On August 2 (new style) we mark 121 years since the outbreak of the Ilinden Uprising – the most massive armed rebellion of Bulgarians against Ottoman rule. 26,000 Bulgarians, the vast majority of whom are representatives of the Bulgarian ethnic group, are taking up arms to fight for the autonomy of Macedonia and Odra, comments BGNES.
121 years later, the topic is often put to political use by politicians from Bulgaria and North Macedonia. An artificial dispute is created about the national self-awareness of the people who organized and participated in the bloody struggle in 1903. However, the surviving historical sources from this period make it clear that the Ilinden Uprising was the work of brave Bulgarians who continued the revivalist ideals of Rakovski and Levski.
Ottoman sources are no exception, as it is clear from the telegrams of the military commanders that the Ottoman army is fighting Bulgarian insurgents.
This is what Bitola mayor Mehmed Shevki wrote in a telegram to the General Inspectorate in Bitola about the events of the night the uprising was announced.
„On the 20th of this month (refers to July – old style), around 11 o'clock, while the garrison in Smilevo (Damyan Gruev's native village) was conducting a roll call, the Bulgarian insurgents, who had already hidden in the houses during the day, killed one gendarmerie and 8 regular soldiers, and injured 9.
The same night in Krushevska Nahia, the Bulgarian population surrounded the Nahia administration, the telegraph center and the barracks, and used weapons.
Jelal, the Kichov kaymakamin, sends a similar telegram to the General Inspectorate in Bitola.
„On July 21 (old style), Monday, a large number of Bulgarian insurgents attacked the military guards near the villages of Teke, Izvor and Slp, inhabited exclusively by Muslims. The guard returned fire and prevented the insurgents from committing atrocities.
The telegram of the Ohrid mayor Mehdi dated August 11 (old style) regarding the population of the Ohrid village of Brežani, which was burned down by the insurgent squads on August 9, is also eloquent.
„The village of Brežani from the Debartsa district is the main stronghold of the insurgents. The residents are all Bulgarians”, writes Mehdi.
„In fact, in the mentioned nahiya, all the villages are Bulgarian, except for Pesocheni, which is Muslim,” adds the kaymakamin.
Prilep kaymakamin Ali Raza sends a telegram to the General Inspectorate in Bitola, in which he informs about a battle that is taking place between a Bulgarian detachment and Ottoman units, near the Mariov village of Vitolishta.
„From July 28 (old style) until the evening of August 11, the Bulgarian insurgents attacked the inn and the barracks in the village of Vitolishta, which is the center of the Mariovska nahiya. In a battle that lasted 18 hours, the insurgents were defeated.
On August 10, with the help of the villagers from the surrounding villages, the Bulgarian insurgents: the butcher Moiso from Prilep, Tanto from the village of Bonche, Marko and 9 other persons, whose names are unknown, were taken to the village of Stavitsa in Mount Ferhad Beyram, by a villager from the Kichev village of Plasnitsa“.
In his telegram dated August 21 (old style), Lerin Ali's deputy chief minister wrote the following:
„The Bulgarian insurgents attacked the Muslim villages: Gorno Kleshtino (July 31), Spantsi (August 2), as well as Neveska village on August 3. The barracks in Neveska were burned and the telegraph wires were cut. Four soldiers and one gendarme from the royal army died.
The information of the Turkish military and officials is clear enough about the nature of the population in Macedonia. The documents that BGNES used to write this article were not published in Bulgarian, but in a Macedonian collection: “Turkish documents for the Ilinden Uprising”. They were issued by the Archives of Macedonia in Skopje in 1993 on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the uprising.
When historical documents speak, any comments and interpretations are redundant!
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Velislav Iliev, international editor at BGNES.