Macedonian State-National Concepts and ... - Makedonika

Switzerland in the Balkans, or of the Macedonian Republic, autonomous and
neutral”.
Of special significance was the effort to print the mouthpiece of the Provisional
Representative Office of the Former United Internal Macedonian Revolutionary
Organization, Bjuletin (Bulletin). Its 10 numbers published the most reliable
testimonies reflecting the genuine frame of mind of Macedonian émigrés. It
printed a large number of official acts of the movement as well as prompt reactions
against the moves of the Executive Committee of the Brotherhoods and the
organization of Aleksandrov and Protogerov, and also against the actions of the
Bulgarian government and policies. From the fourth number onwards the motto
‘Long live a free and independent Macedonia — the pillar of Balkan peace
and the Balkan federation!’ was printed beside the newspaper’s title.
The Provisional Representative Office raised the concept of Macedonian
statehood and relations with neighbouring states and peoples to the highest point.
It aimed to define the relations between the Macedonians and other nationalities
living inside Macedonia on a fully equal basis. Yet once again, whether because
of the circumstances in which it worked or owing to the makeup of its leadership,
the Provisional Representative Office could not find enough force to abandon the
thesis of the ‘Macedonian Bulgarians’ and affirm the Macedonian language as the
essential instrument in their struggle. Even when their authorized representative
in Paris, Paul Christoff, pointed out to the Provisional Representative Office that
the Greek and Serbian delegations reacted strongly against the ‘Macedonian
Bulgarians’ thesis, and that they proposed their own thesis that “the national feeling
of the Macedonians is a flexible concept, indifferent to foreign propaganda”, the
Representative Office sent him detailed answers on all the questions he had asked,
but completely ignored the essential question of Macedonian nationality. On
the contrary, defending themselves from attacks that they stood “on international
ground and did not recognize that the majority of the Macedonian population was
Bulgarian” and that “they did not want the incorporation of Macedonia within
Bulgaria in any way”, they gave a very definite answer (in order “to make it clear”)
that they remained “Macedonian Bulgarians”, even though they always aimed
to distance themselves from the Bulgarians (in Bulgaria) and in particular
from Bulgarian national policy.
In the first issue of Bjuletin they stated: “Everyone, together with us, desires
and declares one thing only, everywhere and before everyone: we do not want the
dismemberment of Macedonia in any way, as we want to preserve our language,
our faith and our nationality,” but a little below they added: “If, however, the
officials of the Foreign Ministry do not share this principle, then we are ready to
confess that the Macedonian Bulgarians would never wish and would never agree
to pay for Bulgaria’s expansion at the cost of their fatherland or parts thereof.”
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