Nikola Karev


Nikola Janakiev Karev was a Macedonian Bulgarian revolutionary in Ottoman-ruled Macedonia. He was born in Kırşova and died in the village of Rayçani, both today in North Macedonia. Karev was a local leader of what later became known as the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization. He was also a teacher at the Bulgarian school system in his native area, and a member of the Bulgarian Workers' Social Democratic Party. He is considered today a hero in Bulgaria and in North Macedonia.

Biography

Early years

Karev completed his early education at the Bulgarian school in Kruševo and in 1893 moved to Sofia in independent Bulgaria. There he worked as a carpenter and his employer was the socialist Vasil Glavinov. Karev joined the Socialist group led by Glavinov, and through him, made acquaintance of Dimitar Blagoev and other socialists and became a member of the Bulgarian Workers' Social Democratic Party. In 1896 the Macedonian-Adrianopole Social-Democratic Group, as part of the Bulgarian Workers' Social-Democrat Party was created, where Karev participated. In 1898 Karev went back to Ottoman Macedonia and graduated from the Bulgarian Exarchate's gymnasium in Bitola. From 1900 he worked as a schoolmaster in the Bulgarian schools in the village of Gorno Divjaci and in his native Kruševo.

Political and revolutionary activity

The first Conference of Macedonian Socialists was held on June 3, 1900, near Krushevo, where they defined the basic aspects of the creation of a separate Macedonian Republic, as a cantonized state, part of a future Balkan Socialist Federation, with equal rights to all its citizens. They maintained the slogan "Macedonia for the Macedonians", consisting from all different nationalities, inhabiting the area, and were against the neighboring states aspirations, including Bulgarian nationalism. They also saw the future Macedonia as a multinational polity, while Macedonian people was then an umbrella term covering Bulgarians, Turks, Greeks, Vlachs, Albanians, Jews, and so on. In this period Karev joined the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization and became a leader of a regional armed band. When he was interviewed by a Greek journalist at the eve of the Ilinden uprising what the revolutionaries wanted for Macedonia, Karev explained their plans about creation of Macedonian Republic, providing autonomy and democracy for its different races. During Ilinden uprising of August 1903, when Kruševo was captured by the rebels, Nikola Karev authored the Kruševo Manifesto, which called upon the local Muslim population to join forces with the Christians, and became the head of its provisional government. Amongst the various ethno-religious groups in Kruševo a Republican Council was elected with 60 members – 20 representatives from each one: Macedonian Bulgarians, Aromanians and Slav-speaking, Vlach-speaking and Albanian-speaking Greek Patriarchists. The Council also elected an executive body – the Provisional Government, with six members. The Krushevo Republic lasted only ten days, and after intense fighting it was destroyed by Ottoman forces.

After Ilinden

After the uprising Karev went back to Bulgaria and became political activist of the newly founded marxist Bulgarian Social Democratic Workers' Party. However, the Narrows denounced the Ilinden uprising as an adventure inspired by the Bulgarian government, that played into the hands of the Great Powers. In 1904, Karev made a legal attempt to return to Macedonia, taking advantage of the Bulgarian-Ottoman Amnesty Agreement for the participants in the Ilinden Uprising. He sent several applications for amnesty to Istanbul through the cabinet of the Bulgarian Prime Minister Racho Petrov. The applications were received by the Ottoman Amnesty Commission but remained unanswered. The intercession of the Bulgarian diplomatic agent in Istanbul, Grigor Nachovich, also did not help. In 1905 he was killed during an attempt to enter Ottoman Macedonia with a group of IMRO fighters.

Family

His two brothers, Petar and Georgi also participated in IMRO. During the First and the Second World Wars, when Vardar Macedonia was annexed by Bulgaria, they supported the Bulgarian authorities. After World War I, both were abused by Serbian administration's return. During the Second World War, Georgi was even a Mayor of Krusevo. As result, after 1944 they were already imprisoned as Bulgarian fascists' collaborators in Communist Yugoslavia, where both died in the internment camp of Idrizovo in 1950 and 1951 respectively. His cousin, the son of Georgi - Mihail, was also imprisoned with the charge of opposing the idea of Communist Yugoslavia.

Controversy

After the Second World War in the new Socialist Republic of Macedonia, the Kruševo Republic was included in its historical narrative. The new Communist authorities also successfully wiped out the remnants of pro-Bulgarian sentiments, Despite Karev's Bulgarian national identification, according to the Macedonian historiography, he was an ethnic Macedonian. However some Macedonian historians have recognized that all Macedonian revolutionaries at that time declared themselves as Bulgarians. Moreover the designation Macedonian according to the early 20th century ethnic terminology was an umbrella term.
After 1944 the name of Nikola Karev was present in the anthem of the Socialist Republic of Macedonia: "Today over Macedonia". Nonetheless, it was deleted from there in 1953 without explanation. The command for that change was given by the communist leadership led by Lazar Kolishevski. The reason was the fact, Nikola and his brothers Petar and Georgi were Bulgarophiles.

Bibliographies