Bulgarians in the Republic of Macedonia
Encyclopedia
Bulgarians
are a non-recognised ethnic minority in the Republic of Macedonia
. Bulgarians are mostly found in the Strumica
area, but over the years, the absolute majority of southwestern Republic of Macedonia have declared themselves Macedonian
. The town of Strumica
and its surrounding area (including Novo Selo
) were part of Bulgaria between the Balkan wars
and the end of World War I
, as well as during the World War II
. The total number of Bulgarians counted in the 2002 Census was 1,417 or roughly 0.07%.
had Bulgarian identity. In 1912, the region of present-day Republic of Macedonia became a part of the Kingdom of Serbia
, thus becoming Southern Serbia. During World War II
, most regions of Macedonia were annexed by Bulgaria. Most local Slavic-speakers were regarded and self-identified as Macedonian Bulgarians. After the end of World War II, the creation of People's Republic of Macedonia and of a new Macedonian language
, it started a process of ethnogenesis
and distinct national Macedonian identity
was formed. The new Yugoslav
authorities began a policy of removing of any Bulgarian influence, making Macedonia a connecting link for the establishment of new Balkan Communist Federation
and creating a distinct Slavic
consciousness that would inspire identification with Yugoslavia. With the proclamation of the Socialist Republic of Macedonia as part of the Yugoslav federation, the authorities took measures that would overcome the pro-Bulgarian feeling among much of the population of Macedonia such as the Bloody Christmas in 1945
. It has been claimed that from 1944 till the end of the 1940s people espousing a Bulgarian ethnic identity had been oppressed. According to Bulgarian sources, more than 100,000 men were imprisoned under the new "Law for the protection of Macedonian national honor" for refusing to declare they were ethnic Macedonians. Some 1,200 prominent Bulgarians were sentenced to death in the towns of Skopje
, Veles
, Kumanovo
, Bitola
and Stip
. In 1946, two Bulgarian politicians were sentenced to death and another 74 men jailed for attempting to detach SR Macedonia from Yugoslvaia and join it with Bulgaria. The Communist authorities were successful in removing all Bulgarian influence in the region. In Macedonia the Bulgarophobia increased almost to the level of state ideology.
have continued until today. It should be noted though that the Constitutional Court of Republic of Macedonia banned the organization of the Bulgarians in Macedonia Radko
as "promoting racial and religious hate and intolerance". The "Radko" association was registered in Ohrid in 2000. In 2001 it was proclaimed illegal. The association is named after the conspiration pseudonym
of Ivan Mihailov
, leader of Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization during the interbellum. In official Macedonian historiography, Mihailov is a terrorist and a Bulgarian chauvinist. In 2009 the European Court of Human Rights
in Strasbourg
, condemned Republic of Macedonia
because of violations of the European Convention of Human Rights in this case. Nevertheless during the last few years, rising economic prosperity and the EU membership of Bulgaria has seen around 60,000 Macedonians applying for Bulgarian citizenship
; in order to obtain it they must sign a statement declaring they are Bulgarians by origin. Probably the most prominent Macedonian that applied for and was granted Bulgarian citizenship is former Prime Minister
Ljubčo Georgievski.
An estimated 500 Macedonians receive Bulgarian citizenship every week. This aggregates to about 50,000 Macedonian nationals who have received Bulgarian citizenship in the past 20 years.
Bulgarians
The Bulgarians are a South Slavic nation and ethnic group native to Bulgaria and neighbouring regions. Emigration has resulted in immigrant communities in a number of other countries.-History and ethnogenesis:...
are a non-recognised ethnic minority in the Republic of Macedonia
Republic of Macedonia
Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...
. Bulgarians are mostly found in the Strumica
Strumica municipality
Strumica is a municipality in eastern Republic of Macedonia. Strumica is also the name of the city where the municipal seat is found. Strumica Municipality is part of the Southeastern Statistical Region.-Geography:...
area, but over the years, the absolute majority of southwestern Republic of Macedonia have declared themselves Macedonian
Macedonians (ethnic group)
The Macedonians also referred to as Macedonian Slavs: "... the term Slavomacedonian was introduced and was accepted by the community itself, which at the time had a much more widespread non-Greek Macedonian ethnic consciousness...
. The town of Strumica
Strumica
Strumica is the largest city in eastern Macedonia, near the Novo Selo-Petrich border crossing with Bulgaria. About 100,000 people live in the region surrounding the city. The city is named after the Strumica River which runs through it...
and its surrounding area (including Novo Selo
Novo Selo (Novo Selo)
Novo Selo is a large village in the southeastern part of the Republic of Macedonia. It is the administrative centre of the eponymous municipality. Located in the valley of the Strumica River 9 km from the Bulgarian border, it has a population of 2,756...
) were part of Bulgaria between the Balkan wars
Balkan Wars
The Balkan Wars were two conflicts that took place in the Balkans in south-eastern Europe in 1912 and 1913.By the early 20th century, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia, the countries of the Balkan League, had achieved their independence from the Ottoman Empire, but large parts of their ethnic...
and the end of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, as well as during the World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. The total number of Bulgarians counted in the 2002 Census was 1,417 or roughly 0.07%.
Yugoslavia
Until 1913 the majority of the Slav population of all three parts of the wider region of MacedoniaMacedonia (region)
Macedonia is a geographical and historical region of the Balkan peninsula in southeastern Europe. Its boundaries have changed considerably over time, but nowadays the region is considered to include parts of five Balkan countries: Greece, the Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria, Albania, Serbia, as...
had Bulgarian identity. In 1912, the region of present-day Republic of Macedonia became a part of the Kingdom of Serbia
Kingdom of Serbia
The Kingdom of Serbia was created when Prince Milan Obrenović, ruler of the Principality of Serbia, was crowned King in 1882. The Principality of Serbia was ruled by the Karađorđevic dynasty from 1817 onwards . The Principality, suzerain to the Porte, had expelled all Ottoman troops by 1867, de...
, thus becoming Southern Serbia. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, most regions of Macedonia were annexed by Bulgaria. Most local Slavic-speakers were regarded and self-identified as Macedonian Bulgarians. After the end of World War II, the creation of People's Republic of Macedonia and of a new Macedonian language
Macedonian language
Macedonian is a South Slavic language spoken as a first language by approximately 2–3 million people principally in the region of Macedonia but also in the Macedonian diaspora...
, it started a process of ethnogenesis
Ethnogenesis
Ethnogenesis is the process by which a group of human beings comes to be understood or to understand themselves as ethnically distinct from the wider social landscape from which their grouping emerges...
and distinct national Macedonian identity
National identity
National identity is the person's identity and sense of belonging to one state or to one nation, a feeling one shares with a group of people, regardless of one's citizenship status....
was formed. The new Yugoslav
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
authorities began a policy of removing of any Bulgarian influence, making Macedonia a connecting link for the establishment of new Balkan Communist Federation
Balkan Communist Federation
The Balkan Federation was a project about the creation of a Balkan federation or confederation, based mainly on left political ideas.The concept of a Balkan federation emerged at the late 19th century from among left political forces in the region...
and creating a distinct Slavic
Slavic peoples
The Slavic people are an Indo-European panethnicity living in Eastern Europe, Southeast Europe, North Asia and Central Asia. The term Slavic represents a broad ethno-linguistic group of people, who speak languages belonging to the Slavic language family and share, to varying degrees, certain...
consciousness that would inspire identification with Yugoslavia. With the proclamation of the Socialist Republic of Macedonia as part of the Yugoslav federation, the authorities took measures that would overcome the pro-Bulgarian feeling among much of the population of Macedonia such as the Bloody Christmas in 1945
Bloody Christmas 1945
The Bloody Christmas or the Bloody Bozhik was a campaign in which 1,200 people with openly-proclaimed Bulgarian national self-consciousness were killed by the Yugoslav communist authorities in the Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia between January 7–9, 1945.Acting on the order of Josip Broz Tito,...
. It has been claimed that from 1944 till the end of the 1940s people espousing a Bulgarian ethnic identity had been oppressed. According to Bulgarian sources, more than 100,000 men were imprisoned under the new "Law for the protection of Macedonian national honor" for refusing to declare they were ethnic Macedonians. Some 1,200 prominent Bulgarians were sentenced to death in the towns of Skopje
Skopje
Skopje is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Macedonia with about a third of the total population. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre...
, Veles
Veles (city)
Veles is a city in the center of the Republic of Macedonia on the Vardar river. The city of Veles is the seat of Veles Municipality.-Name:The city's name was Vylosa in Ancient Greek and before the Balkan Wars, it was a township with the name Köprülü in the Üsküp sandjak, Ottoman empire for 600...
, Kumanovo
Kumanovo
Kumanovo is a city in the Republic of Macedonia and is the seat of Kumanovo Municipality which is the largest municipality in the country. Municipal institutions include a city council, mayor and other administrative bodies.-Name:...
, Bitola
Bitola
Bitola is a city in the southwestern part of the Republic of Macedonia. The city is an administrative, cultural, industrial, commercial, and educational centre. It is located in the southern part of the Pelagonia valley, surrounded by the Baba and Nidže mountains, 14 km north of the...
and Stip
Stip
Stip can refer to:*Štip, the largest town in the eastern part of the Republic of Macedonia* STIP Statewide Transportation Improvement Program, a 4 year transportation planning document required by the Federal Highway Administration...
. In 1946, two Bulgarian politicians were sentenced to death and another 74 men jailed for attempting to detach SR Macedonia from Yugoslvaia and join it with Bulgaria. The Communist authorities were successful in removing all Bulgarian influence in the region. In Macedonia the Bulgarophobia increased almost to the level of state ideology.
The fall of Communism to present-day
By the time the Republic of Macedonia proclaimed its independence those who continued to look to Bulgaria were very few. Some 3,000 - 4,000 people that stuck to their Bulgarian identity (most of them living in Strumica and the surroundings) met great hostility among the authorities and the rest of the population. With the fall of Communism this hostility has decreased, but still remains. Occasional trials against BulgarophilesBulgarophiles
Bulgarophiles - , ; ; ; is a term used for people from region of Macedonia and region of Pomoravlje who regard themselves as Bulgarians. It is most often used pejoratively, as the term implies that these people are not really Bulgarian....
have continued until today. It should be noted though that the Constitutional Court of Republic of Macedonia banned the organization of the Bulgarians in Macedonia Radko
Radko Association
The Radko Association is a political organization of citizens of the Republic of Macedonia with a Bulgarian national consciousness. Founded in 2000 and based in Ohrid, the association was named after Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization leader Ivan Mihailov's most popular pseudonym...
as "promoting racial and religious hate and intolerance". The "Radko" association was registered in Ohrid in 2000. In 2001 it was proclaimed illegal. The association is named after the conspiration pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
of Ivan Mihailov
Ivan Mihailov
Ivan Mihailov Gavrilov , was a Bulgarian revolutionary in Ottoman and interwar Macedonia, and leader of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization after 1924.-Early years:...
, leader of Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization during the interbellum. In official Macedonian historiography, Mihailov is a terrorist and a Bulgarian chauvinist. In 2009 the European Court of Human Rights
European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg is a supra-national court established by the European Convention on Human Rights and hears complaints that a contracting state has violated the human rights enshrined in the Convention and its protocols. Complaints can be brought by individuals or...
in Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
, condemned Republic of Macedonia
Republic of Macedonia
Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...
because of violations of the European Convention of Human Rights in this case. Nevertheless during the last few years, rising economic prosperity and the EU membership of Bulgaria has seen around 60,000 Macedonians applying for Bulgarian citizenship
Citizenship
Citizenship is the state of being a citizen of a particular social, political, national, or human resource community. Citizenship status, under social contract theory, carries with it both rights and responsibilities...
; in order to obtain it they must sign a statement declaring they are Bulgarians by origin. Probably the most prominent Macedonian that applied for and was granted Bulgarian citizenship is former Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
Ljubčo Georgievski.
An estimated 500 Macedonians receive Bulgarian citizenship every week. This aggregates to about 50,000 Macedonian nationals who have received Bulgarian citizenship in the past 20 years.
See also
- Ethnic Macedonians in BulgariaEthnic Macedonians in BulgariaEthnic Macedonians in Bulgaria are a group in Bulgaria concentrated within Blagoevgrad province and the capital Sofia. In the 2011 Bulgarian census, 1,654 people officially declared themselves to be ethnic Macedonians. They are not currently recognized officially as an ethnic minority but were...
- Macedonian Question
- Macedonian Bulgarians
- Radko AssociationRadko AssociationThe Radko Association is a political organization of citizens of the Republic of Macedonia with a Bulgarian national consciousness. Founded in 2000 and based in Ohrid, the association was named after Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization leader Ivan Mihailov's most popular pseudonym...
- Bulgarian Cultural Club – SkopjeBulgarian Cultural Club – SkopjeThe Bulgarian Cultural Club – Skopje is a non-governmental organization in the Republic of Macedonia established on 4 May 2008, and registered on 22 May 2008. Its executive board is chaired by Lazar Mladenov...