Some Authentic Turkish Documents About Macedonia

CONCLUSION

It is more than obvious that the Turkish statistics and documents explicitly referred to the Slavonic population in Macedonia as Bulgarian. Both bureaucracy nomenclature and personal testimony of prominent figures witness on Bulgarians in Macedonia; there is no mention of some „Macedonian ethnic nation“ whatsoever. Such ethnicity was unknown to the all non-Slave living in Macedonia. The Turks ruled the region of Macedonia for over five centuries, hence, they were well aware on the ethnic character of the population.

The publication of the Turkish documents on the Macedonia is very important at present time. The Serbo-Macedonist neo-Communist powers in Skopje continue pro-Serb Macedonist policy, formulated by the Serbian Stoyan Novakovich in 1887: „Since the Bulgarian idea, as it is well-known, is deeply rooted in Macedonia, I think it is almost impossible to shake it completely by opposing it merely with the Serbian idea. This idea, we fear, would be incapable, as opposition pure and simple, of suppressing the Bulgarian idea. That is why the Serbian idea will need an ally that could stand in direct opposition to Bulgarianism and would contain in itself the elements which could attract the people and their feelings and thus sever them from Bulgarianism. This ally I see in Macedonism“.

Although the formal independence was proclaimed, the pro-Serb Macedonist power-holders in Skopje continue to assist Yugoslavia: they supplied Belgrade with food, raw materials and petrol during the world embargo against Serbia. Meanwhile the authorities go ahead with its half-a century-old policy aimed at the construction and 'affirmation’ of a separate Macedonian ethnic nation. However, the prospects of their success are doubtful: the extremist nationalist re-writing of history (a basic instrument for nation-invention) is always bound to be undermined by the original historical sources like the Enver Bey’s memoirs or the official Ottoman statistics.

Prepared for publication:

Spas Tashev
President of IIM

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