Autonomy for Macedonia and Adrianople regions

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Bulgarian Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Committees

Art. 1. The goal of BMARC is to secure political autonomy for the Macedonia and Adrianople regions.
Supreme Macedonian-Adrianople Organization
.
Art. 1. The goal of SMAO is to secure political autonomy for the Macedonia and Adrianople regions.
Receipt of the External Representation of the IMARO. in Sofia, depicting a map of the territories of Macedonia and Adrianople Thrace.

Autonomy for the

Thracian Bulgarian emigres in Sofia and covered several meanings. Serbia and Greece were totally opposed to that set of ideas while Bulgaria was ambivalent to them.[1] In fact Sofia advocated granting such autonomy as a prelude to the annexation of both areas, as for many Bulgarian emigres it was seen in the same way.[2]

History

The idea of autonomy was promoted during the 1880s, by diverse political parties in Bulgaria and in

European Turkey, settled with Christian population.[4]
This trend emphasized the principle of popular sovereignty, and appealed for a democratic constitution and further decentralization and local autonomy within the Ottoman Empire. In general, an autonomous status was presumed to imply a special kind of constitution of the region, a reorganization of gendarmerie, broader representation of the local Christians in all the administration, etc.

However, there was not a clear political agenda behind this idea and its final outcome, after the expected dissolution of the Ottoman Empire.[5] By many activists the autonomy was seen as a transitional step towards possible unification of both areas with Bulgaria.[6][7] This outcome was based on the example of short-lived Eastern Rumelia. The successful unification between the Principality of Bulgaria and this Ottoman province in 1885 was to be followed. The second possible option for the development of the autonomy was as a first step towards a future inclusion into an imagined Balkan Federation.

The concept was popularized in 1894 by the statute of the

Supreme Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Committee also had as its official aim the struggle for autonomy of Macedonia and Adrianople regions. Its earliest documents referring to the autonomy of Macedonia were the Decisions of the First Macedonian Congress in Sofia in 1895.[12]

Shumen Macedonian-Adrianopolitan Society's flag with inscription on it: Autonomy for Macedonia and Adrianople regions.

During the

First World War (1914–1918) the organizations supported the Bulgarian army and joined to Bulgarian war-time authorities when they took control over parts of Thrace and Macedonia. In this period autonomist ideas were abandoned and the direct incorporation of occupied areas into Bulgaria was supported.[13] These wars left both areas divided mainly between Greece, Serbia (later Yugoslavia), and the Ottoman Empire (later Turkey). That resulted in the final decline of the autonomist concept. After that the combined Macedonian-Adrianopolitan revolutionary movement split into two detached organizations – the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organisation and the Internal Thracian Revolutionary Organisation
.

In 1919 the so-called

Treaty of Neuilly and the partition of Macedonia, the activity of the Temporary representation faded and in 1920 it was dissolved. The former IMRO revolutionary and member of the Temporary representation Dimo Hadzhidimov wrote in his brochure "Back to the Autonomy" in 1919:

"This idea, nevertheless, remained a Bulgarian idea until it disappeared even among the Bulgarians. Neither the Greeks, nor the Turks, nor any other nationality in Macedonia accepted that slogan... The idea of autonomous Macedonia was developed most significantly after the creation of the Internal Macedonan revolutionary Organization which was Bulgarian in respect of its members and proved to be well decided, of great military might and power of resistance. The leadership of the Macedonian Greeks could not rally under the banner of such an organization which would not, under any circumstances, serve Hellenism as a national ideal... Undoubtedly, since the Greeks of Macedonia, the second largest group following the Bulgarians, had a position like this vis-a-vis the idea of autonomy, the latter could hardly anticipate success."[14][15]

See also

Notes

  1. ISBN 1134678762
    , p. 43.
  2. ISBN 0786724579
    , p. 210.
  3. ^ Marinov, Tchavdar. "We, the Macedonians: The Paths of Macedonian Supra-Nationalism (1878–1912)". We, the People: Politics of National Peculiarity in Southeastern Europe, edited by Diana Mishkova, Budapest, Hungary: Central European University Press, 2009, pp. 107-138. https://doi.org/10.1515/9786155211669-004
  4. ISBN 0-275-97888-5
    .
  5. ISBN 978-9639776289
    .
  6. ISBN 0226424995
    , p. 100.
  7. ISBN 0801469791
    , p. 16.
  8. ISBN 978-963-9776-28-9
    .
  9. ISBN 382587365X
    .
  10. ISBN 978-0-8014-9493-2
    . Retrieved March 30, 2019.
  11. ISBN 0810862956
    , Introduction.
  12. ^ Бурилкова, Ива, Цочо Билярски. От София до Костур. Освободителните борби на българите от Македония в спомени на дейци на Върховния македоно-одрински комитет, Синева, София, 2003, стр. 6.
  13. ISBN 0-542-96184-9
    .
  14. ^ Hadjidimov, Dimo. "Назад към автономията [Back to the Autonomy]". Sofia. Retrieved 2017-02-15 – via Promacedonia.org.
  15. ISBN 9789004250765. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help
    )
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Autonomy_for_Macedonia_and_Adrianople_regions&oldid=1219356137"