Ethnic Macedonians in Bulgaria


Ethnic Macedonians in Bulgaria are a group in Bulgaria concentrated within Blagoevgrad Province and the capital Sofia. In the 2011 Bulgarian census, 1,654 people declared themselves to be ethnic Macedonians. They are not recognised as an ethnic minority but were recognised as such between 1947 and 1958. During this period there was a surge 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. There are strong indications that the majority of the population from Blagoevgrad Province was listed as ethnic Macedonians against their will in the 1946 and 1956 censuses.

Background

Until 1913 the majority of the Slavic-speaking population of all three parts of the region of Macedonia identified as Bulgarian. During World War II, most parts of Yugoslav and Greek Macedonia were annexed by Bulgaria, and the local Slavic-speakers were regarded and self-identified as Macedonian Bulgarians. Not until much later did the process of Macedonian national identity formation gain momentum. After 1944, the People's Republic of Bulgaria and the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia began a policy of making Macedonia a connecting link for the establishment of new Balkan Federative Republic and stimulating there a development of distinct Slav Macedonian consciousness. The Communist Party of Greece as well as its fraternal parties in Bulgaria and Yugoslavia, had already been influenced by the Comintern and it was the only political party in Greece to recognize Macedonian national identity. The region of Vardar Macedonia received the status of a constituent republic within Yugoslavia, the Socialist Republic of Macedonia, and in 1945 a separate Macedonian language was codified. The local Slavic population was proclaimed to be ethnically Macedonian - a new nationality meant to be different from the Bulgarians or Serbs.

History

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 newly codified Macedonian language. The Bulgarian president Georgi Dimitrov was sympathetic to the Macedonian Question. The Bulgarian communist government was compelled once again to adapt its stand to Soviet interests in the Balkans. At the same time, the organisation of the old nationalist movement the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization in Bulgaria was suppressed by the Bulgarian communist authorities.

Reversal of recognition

However, differences soon emerged with regard to the Macedonian question. Whereas Dimitrov envisaged a state where Yugoslavia and Bulgaria would be placed on an equal footing and Macedonia would be more or less attached to Bulgaria, Tito saw Bulgaria as a seventh republic in an enlarged Yugoslavia tightly ruled from Belgrade. Their differences also extended to the national character of the Macedonians – whereas Dimitrov considered them to be an national offshoot of the Bulgarians, Tito regarded them as an independent nation which had nothing to do with the Bulgarians. Thus the initial tolerance for the Macedonization of Bulgarian Macedonia gradually grew into outright alarm. As result gradual change of that policy came in Bulgaria after the Tito-Stalin split in 1948. 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 nation and language did not exist. Afterwards, the teaching of the Macedonian language was discontinued and the Macedonian teachers from Yugoslavia were expelled. Since 1958, Bulgaria has not recognized a Macedonian minority in the Pirin region and in the following ten years, the 178,862 strong Macedonian population fell to just 1,600. The March Plenum of the Central Committee of the BCP openly denounces any notion of “a separate Macedonian nation” in Bulgaria. However in 1964 four people were tried for writing: "We are Macedonians" and "Long live the Macedonian Nation" on a restaurant wall.

After fall of communism

Since the fall of communism in the early 1990s various associations have been set up to represent the minority, these include and the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organisation - Independent . These organizations have called for the restoration of rights granted to Macedonians during the 1940s and 1950s. Republic of Bulgaria has not recognized the Macedonian language. However, in 1999 the linguistic controversy between the two countries was solved with the help of the phrase: "the official language of the country in accordance with its constitution". 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 1992 - 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, for example, the 2011 edition have not given a percentage for the Macedonians but have instead included them in the "Others" group, which comprises 0.7% of the population and includes, among others, Russians, Armenians and Vlachs.
In 2006, 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. He has claimed that the result of the 2011 census, which counted only 1,654 Macedonians is a consequence of manipulation. Stoykov has explained that from this figure, even about 1,000 people were registered as Macedonia citizens. According to the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, the vast majority of the population in Pirin Macedonia 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 North Macedonia is Bulgarian.
Meanwhile, in 1999, Ivan Kostov and Lyubcho Georgievski, the prime ministers of Bulgaria and North Macedonia respectively, signed a common declaration, which has proclaimed no Macedonian minority exists within Bulgaria.

Census results

Government intervention

From 20 to 31 December 1946, the People's Republic of Bulgaria conducted a census during which, on December 27 the governor of Blagoevgrad districts sent a telegram with an order all Bulgarians in the region to be counted as ethnic Macedonians, including the Bulgarian Muslims. According to the census results 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 in Sofia, in Plovdiv, in Burgas and a further were scattered throughout Bulgaria.
The forcible change of the ethnicity of the population was confirmed by the leader of the opposition party BZNS "Nikola Petkov" who on 30 December 1946 stated that "the population is disgusted by this outrageous violation of conscience." This issue was confirmed by the ex-president of the Republic of Bulgaria Petar Stoyanov and , from the Regional Historical Museum of Blagoevgrad - where the document with the order is kept.
Ethnic Groups in Blagoevgrad Nevrokop%Gorna Dzumaya%Sveti Vrach%Petrich%Razlog%Total%
Ethnic Macedonians29,25145.1%24 16947%41,24782.5%42,04791%23,83760%160 54163.64%
Bulgarians14,00721.5%24,82548.3%7,60015.1%2,9276.4%5,06612.8%54,42521.5%
Macedonian or Bulgarian Muslims18,17427.9%8741.7%550.1%350,1%9,78624.6%28 9243.03%

There are strong indications that the majority of the population from Blagoevgrad Province was listed as ethnic Macedonians against their will in the 1946 and 1956 census.
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.
Under strong pressure of the Bulgarian Communist Party, the 1956 census results were falsified again as the previous 1946 census and the Bulgarian population in Blagoevgrad Province was forced to declare as ethnic Macedonian.

Government intervention withdrawn

The change in the population came in 1965 census, when the people in the province declared free as Bulgarians, within ten years the 187,789 strong Macedonian minority fell to just 9,632 individuals.
The 1965 census counted only 9,632 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 15,000 to 25,000.
Results of the 2001 census in the Blagoevgrad region of Bulgaria.
Ethnic Groups in Blagoevgrad Province Total%
Bulgarians286,49183.97%
Ethnic Macedonians31170.91%
Others51,56515.12%
Total341,173100.00%

As regards self-identification, a total of 1,654 people officially declared themselves to be ethnic Macedonians in the latest Bulgarian census in 2011 and 561 of them are in Blagoevgrad Province. There are 1,091 citizens of North Macedonia who are permanent residents in Bulgaria.

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 29 February 2000, by decision of the Bulgarian Constitutional Court, UMO Ilinden–Pirin was banned, as a separatist party, which is banned by the Bulgarian constitution, which also forbids parties on ethnic and religious grounds. On 25 November, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg condemned Bulgaria because of violations of the UMO Ilinden–Pirin's freedom of organizing meetings. The court stated that Bulgaria had violated Act 11 from the European Convention of Human Rights. UMO-Ilinden has been accused 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 Macedonian Democratic Party and the People's Academy of Pirin Macedonia.

Macedonian-language media

In 1947 the newspaper 'Pirinski Vestnik' 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 its main office is in Blagoevgrad. The ideology of the newspaper is similar to official state policies and historiography in North Macedonia. Among its main topics are the history and culture of Macedonia and the Macedonians in Bulgaria.

European Court of Human Rights Decisions and European Parliament

Macedonians have been refused the right to register political parties on the grounds that the party was an "ethnic separatist organization funded by a foreign government", something that is against the Bulgarian constitution. The constitutional court has not however banned the Evroroma and MRF parties, who are widely considered as ethnic parties. The European Court of Human Rights held "unanimously, that there had been a violation of Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights."
In November 2006, the members of the European Parliament Milan Horáček, Joost Lagendijk, Angelika Beer and Elly de Groen-Kouwenhoven introduced an amendment to the accession of Bulgaria to the European Union protocol calling “on the Bulgarian authorities to prevent any further obstruction to the registration of the political party of the ethnic Macedonians and to put an end to all forms of discrimination and harassment vis-à-vis that minority.”
On May 28, 2018, the European Court of Human Rights made two decisive rulings against Bulgaria in violation of Article 11 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. In the two rulings: Case of Vasilev and Society of the Repressed Macedonians in Bulgaria Victims of the Communist Terror v. Bulgaria ; and Case of Macedonian Club for Ethnic Tolerance in Bulgaria and Radonov v. Bulgaria, the European Court of Human Rights unanimously ruled that Bulgaria violated Article 11 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, and that Bulgaria must pay a collective total of 16,000 euros to the applicants.

Notable individuals