What was the Ilinden ?

[akritas]

The small flourishing Greek town of Krousovo [35 klms north of SKOPIA] was the capital of the Metropolis of PRESPA-OHRIDA of the Ecumenical Patriarchate with Greek Gymnasium for boys and girls. With a School only for girls [parthenagogio] and four Greek primary schools.

The city "belonged" to the "Valide Sultana" [the official wife of the Sultan in Konstantinople’s]. This is the reason why it was unfortified and had no army garrison but only small police force.

It was occupied by the Bulgarians of the known VMRO with the banners of the Bulgarian National Colors who were singing the song "Macedonia old Bulgaria",The one and only Greek who participated from the Greek side was someone by the name of Goulis who is registered in the memory of the survivals as the "EfiaItis" !

After the massacre of the few policemen, the Bulgarians looted and killed only the Greeks and the Greek language was forbidden for a few approximately 10 days that they were in charge until the Turkish army arrived from Monastiri. During the Turkish attack the fleeing providing no resistance “komitatzides” were bribing the arriving Turks with part of the stolen boot so that they too would exterminate only Greek families-as they in fact did.

Amazingly, the very small Bulgarian section part of the city remained untouched to the end . The Greeks who survived the immediate massacre were gathered by force in a nearby wood where they were executed as a group. Only a few among them were saved after the immediate apply of the Patriarch.

This is the story in a few words-of the "Revolution of lliden" as it is reported in the in the referring publication of that time.

Aged refugees from the area were relating this story only a few years ago in Thessaloniki and I have heard them myself during our discussions. This live testimony is a strong evidence that enlightens the historical facts. I wish to leave it to the new depositaries of the History of the "Greek North, Many distinguished Greeks among them Alexander Svolos, Sondis etc were born in Krousovo, contemporary Academicians, military, state men merchants etc come from Krousovo. I personally know quite a few of them.


By Dr. PARMENION.I. PAPATHANASIOU

source
http://www.panmacedonian.info/illiden.htm

[akritas]

In 1903 become the Bulgarian provocation in the Greek and vlach speaking Krousovo, the second in size Hellenic city of region (as concern the residents), when the captain of Bulgarian Army Goce Deltsef makes a supposedly revolution with result the burst out of the Turks in the Christian population and main in the Hellenic and Vlachs. This Bulgarian provocation in the day of Prophet Elias it is celebrated by the Slav citizens of FYROM today as the A “Macedonian” Revolution of Ili-Den.

This provocation had as result the drastic reduction of Hellenic-speaking population in the wider region.

Also Dimitrije Djordjevic (Istorija Srbije, pag 45), Savo Skoko (Drugi Balkanski pag 67, Helmark (Diplomacy of the Balkan Wars 1912-1913) mentioned also:
The revolution of the Ili-Den she was instigated from Sofia and Bulgarian-Friends of VMRO partie. Sofia placed head of this revolution the captain of Bulgarian Army Goce Deltsef and dispatched him in the “Macedonia” for this aim.

Continue my arguments that the Slavs of the Vardar claiming that the Iliden uprising of 1903 was a revolt of "Macedonians" against the Turks there are seventy original issues of them are kept in microfilm at the Museum of "Macedonian Struggles" in Thessaloniki. These documents proof the Bulgarian provocation.

Photocopies of these reports that are connected with the Iliden Affair

In every country's archives, and in the reports of the four Consuls and vice-consuls (British, French, Austrian and USA) in Monastir (now Bitola) and Thessaloniki in 1903, it is described as a revolt by Bulgarian Comitadjis.

Because some needs eyes proofs. There Are.

Sources:
Lazar Moisof ( x-president of the SR of Macedonia in Yugoslavia in 1988), Istorijske teme.
Stefanos Sotiriou (Historian ), Macedonian Issue.

[akritas]

And we continue in the topic to compare the facts.

Some Useful informations as consern the Bulgarian Goce Delcev :

Goce Delcev (1872-1903) was a 19th century revolutionary. He was the leader of the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organisation (IMARO) that was active in Ottoman Macedonia and Thrace at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century.
Born on January 23, 1872 in Kilkis (Kukush in Slavs, nothern Hellas), Delcev finished the local junior high school and the Bulgarian high school "St Cyril and Methodius" in Thessaloniki. He entered the Military academy in Sofia in 1891 but was expelled because he was a member of a socialist circle. Delchev became a teacher in a school in Stip in 1894, where he met Dame Gruev, the leader of the local committee of IMARO. As a result of the close friendship between the two, Delchev joined the organization in 1895 becoming before long its leader. Goce Delchev's involvement in IMARO was an important momnet for the history of the Slav-Macedonian liberation movement. The years between 1894 and 1903 represented the final and most effective revolutionary phase of his short life.

My questions are
1-If Dolcev, Gruev(and therest) were "Macedonians" why enjoyed in the Boulgarian IMARO(VMRO)
Partie?

2-The VMRO partie wanted to liberate the Macedonia and Thrace region from the Ottomans. If we supposed the exsistanse of the
"Macedonians" , VMRO want also liberated and the brothers of the Thrace?

3-Why Gruev(and the rest) attacked in Krousovo [35 klms north of SKOPIA] when there were another cities more close as consern the nationalities of him in the Bulgaria? Actually borned in the region.

4-What was the 1st action had done Gruev(and the rest) via the "liberation" of the city?

and the answers are

1- Dolcev was never a “Macedonian”. He was a captain of the Bulgarian Army. His ethnicity can never prove because the data of the birth destroyed in the 1912-13 during the Balkan Wars. We have the official data from the files of the Bulgarian Army, IMARO that indicates the Bulgarian origin. Otherwise how a “revolutionary” succeed to be officer from the one of the opposite “side”. Maybe was one from the best agent.
Delchev was killed in a battle with a Turkish regiment in May 1903 when he commnds a Bulgarian querillas unit (komitatzides)

2-The first aim of the IMARO (father organization of the VMRO) was the exit of the Bulgaria in the Aegean with two ways. The first via the Kavala port at the Macedonia region and the other via the Alexadroupolis port via the Thrace region.
The Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organisation (IMARO) as anyone clearly to see indicated geographically in Macedonia and Thrace regions.
After the first conflicts in the Macedonia region and the support of the Russia focus in the 1st way. This policy was alive until 1948 but Tito ambition destroyed this goal. The VMRO has a lion as emblem. A lot of Hellenes also believed that was ancient Macedonian Emblem. WRONG. This was the emblem of IMARO, VMRO and generally of the Bulgarians Royals.

3-As I mention the Ottomans demographics source (that we have only) in Krousovo showed that the population in the city composed of Vlachs, Hellenes and a few Bulgarians.
The city "belonged" to the "Valide Sultana" [the official wife of the Sultan in Constantinople’s]. This is the reason why it was unfortified and had no army garrison but only small police force. Was a “Holly” city.
The chosen of this city is not only the mentioned reason. Also was because every body knew that the Ottoman Army when he re-captured a revolutionary city followed by massacres.
And the pay back of victims were the Vlachs and Hellenes.
Also as concern the 30000 thousands “revolionaries” that mentioned from the FYROM side, everybody knows that the revolution failed when the Ottoman guard of the city of Monastery attacked them and re-occupied the city. So the numbers are another common lie.

4-The 1st action was the expelled of the Bulgarians residents. Clever military tactic.

All the connections that prove the relationship between Bulgaria, IMARO, VMRO there are official documents of the mentioned period that shut down all the Slavs of Vardar claims as about the “revolution”.

akritas

[akritas]

An intresting card postal that show the burned houses of Greeks and Vlachs at the Krushevo and of course smoe others Turkish attrocities

[Ptolemy]

Greek newspaper 'Empros' of that era about Delchev and Ilinden.



The person in the photo is Goce Delchev.

Translation:

The assasinated BULGARIAN leader of rebels

August of 1903
"BULGARIAN UPRISING IN MACEDONIA "

Everybody knew Delchev was a Bulgarian and Ilinden as a Bulgarian uprising.

[akritas]

Were many objections as about the revolt was known(Conference of Smilevo meeting at the 4 April)

The problem is that IMRO was diluted by many who had become a prey of the Verchovist propagnda that mainly Russia nad the Powers would intervene in favour of Bulgaria.Grruef and Delcev followers had their hands forced.

Dakkin and Poulton agree in two points regarding the Ilinden

1-The majority of the population did not support the uprising and in some instances even denounced the bands to the Ottomans
2-The goal of the uprisng apears to have been provoke the Great Powers to intervene against Ottoman misrule and/or to force the Bulgarian government into war with Turkey.

So the primary aims aims were
-No Exarchists casualties.The basshibazouks hit only cities that the revolt suceded,cities that the guards was not to many because were Patriarchists.Actually Greek side ignite its actions after the Ilinden.
-Bulgarian or Great Powers entrance(political or military) in Macedonia.

In conclusion the purpose of the revolt the Entrance of the Great Powers against Ottomans and of course in favour of Bulgaria.The Great Powers doesn't want Macedonia(except Russia) in the Bulgarian hands.

[PhiliptheUniterchaeronea]

This is a great thread gentlemen. Strong work. Perhaps these photos from this link are part of what you are talking about. Maybe not Ilinden, but similar perhaps? I was hoping you could validate the historical references on the site.

http://www.macedoniagreece.com/

http://www.macedoniagreece.com/attrocities.php

[akritas]

Also there is a document that proove the Bulgarian involve in the Illinden Uprising.A memorandum was handed to Dr.Kozhuharov, the Bulgarian consul in Bitola, and transmitted by him to the government in Sofia with report N441 from September 17th, 1903. A part of the text is published on p.435 of Macedonia's Struggle for Liberation (Sofia, 1933, edition of

The Ilinden Uprising Veterans' Organization) by Christo SILJANOV - one of the leaders of IMRO and one of the most eminent historians and memoirists that have ever written on the national liberation movement of the Bulgarians in Macedonia and the district of Adrianople.

" Considering the critical and terrible situation that the Bulgarian population of the Bitola Vilayet found itself in and following the ravages and cruelties done by the Turkish troops and irregulars, ... considering the fact that everything Bulgarian runs the risk of perishing and disappearing without a trace because of violence, hunger, and the upcoming misery, the Head Quarters finds it to be its obligation to draw the attention of the respected Bulgarian government to the pernicious consequences vis-a-vis the Bulgarian nation, in case the latter does not fulfill its duty towards its brethren of race here in an imposing fashion which is necessary by virtue of the present ordeal for the common Bulgarian Fatherland...

...Being in command of our people's movement, we appeal to you on behalf of the enslaved Bulgarian to help him in the most effective way - by waging war.We believe that the response of the people in free Bulgaria will be the same.

... No bulgarian school is opened, neither will it be opened... Nobody thinks of education when he is outlawed by the state because he bears the name Bulgar...

Waiting for your patriotic intervention, we are pleased to inform you that we have in our disposition the armed forces we have spared by now. The Head Quarters of the Ilinden Uprising"

Damian GRUEV, Boris SARAFOV, Atanas LOZANTCHEV

[Spartan]

Yesterday I decided to look into the Krushevo republic and came across this article on a FYROM site.


http://www.unet.com.mk/mian/ilinden.htm



The Ilinden Uprising and the Krushevo Republic

The dissatisfaction of the Macedonian people was expressed through the revolts and rebellions of the first half of the 19th century; but by mid-century, it found its release through the organization of a movement for national liberation. This movement culminated in the formation of the Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (VMRO) at the end of the century.
VMRO was preceded by a wide national unification movement led by a group of young Macedonian intellectuals writing for the periodical Loza (Vine) in 1892, later called Lozari. Distinguished members of this group included Petar Pop Arsov, Dame Gruev, Krste P. Misirkov and Grigor Hadzhitashkovich; Goce Delchev and Gjorche Petrov likely belonged to this movement as well. Misirkov writes that the members of the movement "...recognized the danger of Macedonia's partitioning between those two states [between Serbia and Bulgaria] if the Macedonians did not arm and gain freedom by themselves, with their own strength and means, counteracting thereby the division of Macedonia..."
On October 23, 1893, in Thessaloniki, Ivan Hadzhi Nikolov, Dame Gruev, Petar Pop Arsov, Hristo Tatarchev, Anton Dimitrov and Hristo Batandzhiev founded the Secret Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (TMORO, later renamed the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization, or VMRO), to effect the liberation of Macedonia within its GEOGRAPHIC and historic borders. The movement was to work within these borders, OPEN TO ALL FAITHS AND NATIONALITIES, in the quest for NATIONAL AUTONOMY. Following the decisions of the 1896 Thessaloniki Congress, the Smilevo Congress of the Bitola Revolutionary District held on May 2 to May 7, 1903, resulted in the decision to launch an uprising.
In response to the Smilevo Congress, a meeting of VMRO's General Staff held on July 13, 1903 O.S. (July 26, N.S.) planned a general uprising to begin on July 20, 1903 O.S. (August 2, N.S.). The proclamation issued on July 15 O.S. (July 28, N.S.) reads that "THE PEOPLE OF ALL MACEDONIA MUST COME OUT WITH GUN IN HAND AND MEET THE ENENEMY... On that day, hasten, BROTHERS-FOLLOW YOUR LEADERS and flock beneath the flag of freedom! Have courage, brothers, in the fight! Only by persistent and lengthy struggle can we be saved!"
The Central Committee's representative office in Sofia informed the Great Powers that an uprising had begun, explaining that the plight of the CHRISTIAN POPULATIONS IN MACEDONIA had worsened and forced the population to rise up. A request was made for the "appointment, with the consent of the Great Powers, of a chief administrator for the Christians who was never a member of the Ottoman administration and who would be independent from the Sublime Porte in fulfilling his duties", as well as the "establishment of continuous, collective international control with broad powers to sanction".
The uprising began on August 2, 1903, the Feast of St. Elias. The fiercest fighting centered around the Bitola Revolutionary District, where the rebels severed telegraph and telephone lines, blocked roads and attacked Turkish garrisons and estates of the beys. But the Krushevo Revolutionary District possessed the best strategy, laying out exactly-defined objectives and an elaborate plan to capture Krushevo by eight rebel detachments. Communications between the general headquarters of Nikola Karev and the individual detachments and guerrilla bands were maintained despite the rigors of war.
On August 2, the Krushevo staff announced that "We are burning with impatience, waiting for night to fall so that we may come and take Krushevo and then, together with ALL THE PEOPLE OF MACEDONIA, let out a thunderous victory cheer! God and justice are on our side! Long live Macedonia!" That night, the cutting of telephone wires signaled the attack. Rebels struck strategic sites such as military barracks, the post office and the town council building; by August 3, the town had been wrested from the Turks. That afternoon an assembly was convened, attended by "ABOUT 60 REPRESENTATIVES OF ALL NATIONALITIES, in order to elect an executive body for the liberated territory. After short consultation, it was decided to establish a temporary government consisting of 6 members-representatives of the THREE MOST NUMEROUS NATIONALITIES IN THE TOWN." These distinguished citizens constituted the council of the Krushevo Republic, while the Krushevo General Staff of TMORO represented the military authority of the new republic.
The temporary government was "to impose taxes on citizens by temporary order, to requisition food for insurgents and the population of the town and surrounding villages, requisition clothing and footwear for insurgents and militarized citizens, and materials for their armament; to take care of wounded and sick insurgents, citizens and peasants; to maintain order and peace in the town and alike."
Concurrently to the establishment of the temporary government, several commissions were formed to carry out the tasks assigned by the government. These included an Internal Commission, to maintain public order; a Food Commission; a Civil Commission responsible for construction and hygiene; a Clothing Commission; a Financial Reform Commission; and a Financial Commission. In the establishment of both the temporary government and the commissions, THE PRINCIPLE OF THE PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION OF ALL NATIONALITIES was applied. As Aleksandar Hristov notes, "the temporary government in liberated Krushevo, although not provided for in the insurgents' constitution, was A LEGITIMATE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE INSURGENTS. Its electio n and the revolutionary acts passed by it legitimized it as a fully legitimate, supreme authority on the territory of the [Krushevo] Republic."
The Krushevo Republic created by the insurgents represented a potential projection of "the future autonomous state of Macedonia. It is characteristic that all [governmental] bodies were constituted by the people of Krushevo, from among ALL THREE NATIONALITIES IN THE TOWN..."
One of the most important acts of the Krushevo Republic was the manifesto issued by the Krushevo General Staff, "representing a declaration of the aims and goals of the insurgents, OUTLINING A BASIS FOR BROTHERLY COEXISTENCE AMONG THE NATIONALITIES DURING THE STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM" The Krushevo Manifesto was part of the civil orientation of the Krushevo General Staff; ADDRESSING THE MOSLEM POPULATION it states: "We have raised no gun against you. That would be to our shame. We do not raise our guns against the peaceful, hard-working and HONEST TURKISH MAN honest Turkish, as we do, by blood and sweat-he is our brother. We have together lived with him, and want to so live again..." Continuing, the staff summoned ALL CITIZENS OF MACEDONIA to a struggle against tyranny: "Come brothers, Moslems, come and fight against your and our enemies! Come, under the flag of autonomous Macedonia! Macedonia is our mother and she calls for our help. Come and help break the chains of slavery and free ourselves from misery and suffering so that streams of blood and tears are dried up!" The Krushevo Manifesto "represents the most mature political document of the either the Krushevo revolutionary authorities or the Ilinden Uprising in general." In this respect, Dimitar Mitrev argues that "The Krushevo republicans declared, in their own vernacular, in the Manifesto and in their political accomplishments, that there could be only one Macedonia for them-a free, democratic one, WITH FULL EQUAILITY OF ALL NATIONALITIES. A heavier blow could not have been delivered to Vrhovism [Supremacism]: the Republic was built in order that they could fully be masters of their own fate, not merely to be annexed to Bulgaria."
The Ottomans dispatched a sizable army to suppress the uprising. By the middle of August, Ottoman military power in Macedonia had reached a total of 239 battalions of infantry, 39 squadrons of cavalry and 74 batteries of artillery-a grand total of some 167,300 infantry, 3,700 cavalry and 444 cannons. Capturing Krushevo was the greatest problem facing the Ottoman commanders. Any counteroffensive against this center of this Macedonian rebellion would not be easy: the revolutionaries were solidly organized and the 1,200 insurgents fortified the town, preparing to repulse any Ottoman attack.
Not until August 9 and 10 did Turkish troops begin to move against the town; the main body of the Ottoman army, consisting of 10,000 troops with supporting artillery under the command of Bahtiar Pasha, advanced over the Prilep plain towards Krushevo. There, it emplaced around the village of Krivogashtani and placed 7 or 8 cannons at Topolishte. The second part of the Ottoman army, advancing from the north, was stationed by the villages of Vrbovec and Trstenik. The third column was to occupy the Monastery of the Holy Salvation, as a base for further operations. In addition, an Ottoman detachment of 4,000 soldiers arrived from Bitola and divided into two columns near the village of Pribilci. One advanced along the road from the village of Ostrilci to Krushevo, the other along the Zhaba River towards Koyov Trn. A final detachment of 5,000 soldiers approached from Kichevo, including several pieces of mountain artillery. The overall strategy of this army, which may have numbered nearly 20,000 troops, was to encircle Krushevo and capture it through a series of coordinated attacks. On August 12 the encirclement of the town was complete and Bahtiar Pasha called on the rebels to surrender. The Krushevo General Staff debated the merits of surrender, but settled on defending the town. Bahtiar Pasha then unleashed an artillery bombardment of Krushevo, followed by simultaneous infantry assaults.
The Ottoman troops encountered violent and heroic resistance. Although the General Staff ordered a retreat west to Osoy, individual fighters remained in the town to resist the Ottoman attack. The most notable was Pitu Guli who, together with his detachment, fought to the last. He and his fighters repulsed continual attacks; particularly fierce were the battles at Sliva and Mechkin Kamen, where most of the rebels died defending the town. The fighting for Krushevo itself lasted the entire day of August 12, with Ottoman victory coming that evening. Staff members led by Nikola Karev managed to break through the Turkish cordon and escape. On August 12 and 13, the Ottoman army entered the town and began reprisals, massacring and plundering the people of Krushevo.
While the Krushevo Republic was quickly brought to an end, "in spite of its short existence, it represents one of the most significant phenomena in [the Macedonian] national-liberation movement. Created in the flames of the struggle against the feudal system of the Ottoman state, it was at the same time an expression of the desire of [the Macedonians] for the creation of a national state. Hence, the proclamation of the Krushevo Republic represents the highest accomplishment and one of the most important state-legal acts of the Macedonian insurgents."



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This is great mainly because it proves there was NO such thing in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries, known as an "Ethnic Macedonian"!

[pankration]

What is noteworthy about this article is how it continually states that the "new" state us is one of universality and tolerance! This idea is a late 20th century concept and I can guarantee that the rebels did not actually believe this even if they said it which I doubt.

"was decided to establish a temporary government consisting of 6 members-representatives of the THREE MOST NUMEROUS NATIONALITIES IN THE TOWN." These distinguished citizens constituted the council of the Krushevo Republic, while the Krushevo General Staff of TMORO represented the military authority of the new republic."

Why doesn't the article clarify who these 3 nationalities were? Typical FYROM selective memory.