3. THE ETHNIC COMPOSITION
At the time of the Liberation the ethnic composition of Macedonia approximated that of Moesia and Thrace, comprising 67% Bulgarian-Christians. However while no one in Bulgaria recognises a mixed population in Moesia and Thrace they intuitively refer to it for Macedonia. And here again we witness another retreat from the historic truth. We know that before and after the Liberation there was no indigenous Serbian population in Macedonia, yet we often insist on providing numbers and percentages for its presence. Since the clear majority of people in Moesia, Thrace and Macedonia are Bulgarians, it is incorrect to consider or infer that a heterogenous population exists.
It is not to be presumed however, that all regions were ethnically homogenous. Within Macedonia there was a small number of Greeks and Albanians not present in Moesia, while in the latter there were Tartars absent from Macedonia. The similarity between these 3 historic Bulgarian provinces - Moesia, Thrace and Macedonia - is illustrated by the existence within all the regions of the Bulgarian-Mohammedans and the Gagauzi (Bulgarian-Christians who speak Turkish and Bulgarian). Because they related to the essence of the spiritual Bulgarian ethnic lands the outstanding Bulgarian poets of the past like Ivan Vazov (1850-1921), Petko Slaveykov (1827-95) and Peyo Yavorov (1878-1914), immortalized this same truth in their poems - "Where is Bulgaria" (Gde e Bulgaria), "Fatherland" (Tatkovina) and "Exiles" (Zatochenitsi). The first written by Vazov even before the Liberation.
Within the international forum the ethnographical details published
on Macedonia by Vasil Kunchev [11], Professor Yordan
Ivanov [12] and Brankov [13] are
accurate and detailed. However they have not been revised and summarised
into a form acceptable to the needs of foreign historians and authors,
who usually compile historic reviews relying on published maps which in
the main are either incomplete or unreliable. Bulgaria also has no available
national reference atlas with colour maps, figures and tables detailing
the ethnic composition of the separated parts of Macedonia, the heart of
this continuing controversy. Sadly, even today there exists no motivation
or plan to commence this important task. The same apathetic attitude applies
to Eastern Thrace and the other lost territories.
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11. Kunchev V. Izbrani Proizvedenia (Selected Works). Vol 1 & 2, Sofia (1970).
12. Ivanov YN. Bulgarski Dialecten Atlas-Bulgarski Govori ot Egeiska Makedonia (Bulgarian Dialectical Atlas-Bulgarian Dialects in Aegean Macedonia). Vol 1, Bulgarian Academy Sciences; Sofia (1972).
13. Mischew D (pseudonym: DM Brankov). La Macedoine et sa population Chretienne (avec deux cartes ethnograhiques). Paris (1905).