The article by Mr. Arseny Yovkov "Bulgarians in Macedonia" published in
issue No. 1 of "20 July" raises again the problem of the nationality of the
Macedonians and solves it with irrefutable proofs in favour of the
Bulgarians. The author of the above mentioned article published in the
latest issue of the newspaper "Pirin" says that there will be a Macedonian
problem until there are Bulgarians and Bulgarian national consciousness in
Macedonia and that it was in the interests of the other nationalities in
Macedonia for Bulgarians to live in Macedonia. In his latest article Mr.
Yovkov even said that we, the Macedonians, should be more Bulgarian than the
Bulgarians themselves.
These two interesting articles by Mr. Yovkov give us the opportunity to
dwell on the problem of the nationality of the Macedonians and on the role
of this problem in the past and future history of Macedonia.
At the beginning of the XlXth century in Macedonia there were Greek priests
and Bulgarian national consciousness among the more energetic Macedonians
who hand in hand with the Bulgarians from Bulgaria and Thrace started the
fight for national education and national church. This spiritual and
national unity of Moesians, Macedonians and Thracians came before and after
the creation of the Bulgarian Exarchate and the liberation of Bulgaria.
The Serbians envied the Bulgarians and due to some theoretical and practical
considerations began to object to some European, Macedonian and Bulgarian
contentions that the Macedonians were Bulgarians and in this way they were
the first to set before the men of science the problem of the nationality of
the Macedonians.
It would not be wise to deny that the task set by the Serbians is not
unimportant and that the successes they achieved due to their exceptional
tenacity and strict systematics are great. The Serbians did not
underestimate any possibility offered by contemporary science general
linguistics, comparative grammar of the Slav languages, history and
archeology, spoken and written popular language, geography and diplomacy
were not under-estimated by the Serbians in their attempt to refute the
assumption of the Bulgarian character of Macedonia. As a result they
conquered the major part of Macedonia which they were given as a land
populated by Serbians; they were given this land by those who up till the
last moment unanimously acknowledged the Bulgarian national character of
Macedonia.
But the problem about the nationality of the Macedonians was
not settled yet.
The Serbians achieved only half of their task: they succeeded in misleading
the west Europeans and to take possession of Macedonia. But the Macedonians
themselves, occupied by them, are not spiritually conquered and they feel as
a nation different from the Serbians and they want to preserve their
individuality.
This is the weak point for the Serbians, this is the force of the
Macedonians, this is the historical role of the problem of the nationality
of the Macedonians which it has to play in the future.
The role of Bulgarians and Serbians in the solution of this problem now is
completely different from before the Balkan and world wars: today
theoretically this problem is non-existent for the Serbians just as there is
no Macedonia within the boundaries of Yugoslavia; as far as Bulgaria is
concerned there is a Macedonia just like there is the problem of the
nationality of the Macedonians, a problem which the Bulgarian science could
follow with more success than the Serbians in order to give it its proper
meaning.
But the Bulgarians do not favour philology and history, they do not like to
be pointed at as being chauvinists and they are ready to live in peace with
their neighbours at all cost even when the latter aim at taking half of
their house, or their yard.
As far as Macedonia goes, many "enlightened" people couldn't care less. They
do not know it. To them it is a land of stones and wild apples. That is why
the Bulgarian opposition is not dangerous for the Serbian domination in
Macedonia. This the Serbians had half guaranteed by international treaties
and by treaties with Bulgaria.
But now cries from the Macedonians can be heard: we are Bulgarians, we are
more Bulgarians than the Bulgarians themselves. ........ You could be
victors over Bulgaria and impose on it all sorts of treaties but this cannot
change our conviction, our consciousness that we are not Serbians, that up
till now we have called ourselves Bulgarians and this is what we are today
and this is what we want to be called in the future.
Do you want any concessions from us? Do you want us to be less Bulgarians
than the Bulgarians themselves? - Shall we concede ? We shall not be
indifferent towards our national interests like some others. We cannot and
should not follow the Moesians in everything because their logic, their ways
to act lead to Bulgarian-Serbian treaties and agreements concerning
Macedonia, they lead to treaties like the Serbo-Bulgarian in 1912, like the
one at Neuilly. We shall be more Macedonians than Bulgarians, but
Macedonians with a national consciousness different from your Serbian
consciousness a national self-consciousness based on our history, on our
literary language common with the Bulgarian, with our Macedonian-Bulgarian
schools, with our own national church in which the national and religious
feelings of the Macedonians will not be hurt by the presence and spirit of
the Serbian saints like St. Sava.
The Serbians know very well the significance of this problem now just as
before, the problem of the nationality and the national feeling of the
Macedonians and that is why through assimilation of the Macedonians they
want to get rid of this consciousness as soon as possible.
But all is in vain.
No matter whether we call ourselves Bulgarians or Macedonians we shall
always feel as a nationality with a Bulgarian national consciousness,
separate from the Serbians and we shall know how to impose our will in the
struggle for human rights of the Macedonian.