The article is hopelessly biased and therefore quite misleading. By reliance on
subjective rather than objective arguments it perpetuates the myth of Macedonism, an
example of sophism originally encouraged by the Serbians during the nineteenth
century, then later included as part of Stalin and Tito's policies to further political
aspirations with respect to a Balkan Federation.
Accordingly, Danforth's article not only
distorts, but actually dismisses the overwhelming predominance of evidence which
establishes the basic Bulgarian character of Macedonia and its people. For obvious
reasons he forgets to report that some 1-2 million past Macedonian refugees from the
Aegean and Vardar regions and their descendants now live in Bulgarian with their own
particular societies, newspapers etc. More importantly he also fails to explain that they
too seek and agitate for Human Rights at appropriate International venues for their
brethren both in Greece and the Republic of Macedonia, where any citizen who
attempts to self-identify as a Bulgarian-Macedonian and countenance debate on such
issues suffers severe harassment and in many cases quite unpleasant imprisonment.
Perhaps Danforth should have mentioned that since 1944 some 23,000
Macedonians with a Bulgarian national consciousness were liquidated by Tito's regime
and over 120,000 tortured in concentration camps like Idrisovo, purportedly the largest
prison in the Balkans. Included amongst these purges were the Republic of
Macedonia's first two Presidents (Antonov-Cento and Fotev). I would welcome
Danforth's rationalisation of the infamous "Macedonian Honour Code" by which any
parent caught instilling a Bulgarian identity in their children, were imprisoned for ten
years, and the children made wards of the state. Strangely he also makes no mention of
the 700 odd trials and numerous death sentences passed and carried out against "pro-
Bulgarian" organizations. The most recent such trial was held in Veless 22nd June 1992,
when 6 individuals were sentenced to terms of up to 2« years imprisonment. I can
assure Danforth that such methods are extremely effective at achieving a high degree of
"ethnospecificity".
Can Danforth explain why when the "oppressive" Bulgarian National Army
(BNA) marched into Skopje in WWII, almost the whole population lined the streets to
afford them a tumultuous welcome; even the Macedonian Communist Party (MCP)
embraced them as their kindred brothers and liberators. No wonder when Tito sent the
MCP an edict to fight, they replied that he was the real enemy of the Macedonian
people and not the BNA! Where and when did this often quoted "oppressive
assimilation" by Bulgaria occur, and how can one assimilate ones own people? Possibly
Danforth is referring to the Bulgarian 1946 census when the Bulgarian Communist
Party, being as always totally subservient to Stalin, indulged in what may only be
termed national nihilism, and forced Bulgarians within the Pirin region to declare
themselves ethnic Macedonians; the many 1000s who refused spent some five years in
harsh concentration camps. There are many such examples.
Danforth however indulges in even greater misrepresentation when he mentions
"Krste Misirkov" as an early advocate of Macedonian nationalism. It was in fact
Dimiter Chupovski, and a handful of other intellectuals, all educated in Serbia, who
originally formed the "Slav-Macedonian Literary Society" in St Petersburg (1902) to
convince Russian academics that Slav Macedonians represent a separate South Slavic
people. They pledged allegiance to the Ottoman Empire which inturn ardently
supported their policies, consequently they had absolutely no public support and in fact
were marked for assassination by the Macedonian Revolutionary Organisation (IMRO)
as traitors of the Macedonian people! Not surprising, as IMRO's own original
constitution restricted membership to Bulgarians and its most famous leaders
unequivocally professed their Bulgarian nationalism, in their personal letters, in their
memoirs and in numerous other documentation. Thus by what logic can the Republic
of Macedonia promote the facade of an unique ethnicity when its most celebrated
revolutionaries declared themselves Bulgarian! Notwithstanding the latter paradox,
even more bizarre is the truth about Misirkov, who maintained his parentage was
Bulgarian, and on numerous later occasions characterised himself as a patriotic
Bulgarian national!
Perhaps Danforth might also ponder on the countless surveys conducted at the
turn of the century, by a plethora of individuals/organisations, which are remarkable in
two aspects, their agreement that the majority of Macedonia's inhabitants were
Bulgarian and that there were no or minuscule numbers of Serbians. If this is still
insufficient then I recommend Danforth study the published scientific literature
(Hasluck MM & Morant GM. Biometrika 1929;21:322-336). Then again maybe Danforth
is implying Professor Carleton Coon's well-known reference text "The Races of Europe"
(1939) needs revision, since it only acknowledges ethnic Bulgarians and no ethnic
Macedonians?. Similarly has that eminent Balkan historian John VA Fine Jr. ("The Early
Medieval Balkans", 1983, p37) also been completely duped when he states
Thus the reader
should ignore references to ethnic Macedonians in the Middle Ages which appear in some modern
works. In the Middle Ages and into the nineteenth century, the term Macedonian was used
entirely in reference to a geographic region
Above all else I am particularly indignant at Danforth's perpetuation of the naive
and denigrating assertion of "illiterate peasants with no clearly developed sense of national
identity"; as a person whose parents, grandparents etc all came from the Macedonian
region, I can assure Danforth they knew exactly who and what they were; to them the
terms Bulgarian and Macedonian were synonymous. I unreservedly acknowledge and
respect that a Macedonian national consciousness exists today amongst many people
and they have every right to determine their own destiny and future. They however
have no right to deny people's human rights, falsify history or retrospectively strip
individual's ethnic self-identity to somehow justify their own.