,000 soldiers and 15,000 volunteers was concentrated. Sandanski with 2,000 insurgents, Hristo Chernopeev with 150, Todor Panitsa with 120 and other Macedonian volunteers joined this huge force in a joint action to overthrow the Sultan. The battle lasted three days, resulting in a victory for the Young Turks whose forces occupied Istanbul on April 24th, 1909, overthrowing Sultan Abdul Hamid II and replacing him with Mehmed Pasha V, former inspector for the Murzsteg reforms. Unfortunately, due to Great Power intervention the Young Turk armed forces along with the Macedonian insurgents were forced to retreat and the new administrative organs that were put in charge followed the old Ottoman rules. It would appear that the Young Turks tolerated the insurgency in Macedonia as long it was needed to fulfill their own objectives but as soon as they took control of the territory and overthrew the Sultan they no longer needed the insurgents and began passing restrictive laws to suppress them. One of the more significant laws was the law on military squad creation for the purpose of hunting down and eliminating insurgents.

In November 1909 Hilmi Pasha, the Minister of the Interior, signed a disarmament law aimed at disarming Rumelia Vilayet and punishing those who were suspected of harbouring weapons. The law consisted of 38 articles grouped in 4 chapters enforced by the Ministry of the Interior and by the War Ministry. Ordered by Talat Bey, the new Minister of the Interior, another law was passed on December 24, 1909 to revoke all amnesties granted to former MRO activists on July 11, 1908. This law additionally would charge MRO members for old acts committed for which they were already pardoned. After all these laws were passed, the Ottomans began to arrest, persecute and murder Macedonian revolutionaries, activists, military leaders and insurgents, generally disarming the population by force and by repressive measures. During late 1909 more than 150 people were killed in Skopje, Bitola, Solun and Odrin Vilayets including Vojvodas Todor Dochev from Bitola and Gjurchin Naumov from Ohrid. Many were wounded, robbed and mistreated and even many more, particularly Christians, were expelled from Macedonia and their properties confiscated and given to Muslim refugees from Bosnia and other places. From March 1st, 1909 to the end of 1910 1,084 Muslims were settled in Odrin vilayet, 10,000 in Solun vilayet and 10,300 in Skopje vilayet, increasing not only the terror against the Macedonian Christian population but also changing the region’s demography. Failing to bring permanent change in the region, the Young Turk regime not only failed the hopes of the Macedonian people but brought unprecedented terror to the population forcing the Macedonian revolutionaries to go back to the mountains. Among the first to take to the mountains were Vojvodas Blazhe Krstev-Birincheto, Trajko Mitrev from Prilep, Alekso Stefanov from the village Radevo, Bogoj Simeonov from the village Malo Tsrsko followed by Apostol Petkov, Todor Aleksandrov, Hristo Chernopeev, Konstantin Samardzhiev and Mihail Dumbalakov. In mid-December 1909 Chernopeev, dissatisfied with the current situation in Macedonia, went to Solun and announced to his friends that he was fleeing to the mountains because he believed the situation in Macedonia would only change through violence and war; a notion that was fully supported by Dimitar Vlahov. In the spring of 1910 new Chetas began to pop-up in Strumitsa, Pehchevo and Shtip Regions and as their numbers increased the Cheta Chiefs decided it was time to create a new General Headquarters and elect new leaders. This task was delegated to a group of former MRO activists from Strumitsa, Seres and Solun Revolutionary Districts who in April 1910 met in Varna and then in Sofia and decided to resume the insurgency in Macedonia and to include Odrin District. An organizational committee was elected led by Hristo Chrnopeev and Andon Bozukov. But in spite of this group being Macedonian and in spite of the insurgents fighting for the liberation of Macedonia and Odrin, the organization which was going to lead it was called “Bulgarian National Macedonian Odrin Revolutionary Organization” (BN MORO). This was done in order to placate Bulgaria, which had pledged support for the Organization and would allow its Chetas to be formed on Bulgarian soil. Led by Chernopeev and Petkov, the first Cheta organized by BN MORO was dispatched to Macedonia on June 29th, 1910. Not happy with the situation another group of former activists, consisting of Hristo Matov, Todor Aleksandov, Aleksandar Protogerov, Petar Chaulev, Stefan Nikolov, Milan Gjurlukov, Stojan Mishev and others, got together in Sofia in May 1910 and decided to reestablish MRO and its revolutionary activities in accordance with its old principles. A new MRO Central Committee was elected that included Todor Aleksandrov, Aleksandar Protogerov and Petar Chaulev with Hristo Matov and Todor Lazarov as representatives from abroad. On May 10, 1910 a group of 13 people, led by Todor Aleksandrov, arrived in Macedonia and after crossing the border broke into five groups and went to various cities to re-establish MRO and carry out new military activities.

As a result of their work numerous new Chetas were created in a short time and established in almost every region of Macedonia. People were told that the new MRO was based on the old Ilinden ideals and would seek the same goals as its predecessor. MRO’s comeback had great influence on the Macedonian people as many flocked to join its new Chetas. Skopje Revolutionary District, led by Todor Aleksandrov, was the most successful District to engage the people not only to join the Organization but also to carry out military campaigns against the Ottomans. Unfortunately in spite of all efforts on the part of the MRO and its leadership, neither the new Chetas created internally nor the ones infiltrated from abroad would follow the MRO military procedures and principles. Each Cheta followed its own rules and acted more or less on its own initiative. To resolve this and other outstanding issues, a meeting was held in Sofia on March 11, 1911 between the various representatives of MRO and BN MORO. After a long discussion it was decided that the name MORO would be used to represent all Organizations and as for the conduct of its members, they were to follow the old pre Ilinden Constitution and Rulebook. The new struggle would be mostly diversionary with attacks aimed at the railroads. A new Central Committee was elected consisting of Todor Aleksandov, Hristo Chernopeev, Petar Chaulev and Aleksandar Protogerov. Todor Lazarov and Pavel Hristov were appointed representatives from abroad. Immediately after the meeting new Chetas were created, each consisting of 5 to 6 insurgents led by Vojvodas Aleksandrov, Chernopeev, Jurukov, Apostol Petkov, Ichko Dimitrov, Konstantin Samardzhiev and others. Before returning to Macedonia, Todor Aleksandrov, in a speech, reassured the Macedonians in Sofia that the morale of the Macedonian people in Macedonia was high, that the new insurgency was welcomed everywhere and that the Macedonian people were again ready to make sacrifices. The first MORO (United VMRO and BN MORO) Chetas, organized by activists from the former Supreme Committee (Vrhovists) and led by Lieutenant Colonel Stefan Nikolov, were dispatched to Macedonia in May 1911. Upon crossing into Macedonia the Chetas were broken up into smaller groups and each group was sent to a pre-selected region; namely Strumica, Petrich, Maleshevo, Melnik and others. Each smaller Cheta, led by Tane Nikolov, Doncho Zlatkov, Stefan Chavdarov, Georgi Zankov and others, in turn operated independently of the others. On October 18th, 1911 MORO’s Central Committee sent a memo to all Great Power Consuls in Macedonia informing them that the political and economic situation in Macedonia had not changed since July 11th, 1908, emphasizing that in such a situation it was only normal that revolutionary activities, such as those agreed upon on July 10th, 1908, be continued. All conflicts from here on forward between insurgents and the Ottoman army would be due to revolutionary activities of the MORO. After the memo was sent, Ottoman authorities imposed even stricter measures against the Macedonian people. During 1911 and especially 1912 diversionary campaigns became a regular theme in Macedonia being carried out by MORO insurgents. Explosive experts from the Bulgarian army were dispatched to train MORO insurgents on how to carry out effective attacks on rail lines, focusing mainly on the Solun-Skopje and Solun-Bitola rail lines. Besides carrying out diversionary attacks on railway facilities, explosive devices were also placed in cities, often on market days and in crowded places. These kinds of diversions were carried out all throughout Macedonia. One of the most severe attacks was carried out in Dojran where 13 people were killed and 42 Ottomans and four Macedonians were wounded. Another attack was carried out in Shtip on November 21st, 1911 killing one and wounding three Ottomans. Although this attack did not cause much damage, this particular incident stirred up fanaticism in the Islamic population causing it to massacre many Christians and rob and burn their shops and houses.

After the Muslims were done 20 Macedonians were killed and 262 were wounded. On July 19th, 1912, just before the Balkan Wars erupted, a bomb exploded in the green market in Kochani. Five minutes later another bomb exploded in the granular food market killing 10 people in total. Twenty minutes later the Ottoman army blocked all exits and, aided by the police, entered shops and houses killing everyone in sight. In the seven hours that Kochani was seized 40 people were killed and 200 were severely wounded. Houses were robbed and burnt and many women were raped. All consuls were informed about the incident, which was later used as pretext for the First Balkan War. After Italy declared war on the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman authorities, in October 1911, declared a state of emergency and initiated mobilization of the Macedonian people. To avoid being mobilized many young Macedonian men left their homes and fled abroad. By the end of 1911 more that 900 young Macedonians had avoided the Ottoman recruitment only to return as MORO insurgents. At the start of March 1912, Shukri Bey, secretary of the Ottoman Ministry of the Interior, and Abdul Kerim Bey, secretary of the Ministry of Education, arrived in Sofia and requested that Bulgarian government stop armed MORO insurgents from entering Ottoman territories from Bulgaria. A meeting was convened between the Ottomans, the Bulgarian government and the MORO to negotiate a deal. But as a representative of the MORO from abroad, Hristo Matov categorically refused to allow the disarming of insurgents. Being unsuccessful in negotiating a deal, the Ottomans decided to increase their gendarmerie forces in Macedonia to five regiments, each consisting of 3,000 soldiers, and five mobile battalions, each consisting of 1,000 soldiers. The total number of policemen was also increased to 20,000. In the summer of 1912 new organizations were created in Bulgaria in an attempt to quickly solve the Macedonian Question. On June 17th, 1912 a group of people, among who were Bulgarian officers of Macedonian descent, met at Dr. Dimitar Vjadov’s house to plan what to do next. Among them were Lieutenant Colonel Aleksandar Protogerov, Lieutenant Colonel Stefan Nikolov, Major Petar Drvingov and Major Boris Drangov. After some discussion it was decided to convene a congress in Sofia and present the Bulgarian government with a scenario that favoured an uprising followed by war. A new administrative body, headed by Stefan Nikolov, was appointed to organize the Congress. The Congress took place in Sofia on August 12th, 1912, which according to media reports was dubbed the “People's assembly for Macedonia and Odrin”. During the Congress a resolution was adopted demanding that the Ottomans provide complete autonomy to Macedonia and Odrin with its own district national parliament, people's police and a Christian governor to be elected by the people and to be supported by the Great Powers. If this demand was not immediately met the resolution called for the Bulgarian government to declare war on the Ottoman Empire. At the beginning of September 1912 the Macedonian-Odrin brotherhood executive committee began to organize volunteer Chetas for the liberation of Macedonia and Odrin. On the eve of the Balkan Wars, in addition to existing MORO Chetas, new Chetas were created and recruited in Bulgaria to be dispatched to Macedonia. Unfortunately the various leading bodies could not agree on who was going to lead the Chetas, which brought into question Bulgarian mistrust of the Macedonians regardless of their political affiliations.