8/11/2019 MACEDONIA 1895-1948

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/macedonia-1895-1948 1/5

1

MACEDONIA

1895-1948

At the end of the 19th

 century, Macedonia had been the last remaining Ottoman stronghold of the

disintegrating Empire in the Balkans.

The withdrawal of the declining empire created a huge power vacuum that was exploited by almost

anyone from the Great Powers to the local national movements obsessed with the establishment of

independent and sovereign states.

As each Millet restructured towards the achievement of the national goal of independence, the

Ottoman state was determined to reverse its inevitable decay that would only mean loss of territory

and dismembering of the empire.

At the top of the Empire then had been Sultan Abdul Hamid II, a paranoid and old fashioned

Ottoman ruler, who had been determined to implement reforms to change the tide by ruling with

the Kefiya, his secret police and a network of loyal spies and informers who directed an apparatus of

intimidation, prosecution and brutal crushing of any kind of disobedient dissent.

People were disappearing overnight to be deported and exiled to far corners of the Empire for

subversive activities and plotting Against the State, reversing any hope for progress in the old

regime.

During this time Istanbul had been off reach for revolutionary movement and organization, and most

of the secessionist activities were directed from Salonika, Ottoman’s second city and regional capital

of Macedonia.

The famous VMRO would be established here at the Bulgarian High School, the Young Turks would

plot a regime overthrow and Mustafa Kemal would be born here and direct most of their activities

from Salonika.

Salonika would become a centre for regime overthrow of the old Abdul Hamid, a centre of all the

Masonic Lodges in the Balkans and all coup d’état efforts would be plotted from here. 

At the same time a power play to preserve the fragile balance of power would mean moreinvolvement of the great Powers in the internal affairs of the region.

Salonika would become a thriving spot of spies and terrorist activities, a city saturated with

conspirators plotting the removal of the old dictatorship.

This intense pressure cooker situation was equally exploited by internal contenders and outsiders.

The most likely organization to inherit rule over the Empire were the Young Turks who were equally

supported and subsidised by many of the separatist movements in a compromise deal of power

share and equality and autonomy that never materialised.

8/11/2019 MACEDONIA 1895-1948

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/macedonia-1895-1948 2/5

2

Struggling to preserve the fragile balance of power, the old powers referred to a policy of divide and

conquer, in a region inherently cosmopolitan.

After its war of independence, Greece had emerged a victorious new kingdom leading its subjects to

freedom and sovereignty and massacring or expelling all of its non-Greek population.

However, as the end of the Ottomans had become almost inevitable, Greece soon became very

active and included itself in the carving up of the region of Macedonia, claiming historic right to a

land on false pretence of territorial consistency and continuity from Antiquity and Byzantine rule.

Greece was just as well determined to develop a national identity and invigorate its consciousness

by reinventing its historic heritage around Hellensation of its state.

An aggressive campaign of Antiquisation had meant forging and rewriting its national history books

to include Hellenism as the dominant element of identity and national conscience.

Two millennia of rich national history had been marginalised and neglected to deny its own past, its

rich Ottoman and Byzantine heritage abandoned to almost minor episodes of national history.

With exception of Orthodox Christianity, every other aspect of Greek national history had been

surgically removed to claim a direct descent and link between the contemporary Greek and the

pagan polytheists of Classical Greece.

At the same time in a constant power play of intrigue and politics, a German bloodline had been

infiltrated into the Greek Royal family, developing strong dependency and influence.

The benefits of this relationship were supposed to be mutual and both sided, and as Germany

Hellenised and became a lover of all things Greek, in this perpetual relationship the Kingdom of

Greece had become Aryanised and the ideas of a racial superiority had profoundly and deeply

penetrated Greek mainstream politics.

In Bavaria, Munich paid tribute to Antiquity by raising a whole generation of Artists and Architects

deliberately including strong classical influence in their statements and works of art.

A whole stream of Philhellenes dominated the world of art, emphasising and reinforcing a false link

in heritage and direct continuity between Germany and classical Greece.

At the same time a coalition in politics and war time alliances had been forged linking the twocountries even more to bond together.

The new Greek state enforced a relentless campaign of ethnic cleansing and forced assimilation

against all non-Greek citizens from the beginning, determined to create a one nation ethnically clean

state that would revolve around Orthodox Christianity and Hellenism.

One of the most multinational regions of Europe was subjected to an identity makeover, where all

traces of anything but Greek would be removed by force in an effort of enormous proportions that

would include expulsion, closure of schools and churches, book burning and complete assimilation.

All minorities would over time be forcefully expelled or eliminated thru genocide or pogroms.

8/11/2019 MACEDONIA 1895-1948

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/macedonia-1895-1948 3/5

8/11/2019 MACEDONIA 1895-1948

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/macedonia-1895-1948 4/5

4

Instead, nationalism and fight for regional domination ended up in turmoil and a period of wars.

The Young Turks, showing off their concealed ultranationalist sentiment propagated the new Turkish

nationalism to replace the Ottoman one and became very early on hostile to their Slav as well as all

other constituents.

Unfortunately, the only good and the best ideas from the Ottoman past were quickly replaced with

worst ones alienating and further destabilising the region.

At the Bucharest conference of 1913 year, without even allowing presence of elected

representatives of the regional constituents all over Macedonia, the region was carved up and split

in a totally artificial and imperialist divide and conquer fashion.

The region was once again occupied by the neighbouring forces of the newly emerged nation states

of Greece, Bulgaria and Serbia, without even consulting the natives.

With this, whole regions of ethnically diverse and multinational social character were integrated into

states that were extremely opposed to the idea of building up on the regional heritage and tradition

and extending the rich cosmopolitan history.

A state sponsored campaign of displacement, expulsion and ethnic cleansing followed, and it was

enforced thru unseen crimes against humanity and abuse of human rights.

Aegean Macedonia, just as well as the reminder of the whole region had traditionally been

multinational for centuries.

The countryside had been dominated by the Bulgarians who had been residing there continuously

since their arrival in the sixth century, providing rich Slav heritage, tradition and culture interwoven

with the customs of the region.

An established community of Vlachs has been there for the same amount of time, arriving along with

the Slavs from the Carpathian mountain region in today’s Romania. 

Albanians of many confessions, each worshipping in their own tradition have lived in the region for

several millennia, being directly descended of the Illyrian tribes from Antiquity, being an equal part

of the rich cosmopolitan tapestry of people that created the Macedonian social fabric.

Serbs and Montenegrin as well as micro communities of Bektashi Dervishes who are a small Shia sectoffshoot, as well as many other people from the Ottoman and Balkan lands have been scattered thru

the hinterland, all living and working together side by side each contributing to the rich kaleidoscope

of people who make Macedonia a unique melting pot.

Aegean Macedonia was at the time home to Greeks; however, they did not even constitute a

quarter of the population. Some were established among the upper class as bankers and merchants,

and of all other social backgrounds.

And last but not least, since conquering the Balkans, rich Ottoman presence was established very

early on by the settlement of Turks, equally participating to the rich multi-ethnic mix and working

together for the common good.

8/11/2019 MACEDONIA 1895-1948

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/macedonia-1895-1948 5/5

5

The Sephardic Jews have been a major ethnicity and a dominant community in Salonika since their

arrival in 1492, after their expulsion from Spain, their numbers reaching almost 65.000 before the

first wave of deportation after the Great Fire of 1917.