Ethnic Macedonians in Bulgaria

Ethnic Macedonians in Bulgaria or Pirin Macedonians are a group mostly concentrated in the Pirin region of Macedonia. In the 2001 Bulgarian census, 5,071 people officially declared themselves to be ethnic Macedonians. They are not currently recognized officially as an ethnic minority but have been between 1947 and 1958. During this period there was a resurgence of Macedonistic policies, the government went as far as to declare Macedonian an official language of the Pirin region. The Bulgarian Communist Party was compelled by Joseph Stalin to accept the formation of Macedonian, Thracian and Dobrujan nations in order to include those new separate states in a Balkan communist federation. It has been suggested that the majority of the population from Blagoevgrad province was listed as ethnic Macedonians against their will in the 1946 census.

Background

Until 1913 the majority of the Slav population of all three parts of Macedonia had Bulgarian identity. Not until much later did the process of Macedonian national identity formation gain momentum. After WW2, the Yugoslavian state promoted a distinct national Macedonian identity in the newly established People's Republic of Macedonia, together with the use of the newly standardized Macedonian language. Yugoslav authorities began policies of removing any Bulgarian influence, making Macedonia a connecting link for the establishment of a new Balkan Federation and creating a distinct Slavic consciousness that would inspire identification with Yugoslavia.

Recognition of the minority

For a period of some years after the war, the Yugoslav and Bulgarian leaders Josip Broz Tito and Georgi Dimitrov worked on a project to merge their two countries into a Balkan Federative Republic according to the projects of Balkan Communist Federation. As a concession to the Yugoslavian side, Bulgarian authorities agreed to the recognition of a distinct Macedonian ethnicity and language as part of their own population in the Bulgarian part of geographical Macedonia. This was one of the conditions of the Bled Agreement, signed between Yugoslavia and Bulgaria on 1 August 1947. In November 1947, pressured by both the Yugoslavs and the Soviets, Bulgaria also signed a treaty of friendship with Yugoslavia, and teachers were sent from the Socialist Republic of Macedonia to Blagoevgrad province to teach the Macedonian Language and history. The Bulgarian president Georgi Dimitrov was sympathetic to the Macedonian question. The Bulgarian government Communist party was compelled once again to adapt its stand to Soviet interests in the Balkans. The same process started regarding the populations in Dobrudja and Thrace. At the same time, the organisation of the old nationalist movement the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) in Bulgaria was suppressed by the Bulgarian communist authorities.

Reversal of recognition

A change of policy came in 1958. At the plenum of the Bulgarian Communist Party held the same year, the decision was made that the Macedonian, Dobrujan and Thracian nations did not exist and neither did their respective languages. Afterwards, the Macedonian language was outlawed and the Macedonian teachers were expelled. Since 1958, Bulgaria has not recognized a Macedonian minority in the Pirin region. Within ten years the 178,862 strong Macedonian minority fell to just 8,700 individuals.

Census results

The number of Macedonians in the Pirin region has varied greatly over the past 50 years.

In the December of 1946, the People's Republic of Bulgaria conducted a census which included both the questions; of ethnicity and of mother language. 169,544 people of Bulgaria declared themselves to be ethnic Macedonians. Of the total 252,908 inhabitants of Blagoevgrad Province 160,541 or roughly 64% of the population declared themselves to be ethnic Macedonians. Other areas of Macedonian declaration was 2638 in Sofia, 2589 in Plovdiv, 1825 in Burgas and a further 1851 were scattered throughout Bulgaria.

Ethnic Groups	Sveti Vrach	%	Petrich	%	Gorna Dzumaya	%	Razlog	%	Nevrokop	%	Total	%
Macedonians	41 247	82,5%	42 047	91%	24 169	47%	23 837	60%	29 251	45,1%	160 541	63,64%
Bulgarians	7 600	15,1%	2 927	6,4%	24 825	48,3%	5 066	12,8%	14 007	21,5%	54 425	21,5%
Pomaks	55	0,%	35	0,1%	874	1,7%	9 786	24,6%	18 174	27,9%	28 924	3,03%

In 1956, 187,789 people of Bulgaria declared themselves to be ethnic Macedonians. Of the 281,015 inhabitants of Blagoevgrad Province, 178,862 people declared themselves to be Macedonians; a rate which stayed the same at roughly 64% of the population. Other areas of Macedonian declaration consisted of: 4046 from Sofia, 1955 from Plovdiv and the remaining 2926 were scattered throughout Bulgaria.

Ethnic Groups	Sandanski	%	Petrich	%	Blagoevgrad	%	Razlog	%	Goce Delchev	%	Total	%
Macedonians	55 373	89,5%	40 008	82,7%	30 561	52,2%	23 352	49,1%	29 586	45,8%	178 862	63,6%
Bulgarians	4 630	7,5%	7 326	15,1%	25 492	43,5%	11 843	24,9%	11 675	18,1%	60 966	21,7%
Pomaks	19	0,0%	8	0,0%	911	1,6%	11 501	24,2%	20 266	31,4%	32 705	11,6%

Total	Bulgarians	Macedonians	Turks	Roma
7613109	6506541	187789	656052	197789
100%	85,47%	2,47%	8,62%	2,52%

The 1965 census counted only 9632 people declaring themselves to be Macedonians. Of them, 1732 came from the Blagoevgrad Province while 8195 were from the other regions of Bulgaria.

In the 1992 census, 10,803 people declared themselves to be Macedonian. Of them, 3,500 registered Macedonian as their mother tongue . According to the President of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee Krasimir Kanev, the real number of Macedonians in Bulgaria varies from 15000 to 25000.

Results of the 2001 census in the Blagoevgrad region of Bulgaria.

Total	Bulgarians	Macedonians	Others
341173	286491	3117	51565
100%	83.97%	0.91%	15.12%

Macedonians since 1958

In 1964 four people were tried for writing :"We are Macedonians" and "Long live the Macedonian Nation" on a restaurant wall. It has to be noted, though, that the Communist regime took similar measures against any manifestation of nationalist feelings (including Bulgarian). Since the fall of communism in the early 1990s various associations have been set up to represent the minority, these include United Macedonian Organisation: Ilinden–Pirin (UMO Ilinden-Pirin) and the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organisation - Independant (IMRO-I) . These organizations have called for the restoration of rights granted to Macedonians during the 1940s and 1950's. Although the Republic of Bulgaria recognized the Macedonian Language in 1999 it does not recognize it as a minority language. Since the early 1990s there has been much speculation as to the size of the minority. The Central Intelligence Agency World Factbook for the years 1991 - 1998 gave estimates between c.221,800 – 206,000 or roughly 2.5% of the total population. No information is provided however as to how the data was acquired. Later editions since 2000 have included Macedonians as a minority group but have not included a numeric estimate. In the last 2001 Bulgarian census 5,071 people officially declared themselves to be Ethnic Macedonians. In 2008, according to personal evaluation of a leading local ethnic Macedonian political activist, Stoyko Stoykov, the present number of Bulgarian citizens with ethnic Macedonian self-consciousness is between 5,000 and 10,000.(source) The vast majority of the Slavic population though has a Bulgarian national self-consciousness and a regional Macedonian identity similar to the Macedonian regional identity in Greek Macedonia. Moreover, the majority of Bulgarians believe that most of the population of Macedonia is Bulgarian.

Political representation

The UMO Ilinden-Pirin party claims to represent the ethnic Macedonian minority in Bulgaria. In 2007 it was accepted as member of the European Free Alliance. On February 29, 2000, by decision of the Bulgarian Constitutional Court , UMO Ilinden–Pirin was expelled from the Bulgarian political system, as a separatist party According to the Bulgarian Constitution parties on ethnic and religious grounds are forbidden. On November 25, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, condemned Bulgaria because of violations of the OMO Ilinden–Pirin's freedom of organizing meetings. The court stated that Bulgaria had violated Act 11 from the European Convention of Human Rights. Bulgarians on the other hand have accused UMO-Ilinden of being funded by the Skopie government. which was confirmed by members of the party itself .

Many other Macedonian organizations have been set up since the fall of communism they include; Independent Macedonian Association – Ilinden, Traditional Macedonian Organization — TMO, Union for the Prosperity of Pirin Macedonia, Committee on the Repression of Macedonians in the Pirin part of Macedonia, Solidarity and Struggle Committee of Pirin Macedonia, The Union for the Prosperity of Pirin Macedonia, The Macedonian Democratic Party and The People’s Academy of Pirin Macedonia.

Macedonian media

In 1947 the newspaper 'Pirinski Vestnik' (Pirin Paper) was established and a “Macedonian Book” publishing company were set up.These were part of the measures to promote the Macedonian language and consciousness and were subsequently shut down in 1958. In the early 1990s a new newspaper was established for the ethnic Macedonian minority in Blagoevgrad Province, it is called Narodna Volja and it's main office is in Blagoevgrad.

References

External links

• OMO Ilinden-Pirin - The site of the banned ethnic Macedonian party in Bulgaria.
• Center for Documentation and Information on Minorities in Europe-Southeast Europe - Comprehensive study done by the Greek Helsinki Monitor on the Macedonians in Bulgaria.
• Narodna Volja - Macedonian Newspaper for Theory, History, Culture and the Arts.
• Bulgarian Subject Files - Social Issues: Minorities: Macedonians Open Society Archives, Budapest