Association of Serbo-Macedonians

The Association of Serbo-Macedonians (Serbian: Друштво Србо-Македонци / Društvo Srbo-Makedonci) was a group founded by intellectuals from the region of Macedonia in 1886, and based in Istanbul, Ottoman Empire.[1] The association propagated a kind of pro-Serbian Slav Macedonian identity, distinguished especially from the ethnic identity of the Bulgarians.[2]

Background

Main articles: Macedonian nationalism and Secret Macedonian Committee

Macedonian nationalism asserts a distinct Macedonian identity, and first emerged as a thin intellectual movement in the 1860s.[3] However, until the early 20th century, Macedonian Slavs identified with the national church of their local priest as either "Bulgarian," "Serbian" or "Greek".[4] The Bulgarian self-identitification was most prevalent then, and perceivable pro-Bulgarian sentiments endured up until the end of the Second World War.[5][6][7][8][9][10][11] The Serbs and Bulgarians had already established their own nation-states[12] and intellectuals from the region of Macedonia often sought their ideological support.

The Association of Serbo-Macedonians looked to Serbia for support in petitioning the Ottoman Empire in favor of its political aspirations.[13] Its founders had all formerly been members of the Secret Macedonian Committee. This Committee was founded by Slav Macedonian expatriate students in 1885 in Sofia, Bulgaria, but it was quickly uncovered by the Bulgarian authorities and disbanded.[14] Four of its members left Bulgaria, and went to Belgrade, Serbia. Meanwhile, the first "Gathering of Serbo-Macedonians and Old Serbs" was held in Belgrade on February 23, 1885.[15] At that time the development of pro-Serbian Macedonian identity was directly encouraged by Belgrade as a stage to its final turning into Old Serbian.

Establishment and activities

See also: Serbianisation and Serbomania

In Belgrade, the group's members met with the Serbian politician Stojan Novaković who pledged his support. Novaković proposed to spread Serbophilia so as to counteract the strong Bulgarian influence in Macedonia.[16][17][18] The decision to create the association in Istanbul was taken at a meeting of the Serbian government in early August 1886.[19] At the same meeting was taken also a decision to create the Saint Sava society, both for dissemination of the Serbian propaganda in the region of Macedonia. Novakovic's diplomatic activity in Istanbul played a significant role for the realization of this idea, especially through the establishment of the Association of Serbo-Macedonians. He was sent as the Serbian envoy in the capital of the Ottoman Empire, considered as one of the most important posts in that period.[20] Shortly afterwards Novaković took up his appointment, where he met with two members of the Macedonian committee to initiate the plan: K. Grupchev and N. Evrov. Although this was only partially successful, Serbian schools were opened in the region of Macedonia, and books were printed in the Macedonian dialect with strong Serbian linguistic influence.[21] Despite the fact, initially this schools attempted to develop a middle road between Serbian and Macedonian dialects.[22] In 1889 when asked to the reprinting of these texts in the Macedonian dialect, Novaković recommended only the Serbian language should be used. He claimed, the anticipated attraction of the Macedonian dialect had not eventuated. In accordance with Novaković's plans the "Macedonism" was seen as a stage of the gradual Serbianisation of the Macedonian Slavs.[23] As result, on the eve of the new century, he and his collaborators promoted already only pro-Serbian ideas.[24]

Program

The political aspirations of the Association closely mirrored those of its predecessor, and their program can be summarized in the following points:[25][26][27][28][29][30]

• that the interests of the Ottoman Empire be protected;
• that a newspaper (Macedonian Voice) be printed in Istanbul in the "pure Macedonian language";
• that the Macedonian Slavs abandon the Bulgarian Exarchate;
• that the Archbishopric of Ohrid be restored (under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate);
• that the Bulgarian influence in Macedonia be countered with Serbophilia;
• that the Bulgarian bishops and teachers be expelled from Macedonia;
• that schools be opened where teachers will use the local Macedonian vernacular.
• and that Bulgarian linguistic influence be replaced with a Serbian one.[31]

References

1. Kulturno-opětestvenite vrski na Makedoncite so Srbija vo tokot na XIX vek, Kliment Džambazovski, 1960 , str. 163.
2. Entangled Histories of the Balkans, Roumen Dontchev Daskalov, Tchavdar Marinov, BRILL, 2013, ISBN 900425076X, p. 317.
3. Motyl, Alexander J. (2000). "Macedonian Nationalism", Encyclopedia of Nationalism: Leaders, Movements, and Concepts. Elsevier Science & Technology. p. 309. ISBN 1-849-72311-7. Macedonian nationalism emerged in the 1860s as a cultural movement asserting the existence of Macedonian identity. Led by a small group of intellectuals Macedonian nationalism faced a number of political and cultural obstacles.
4. Kaufman, Stuart J. (2001). Modern hatreds: the symbolic politics of ethnic war. New York: Cornell University Press. p. 193. ISBN 0-8014-8736-6. The key fact about Macedonian nationalism is that it is new: in the early twentieth century, Macedonian villagers defined their identity religiously—they were either "Bulgarian," "Serbian," or "Greek" depending on the affiliation of the village priest. While Bulgarian was most common affiliation then, mistreatment by occupying Bulgarian troops during WWII cured most Macedonians from their pro-Bulgarian sympathies, leaving them embracing the new Macedonian identity promoted by the Tito regime after the war.
5. During the 20th century, Slavo-Macedonian national feeling has shifted. At the beginning of the 20th century, Slavic patriots in Macedonia felt a strong attachment to Macedonia as a multi-ethnic homeland. They imagined a Macedonian community uniting themselves with non-Slavic Macedonians... Most of these Macedonian Slavs also saw themselves as Bulgarians. By the middle of the 20th. century, however Macedonian patriots began to see Macedonian and Bulgarian loyalties as mutually exclusive. Regional Macedonian nationalism had become ethnic Macedonian nationalism... This transformation shows that the content of collective loyalties can shift.Region, Regional Identity and Regionalism in Southeastern Europe, Ethnologia Balkanica Series, Klaus Roth, Ulf Brunnbauer, LIT Verlag Münster, 2010, ISBN 3825813878, p. 127.
6. Up until the early 20th century, the international community viewed Macedonians as regional variety of Bulgarians, i.e. Western Bulgarians. Nationalism and Territory: Constructing Group Identity in Southeastern Europe, Geographical perspectives on the human past : Europe: Current Events, George W. White, Rowman & Littlefield, 2000, ISBN 0847698092, p. 236.
7. Sperling, James; Kay, Sean; Papacosma, S. Victor (2003). Limiting institutions?: the challenge of Eurasian security governance. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press. p. 57. ISBN 978-0-7190-6605-4. Macedonian nationalism Is a new phenomenon. In the early twentieth century, there was no separate Slavic Macedonian identity.
8. According to Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, at the beginning of the 20th century the Macedonian Bulgarians constituted the majority of the population in the whole region of Macedonia. They are described in the encyclopaedia as "Slavs, the bulk of which is regarded by almost all independent sources as Bulgarians": 1,150,000, whereof, 1,000,000 Orthodox and 150,000 Muslims (the so-called Pomaks); Turks: ca. 500,000 (Muslims); Greeks: ca. 250,000, whereof ca. 240,000 Orthodox and 14,000 Muslims; Albanians: ca. 120,000, whereof 10,000 Orthodox and 110,000 Muslims; Vlachs: ca. 90,000 Orthodox and 3,000 Muslims; Jews: ca. 75,000; Roma: ca. 50,000, whereof 35,000 Orthodox and 15,000 Muslims; In total 1,300,000 Christians (almost exclusively Orthodox), 800,000 Muslims, 75,000 Jews, a total population of ca. 2,200,000 for the whole of Macedonia.
9. "Most of the Slavophone inhabitants in all parts of divided Macedonia, perhaps a million and a half in all – had a Bulgarian national consciousness at the beginning of the Occupation; and most Bulgarians, whether they supported the Communists, VMRO, or the collaborating government, assumed that all Macedonia would fall to Bulgaria after the WWII. Tito was determined that this should not happen. "The struggle for Greece, 1941-1949, Christopher Montague Woodhouse, C. Hurst & Co. Publishers, 2002, ISBN 1-85065-492-1, p. 67.
10. "At the end of the WWI there were very few historians or ethnographers, who claimed that a separate Macedonian nation existed... Of those Slavs who had developed some sense of national identity, the majority probably considered themselves to be Bulgarians, although they were aware of differences between themselves and the inhabitants of Bulgaria... The question as of whether a Macedonian nation actually existed in the 1940s when a Communist Yugoslavia decided to recognize one is difficult to answer. Some observers argue that even at this time it was doubtful whether the Slavs from Macedonia considered themselves to be a nationality separate from the Bulgarians.The Macedonian conflict: ethnic nationalism in a transnational world, Loring M. Danforth, Princeton University Press, 1997, ISBN 0-691-04356-6, pp. 65-66.
11. Krste Misirkov, On the Macedonian Matters (Za Makedonckite Raboti), Sofia, 1903: "And, anyway, what sort of new Macedonian nation can this be when we and our fathers and grandfathers and great-grandfathers have always been called Bulgarians?"
12. Titchener, Frances B.; Moorton, Richard F. (1999). The eye expanded: life and the arts in Greco-Roman antiquity. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 259. ISBN 978-0-520-21029-5. On the other hand, the Macedonians are a newly emergent people in search of a past to help legitimize their precarious present as they attempt to establish their singular identity in a Slavic world dominated historically by Serbs and Bulgarians.
13. Roudometoff, Victor (2000). The Macedonian Question: Culture, Historiography, Politics. East European Monographs. p. 185. ISBN 0880334517.
14. Македония: История и политическа съдба, Автор Петър Петров, Редактор, Издател "Znanie" OOD, 199, стр. 252.
15. The Macedonian Historical Themes, Lazo Mojsov, Jugoslovenska stvarnost-Medjunarodna politika, 1979, p. 82.
16. "Part of Novakovic's correspondence concerning the Association of Serbo-Macedonians" (in Bulgarian).
17. Andrew Rossos (6 June 2008). Macedonia and the Macedonians: A History. Hoover Press. p. 76. ISBN 978-0-8179-4883-2.

    This strange and short-lived experiment assumed ‘mutual exploitation.’ Novakovic and the Serbs had three goals: to make the Macedonians dependent on Serbia, to draw them over to its cause, and to use them to further its influence and interests in Macedonia. The plan could not reconcile the two parties conflicting interests. It benefited Macedonism more than Serbianism, and the Serbs soon abandoned it in favor of more traditional tactics Macedonia and the Macedonians

18. "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...." from the report of S. Novakovic to the Minister of Education in Belgrade about Macedonism: Cultural and Public Relations of the Macedonians with Serbia in the XIXth c., Skopje, 1960, p. 178.
19. Kliment Džambazovski (1960). Kulturno-opětestvenite vrski na Makedoncite so Srbija vo tokot na XIX vek. p. 162.
20. Angel G. Angelov, The European Legacy: Toward New Paradigms, 1470-1316, Volume 2, Issue 3, 1997, Pages 411 – 417.
21. Църнушанов, К. Македонизмът и съпротивата на Македония срещу него, София, Университетско издателство "Св. Климент Охридски", 1992, 31 и сл.
22. Collective Memory, National Identity, and Ethnic Conflict: Greece, Bulgaria, and the Macedonian Question, Victor Roudometoff, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2002 ISBN 0275976483, p. 92.
23. Contested Ethnic Identity: The Case of Macedonian Immigrants in Toronto, 1900-1996, Chris Kostov, Peter Lang, 2010, ISBN 3034301960, p. 65.
24. Dimitar Bechev (13 April 2009). Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Macedonia. Scarecrow Press. p. 162. ISBN 978-0-8108-6295-1.
25. Hristov, Hristo (1979). "Македонизмът като политическа концепция в края на XIX и началото на XX век" [Macedonism as a political conception at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century]. Исторически преглед [Historical review] (in Bulgarian). Sofia: BAS (3): 25–28.
26. Cărnušanov, Kosta (1992). Македонизмът и съпротивата на Македония срещу него [Macedonism and the resistance of Macedonia against it] (in Bulgarian) (Reprint by Sofia University ed.). Sofia: Kosta Cărnušanov. p. 31.
27. Kostov, Chris (2010). Contested Ethnic Identity: the Case of Macedonian Immigrants in Toronto, 1900–1996. Peter Lang. pp. 65–66. ISBN 3034301960.
28. Исторически преглед [Historical review] (in Bulgarian). BAS. 35: 26–27. 1979. In 1886 the Macedonian students approved their program in Belgrade. It argued that "to destroy the Bulgarian influence in Macedonia and to reinforce a Sebian one, and to preserve the nationality of the Serbo-Macedonian people, a new association of Serbo-Macedonians must be created, which to be based in Constantinople". Missing or empty |title= (help)
29. The program of the Association of Serbo-Macedonians received in August, 1886 in Belgrade. (Bg)
30. Dimevski, Slavko (1980). За развојот на македонската национална мисла до создавањето на ТМОРО [On the development of Macedonian national thought to the creation TMORO]. Kultura. p. 244. Да се ослаби бугарското влиjание во Македонија и да се создаде српско за да се зачува народноста на србо-македонскиот народ.
31. To write in a purely Macedonian language, but since the Macedonian literary language is still processed, to throw every Bulgarian expression, and to replace it with Serbian one. To adopt the Serbian alphabet as the most convenient for the Macedonian language and by its writing to use the Serbian grammar. Excerpt of the Association's program.

See also

• Macedonism
• Serbomans
• Macedonian Bulgarians