This is the English version of my article (in Bosnian Language), which was published in “Historijski Pogledi”, br.7/2022 (“Historical Views”, No.7/2022).
* * *
Abstract: Bulgarian theses that: a) Macedonians have Bulgarian roots, while the Macedonian language is a dialect of the Bulgarian language; and, b) That the Macedonian identity is a “product” of the Comintern, i.e., of Josiph Broz Tito and Joseph Visarionovich Stalin, are wrong. More historical facts show that the Macedonian and Bulgarian nations come from different origin, whose settled in the territory of today’s Balkan Peninsula in different periods and from two different parts of the World. “Macedonians are the South Slavic people, … descendants of the old Slavic tribes, who inhabited the Balkan Peninsula in the 6th and 7th centuries …”, while „the Bulgarians are the South Slavic people who inhabit the eastern part of the Balkans. Their origin is linked to Asia. Based on the data of ancient Chinese chronicles, it is considered that the language of the Proto-Bulgarians was part of the Altaic language community, i.e. its Turkish branch, which also included Huns, Avars, Hazars, Oguz, Pechenegs, Kumans and others“. As is already known, in the past members of today’s Macedonian nation, “by force or kindness”, were presented as an integral part not only of the Bulgarian, but also of the Serbian and Greek nations. In the 19th century, like any other nation, Macedonians fought for their national rights, but for some reasons, they managed to realize their national aspirations until August 2, 1944. Macedonian language is similar to other Slavic languages and especially to the Bulgarian and Serbian languages, which belong to the so-called Indo-European language group. The Macedonian language was officially codified in 1945 and, like other languages, enjoys the same status in all international institutions, including the UN. That Macedonian identity and language are different from Bulgarian identity and language in the past has been confirmed by various personalities and documents, including by: Ambassador of Bulgaria in Tirana, Albania – Janko Peev (in 1938); French writer, publicist and politician Victor Berar; French university professor – Slavist Andre Mazon; and Albanian politician, diplomat and publicist Ekrem Bey Vlora. The above mentioned and many other authors speak in a clear way about the existence of the Macedonian identity and language, which is different from the Bulgarian identity and language. Therefore, it can be concluded from the above that the Bulgarian theses about the alleged common origin of Macedonians with Bulgarians are scientifically incorrect, and their insistence Macedonian side to accept the alleged “historical truth”, conditioning even the start of Northern Macedonia’s EU membership negotiations, is more than absurd. But, in my opinion, the approach of the EU members that allowed such behaviour of Bulgarian politicians and any other EU member states at the beginning of the third decade of the 21st century is even more absurd. In other words, instead of EU members being consistent in applying their European values, regarding respect for the sovereign right of every nation on its national affiliation and instead insisting on respecting and implementing by the Bulgarian side numerous decisions of European institutions, recognizing the existence and rights of Macedonian minorities in Bulgaria, they allow current Bulgarian politicians to deal with absurd things, characteristic of the 19th century.
Key words: Macedonians, Bulgarian, Kominterna, Josiph Broz Tito, Josiph Visarjonovic Stalin, Janko Peev, Victor Berard, André Mazon, Eqrem bey Vlora.
Contrary to the claims of some Bulgarian historians and politicians, there are written, even Bulgarian documents, which confirm the existence of the distinctiveness of the Macedonian people before 1944.
Proving something that existed/ exists is meaningless. But, as a citizen of the Republic of North Macedonia and above all as a historian and intellectual, I feel the duty to point out some facts that unequivocally prove the unfoundedness of the theses of some Bulgarian historians, politicians and other intellectuals, that allegedly the Macedonian and Bulgarian peoples have a common origin, i.e. that the Macedonians declared themselves as Bulgarians until 1944. Before I list some specific documents and authors that confirm the existence of the Macedonian people even before 1944, let me first say something about the fallacy/ misunderstanding, which has long been placed and present in the minds, documents and other relevant literature, of various Bulgarian institutions and personalities, regarding the alleged common origin of the Macedonian and Bulgarian people. Namely, more historical facts show that the Macedonian and Bulgarian peoples come from different origin communities, which immigrated to the territory of today’s Balkan Peninsula in different periods and from two different parts of the World.
– “Macedonians are a South Slavic people, … descendants of old Slavic tribes, who inhabited the Balkan Peninsula in the 6th and 7th centuries…” (Мала енциклопедија Просвета…, 1986, 557);
– “Proto – Bulgarians belong to the Turkic group of tribes. From Central Asia, they settled between the Caspian and Black seas, and there they were conquered by the Huns in the second half of the 4th century. The invasion of the Avars in the second half of the 6th century withdrew part of the Proto – Bulgarians in the area of the middle Danube and Tisza” ( Enciklopediski leksikon, Mozaik znanja, Istorija, 102.);
– “Bulgarians are a South Slavic nation that inhabits the Eastern part of the Balkans. Their origin is linked to the areas of Asia. Based on data from ancient Chinese chronicles, it is considered that the language of the original Bulgarians was part of the Altaic language community, and its Turkish branch, to which the Huns, Avars, Khazars, Oghuz, Pechenegs, Cumans and others also belonged” (Српска енциклопедија, Том I, Књига 2, …2011, 590);
The closeness and in some way intertwining of these two peoples began over time, that is, after the acceptance of Christianity by the Bulgarians. Then the process of their Slavization and mixing with other Slavic peoples begins. For several reasons (the size, power and expansionist appetites of the then Bulgarian rulers, the closeness of the two peoples, primarily linguistically and religiously, intensive propaganda activity, especially of the religious institutions of some countries, including the Bulgarian Exarchy, etc.), part of the Macedonian intellectuals and ordinary people, in different periods of time, especially in the Ottoman period, probably because of the thought that they would feel safer as Bulgarians, they began to declare and identify themselves as Bulgarians. In the past, but unfortunately also now, a large number of intellectuals from Bulgaria, who are not Bulgarians by nationality/ethnicity, but Macedonians, Armenians, Turks, Tatars, Vlachs, Roma and others, are presented by the official Bulgarian authorities as Bulgarians.
Let’s take as an example tens of thousands (according to a Bulgarian source more than 100,000) of Macedonian citizens, who in the last ten years, mainly in order to obtain Bulgarian travel documents, “voluntarily” accepted to declare themselves as Bulgarians (“of Bulgarian origin”). Do the Bulgarian authorities also plan to use their written statements of these, primarily Macedonian citizens, in the foreseeable future as “crown proof” of the “Bulgarian” nationality in Macedonia? I repeat, these citizens are Macedonian citizens at the same time and above all. By the way, all those Macedonian citizens who feel themselves as Bulgarians by nationality, their legitimate right is to “confirm” it before the Bulgarian authorities if necessary. However, requiring everyone applying for Bulgarian citizenship to certify that they are of “Bulgarian origin”, which they are not, in my opinion is an inhumane act. It can be concluded that the saying “when someone is in trouble, you should help him, not blackmail him”, in this particular case, Bulgarian institutions did not respect it.
Proclaiming someone as Bulgarian cannot always be a kind of “crown proof” of his nationality. There are many examples in the history of various nations, when, for reasons and circumstances known only to them, in a certain period of history they declared themselves as Bulgarians, Turks, Albanians, Greeks, etc., serving those nations and their rulers as best as possible, despite the fact that their true ethnicity it was not Bulgarian, Turkish, Albanian, Greek, etc. In this regard, the best example in our Region can be the Ottoman Empire, i.e. the Republic of Turkey, as its successor. Namely, in the Ottoman period, but also later until today, members of various nations, including a large number of Albanians, Bosniaks, etc., declared themselves as Ottomans, later as Turks, despite the fact that they knew that their true nationality was not Turkish. The approach of the Republic of Turkey in this regard is a good example for other countries, including the Republic of Macedonia and the Republic of Bulgaria. Turkish authorities and historians, freed from complexes and pretensions, neither in the past nor now question the ethnicity of any famous Ottoman or Turkish person in the past. Paying the necessary attention and appreciation to their merits, the most responsible leaders of the Republic of Turkey, Turkish historians and other intellectuals do not deny the right of the “Mothers countries” to do the same, presenting them as Albanians, Bosniaks, etc.
Is it true that until 1944 Macedonians declared themselves as Bulgarians? The thesis that the Macedonian identity is a “product” of Josip Broz Tito and Josip Visarjonovic Stalin, advocated by Bulgarian and some other circles, is not correct. This fact, among other things, is confirmed in some Bulgarian documents, including two cables from the Bulgarian ambassador in Tirana, Janko Peev (Яanko Pѣev), which he sent on April 22, i.e. July 29, 1938, to the then president of the Council of Ministers and the minister of Religion and Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria, Dr. G.Koseivanov (D-rъ G.Kъoseivanovъ). In both documents, which are kept in the State Archives of the Republic of Macedonia (ДАРМ, 1.1178.1.125/261-263…; ДАРМ, 1.1178.1.124/ 269-260,..), among other things, it can be seen that the official representative of Bulgaria in Tirana – Ambassador Janko Peev, admits that between 60 – 70 “Macedonian-Bulgarians” who lived in 1938 capital of Albania, only two or three of them are “Bulgarians – Bulgarian citizens”. Ambassador J. Peev also admits that he refused to participate in events in which Macedonians who lived or stayed in Tirana in the 1930s expressed their “separate Macedonian identity”.
From the contents of the mentioned documents, it is also seen that August 2 – the beginning of the Ilinden Uprising of the Macedonian people, in Bulgaria was not treated as an official, state, or even national holiday in that period, which is why the official representatives of Bulgaria in Tirana refused to participate in the celebrations which were organized on that occasion by Macedonians who lived or stayed in Tirana in the 30s of the 20th century.
That the feeling of belonging to a special Macedonian nation was present in many Macedonian personalities even before 1944 was confirmed by many other foreign authors, including the French writer, publicist and politician Victor Bérard (La Macedoine, …, Paris, 1900), French university professor and Slavist André Mazon (Contes slaves de la Macedoine sud,…, Paris, 1923), as well as the Albanian politician, diplomat and publicist Eqrem bey Vlora (Kujtime…, Tiranë, 2003). In the quoted book, Victor Berar, at the end of the 19th century, talks about “Macedonian Macedonia”, and about “Macedonia as a privileged, autonomous or independent province with any government, provided that it is in their (Macedonian) hands”. Ekrem bey Valora spoke about the uniqueness of the Macedonian people at the beginning of the 20th century, and a little later than them, Andre Mazon did the same, speaking about the separateness of the Macedonian language, assessing that “it is close to Serbian and Bulgarian, but different from both languages”.
Analyzing the statements of the current Bulgarian politicians, regarding the separateness of the Macedonian people, we come to the conclusion that their position remains exactly the same as that of the Bulgarian rulers 12 centuries ago. Judging by the statements contained in the report of Prof. Vasil Zlatarski (Пътешествие из Македония…,София, 1993, 63), about his expedition through some parts of today’s Republic of Macedonia, which he carried out in 1916, shows that the treatment of Macedonians as Bulgarians, and Macedonia as a part of ethnic Bulgaria, began somewhere in the middle of the 9th century, when the then Bulgarian ruler Presian (836- 853), united the “Bulgarian Slavs” for the first time, annexing the territory of today’s Macedonia to the Bulgarian state. As is well known, this attitude of the Bulgarian rulers continued continuously in the following centuries, that is, until September 9, 1944, when the official Sofia for the first time recognized the Macedonian nation, and thus the existence of the Macedonian national minority in the Republic of Bulgaria. In the period from September 9, 1944 to the middle of 1948, the highest leaders of Yugoslavia and Bulgaria – Josip Broz Tito and Georgi Dimitrov, developed very intensive bilateral activity on the plan of strengthening and further improving relations and cooperation between the two countries, with the ultimate goal of forming the so-called . “Balkan Federation” within which a definitive solution to the “Macedonian issue” was foreseen.
Unfortunately, such a relationship between the official Sofia and the Macedonian nation lasted for a very short time – until the middle of 1948, when the relations between the FPR of Yugoslavia and the USSR and its satellites, including the People’s Republic of Bulgaria, were severed. The denial of the separateness of the Macedonian nation and the members of the Macedonian minority in Bulgaria was particularly pronounced during the dictatorial regime of Todor Živkov (from 1954 to 1989). As is known, in the early 80s of the 20th century, within the framework of the celebration of the 1300th anniversary of the Bulgarian state, among other things, the memoirs of Tsola Dragoycheva were published as part of the negative campaign of the official Sofia regarding Macedonian identity. Unfortunately, this policy of the official Bulgarian institutions continued even after the fall of the communist regime in this country, in the early 90s of the 20th century, but also after the full membership of the Republic of Bulgaria in NATO (2005) and the EU (2007). After the signing of the “Agreement on Friendship between the Republic of Macedonia and the Republic of Bulgaria” (August 2, 2017), in a period when a certain change in the previous negative policy towards the “Macedonian question” was expected, at the end of 2020, the highest Bulgarian leaders and the majority of Bulgarian historians and representatives of other institutions, in a direct and irrational way renewed the old, well-known and absurd claims that “Macedonians are an integral part of the Bulgarian nation” and the Macedonian language is “one of the dialects of the Bulgarian language”. The top leaders of Bulgaria, using their country’s status as a full member of the EU, at the end of 2020, went one step further and blocked the adoption of the negotiation framework for the start of negotiations between the Republic of Macedonia and the EU, persistently insisting on the recognition from the Macedonian side, that “Macedonians are an inseparable part of the Bulgarian people“, and “the Macedonian language is one of the dialects of the Bulgarian language”.
In contrast to the beginning of the 90s of the last century, when the most responsible Bulgarian leaders, unfortunately, did not take advantage of the historical opportunity and chance to give up once and for all the claim to prove the alleged “Bulgarian origin of the Macedonian people”, at the beginning of the third decade of the 21st century, another, also a historical opportunity, for the official Sofia to finally recognize the existence of the Macedonian nation and the Macedonian language, something that exists objectively and that no one in this world has the right to dispute. Acting in this way, the current responsible leaders of neighbouring and “friendly” Bulgaria will open a new – brighter page in the history of Macedonian-Bulgarian relations and cooperation. For several reasons at this stage, in my opinion, the Macedonian side should express its readiness to reach an agreement on joint commemoration of certain events and personalities from the historical past of the two nations.
In the era of Covid-19, above all, the political leaders of all countries of the world should learn the lesson that the human race more than ever needs peace, mutual respect and greater solidarity on a regional and global level. This is primarily due to the fact that only in such a way the human race will be able easer to deal with such and similar disasters. Therefore, spending energy (in the 21st century) to prove the “real” origin of any people is unreasonable, anachronistic and disastrous for everyone.
Summary
It can be concluded that the theses of Bulgarian politicians and historians about the Macedonian identity are wrong and scientifically unfounded. In other words, historical evidence shows that the Bulgarians and Macedonians are two different nations, whose initial roots are different – Proto-Bulgarians were an integral part of the Turkish-Tatar tribes, while the Macedonians are the South Slavic people, whose ancestors settled in the late VI and early VII centuries in the Balkan Peninsula, and since then, without interruption, their descendants have lived in the same territory. Most of Macedonians are leaving in Northern Macedonia, while the rest in several neighbouring countries and in the diaspora. With the exception of Bulgaria and Greece, the existence of the Macedonian national minority is recognized in all other neighbouring countries of North Macedonia.
For various reasons, in the historical past, Macedonians were treated as an integral part of the Bulgarian, Serbian and Greek nations. In the 19th century, like any other nation, members of the Macedonian nation fought for their emancipation and national differentiation. For some objective reasons, the Macedonian nation managed to realize its national aspirations until August 2, 1944. That Bulgarians and Macedonians are different nations in the past have been confirmed by many foreign personalities, including by some Bulgarian personalities.
The Macedonian language is similar to other Slavic languages, especially Bulgarian and Serbian, which are part of the Indo-European language family. The official codification of the Macedonian language was realized in 1945, and like any other language, enjoys equal status in all international institutions, including the UN.
Therefore, it can be concluded from the above that the Bulgarian theses on the alleged common origin of Macedonians and their language with Bulgarian are scientifically incorrect and their insistence on accepting, by the Macedonian side, the “historical truths”, conditioning even the beginning of Northern Macedonia’s EU membership negotiations, is more than absurd.
Unlike in the early 1990s, when Bulgaria politicians unfortunately failed to seize the historic opportunity to give up their claims to prove the alleged Bulgarian origin of the Macedonians, now in the very beginning of third decade of the 21st century, another also historical opportunity is indicated to finally, Bulgarian politicians and historians to recognize the existence of the Macedonian nation, culture and language, something that objectively exists and that no one has the right to deny them. Acting in this way will enable Bulgarian politicians to open a new page in Macedonian-Bulgarian relations and cooperation. In order to avoid the possibility of declaring the current Bulgarian Prime Minister, or another high-ranking Bulgarian official, a “traitor” of the Bulgarian cause, in my opinion, the Macedonian side, at this stage, should express readiness to reach an agreement on joint commemoration of certain events and personalities from the historical past of the two nations. The insistence of Bulgarian politicians and historians to prove the “correctness“ of their theses is harmful not only for Northern Macedonia, but also for Republic of Bulgaria itself, for other Balkan countries and Europe as a whole.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Encyclopedias:
1.Мала енциклопедија Просвета – Општа енциклопедија, Четврто издање, Југославија, К – Пн, 2, Просвета, Београд, 1986;
2. Enciklopediski leksikon, Mozaik znanja, Istorija;
3. Српска енциклопедија, Том I, Књига 2, Матица Српска – САНУ- Завод за учбенике, Београд, 2011.
Archival documents:
1. ДАРМ, 1.1178.1.125/261-263, Ф.325, о.п.1, а.е. 201;
2. ДАРМ, 1.1178.1.124/ 269-260, Ф.325, о.п.1, а.е.201.
Books:
1. Victor Bérard, La Macedoine, Deuxieme Edition, Armand Colin et C, Editeurs, Paris,1900;
2. Andre Mazon, Contes slaves de la Macedoine sud – occidentale, Paris, 1923;
3. Eqrem bej Vlora, Kujtime 1885-1925, SHLK, Tiranë, 2003;
4. Проф. Васил Златарски, “Пътешествие из Македония“ (“Научна експедиция в Македония и Поморавието 1916“, Съставител Петър Хр. Петров, Военоиздателски комплекс “Св.Георги Победоносец“, Универзитетско издателство “Св.Климент Охридски“, София, 1993).