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Supreme Macedonian-Adrianople Committee

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Statute of the Macedonian-Adrianople Organization, a general meeting of SMAC, 1900.
Chapter I. - Goal
Art. 1. The goal of MAO is to secure political autonomy for the Macedonia and Adrianople regions...

The Supreme Macedonian-Adrianople Committee (SMAC), (Bulgarian: Върховен македоно - одрински комитет, (ВМОК)), also known as the Supreme Macedonian Committee (SMC), was a Bulgarian paramilitary and political organization, active in Bulgaria as well as in Macedonia and Thrace regions of the Ottoman Empire. It was based in Bulgaria from 1895 to 1905.

History

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General Ivan Tsonchev's Supreme Committee's band

Macedonian Bulgarian and Thracian Bulgarian emigrants in Bulgaria, led by Trayko Kitanchev, in March 1895, formed the Macedonian-Adrianople Organization,[1] at the head of which was the Macedonian Committee.[2][3][4][5] Kitanchev was SMAC's first chairman.[6] In its first congress on that year, it formulated its goals as "attainment for the populations of Macedonia and the Adrianople region of political autonomy, to be applied and guaranteed by the Great Powers."[7] In the same year on December, it was renamed as Supreme Macedonian Committee.[2] It employed terrorist methods, which were condemned by the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO), in an attempt to liberate Macedonia from the Ottoman Empire. As a rule, its leaders were Bulgarian military officers, who maintained close relations with Bulgarian prince Ferdinand. With its creation, the revolutionary movement in Macedonia was split into two wings - external ("Supremist" or "varhovist") and internal - IMRO.[5] The term "varhovist" (Supremist) was initially applied for SMAC's members but it was later applied for IMRO's pro-Bulgarian members.[8] SMAC sent bands into Macedonia, planning to instigate an uprising. However, these acts resulted in reprisals against local Christians instead.[3] In 1895, it pillaged the village Yanıklı and killed many of the locals. Their raids also resulted in violence against Muslims.[9] It attempted to start an uprising in the area of Melnik but it failed because the locals were not incited.[10] The Macedonian autonomy for the Organization was a prelude for its unification with Bulgaria.[11] The Organization insisted on a major uprising, unlike the IMRO, which opposed an uprising because it thought the locals were still not ready.[3] SMAC also believed that liberation can be achieved with cooperation with Bulgaria and the Bulgarian army, and equated being Macedonian with being Bulgarian.[12] In the 1890s, IMRO's foreign representatives Gotse Delchev and Gyorche Petrov established contact with SMAC. While they were able to befriend some officers, they did not manage to develop good relations with SMAC's leaders.[13] SMAC wanted IMRO to be subordinate to it.[14] In the late 1890s, IMRO supported Boris Sarafov into becoming the leader of the Organization.[11] As a result, IMRO took control of SMAC.[13] In 1900, it was finally renamed as the Supreme Macedonian-Adrianopolitan Committee. SMAC supported IMRO with funds and arms.[2] The cooperation between the two organizations lasted until 1901, when general Ivan Tsonchev organized a faction against Delchev and Petrov.[10] Another faction led by Hristo Stanishev continued cooperating with IMRO, while many commanders continuously switched between the two organizations.[13]

SMAC's bands also had confrontations with IMRO's bands led by Yane Sandanski, Hristo Chernopeev, Krastyo Asenov, and others. In September 1902, SMAC launched an uprising known as the Gorna Dzhumaya Uprising in Pirin Macedonia. The uprising was promptly suppressed by Ottoman forces.[2] After the failure of the uprising, the Bulgarian government dissolved the committee in February 1903. During the Ilinden Uprising, SMAC fought together with their former rivals.[15] It was officially disbanded in 1905,[2] by its leaders at the insistence of IMRO.[1] Nevertheless, the military wing of the Organization continued to engage in illegal revolutionary activity until 1912.[16] Some of its members ended up joining IMRO's right-wing.[2]

References

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  1. ^ a b Tsocho Bilyarski (2002). Княжество България и македонският въпрос. Том 1: Протоколи от конгресите на Върховен Македоно-одрински комитет 1895-1905 г. (Протоколи от конгресите) (in Bulgarian). Sofia: Иврай. pp. 7–8, 27.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Raymond Detrez (2010). The A to Z of Bulgaria. Scarecrow Press. pp. 426–427. ISBN 9780810872028.
  3. ^ a b c Dmitar Tasić (2020). Paramilitarism in the Balkans The Cases of Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, and Albania, 1917-1924. Oxford University Press. pp. 163–164. ISBN 9780198858324.
  4. ^ Victor Roudometof (2002). Collective Memory, National Identity, and Ethnic Conflict: Greece, Bulgaria, and the Macedonian Question. Bloomsbury Academic. p. 93. ISBN 9780275976484.
  5. ^ a b Ivo Banac (1988). The National Question in Yugoslavia: Origins, History, Politics,. Cornell University Press. p. 314. ISBN 0801494931.
  6. ^ Denis Š. Ljuljanović (2023). Imagining Macedonia in the Age of Empire: State Policies, Networks and Violence (1878-1912). Lit Verlag. p. 218. ISBN 9783643914460.
  7. ^ Eleonora Naxidou; Yura Konstantinova, eds. (2024). Christian Networks in the Ottoman Empire: A Transnational History. Central European University Press. p. 119. ISBN 9789633867754.
  8. ^ Katrin Boeckh; Sabine Rutar, eds. (2017). The Balkan Wars from Contemporary Perception to Historic Memory. Springer International Publishing. p. 301. ISBN 9783319446424.
  9. ^ Milena B. Methodieva (2021). Between Empire and Nation: Muslim Reform in the Balkans. Stanford University Press. pp. 123, 227. ISBN 9781503614130.
  10. ^ a b Hugh Poulton (2000). Who are the Macedonians?. Indiana University Press. p. 54–55. ISBN 9780253213594.
  11. ^ a b Richard J. Crampton (1987). A Short History of Modern Bulgaria. Cambridge University Press. pp. 45–46. ISBN 9780521273237.
  12. ^ James Horncastle (2019). The Macedonian Slavs in the Greek Civil War, 1944–1949. Lexington Books. p. 29. ISBN 9781498585057.
  13. ^ a b c Vemund Aarbakke (2003). Ethnic rivalry and the quest for Macedonia, 1870-1913. East European Monographs. pp. 103–104.
  14. ^ Nadine Lange-Akhund (1998). The Macedonian Question, 1893-1908, from Western Sources. East European Monographs. p. 52. ISBN 9780880333832.
  15. ^ Dimitar Bechev (2019). Historical Dictionary of North Macedonia (2nd ed.). Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 284–285. ISBN 9781538119624.
  16. ^ Zorka Parvanova (1997). "Възстановяване на въоръжената борба и възстановяването на ВМОРО". Колектив. Национално-освободителното движение на македонските и тракийските българи 1878-1944. Том 3 (in Bulgarian). Sofia: Македонски научен институт. pp. 251–253.

Sources

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  • Върховният Македоно - Одрински комитет / 1895 - 1903 / Автор: Светлозар Елдъров, издател: Иврай ООД, Година на издаване: 2003 ISBN 954-91210-6-2
  • Билярски, Цочо. Княжество България и македонският въпрос, т.1. Върховен македоно-одрински комитет 1895 - 1905 (Протоколи от конгресите), Българска историческа библиотека, 5, Иврай, София, 2002.
  • Билярски, Цочо. Отношенията на Вътрешната македоно-одринска революционна организация и Върховния македоно-одрински комитет до 1902 г., ИДА, кн 59, 1990, стр. 233-291.
  • Билярски, Цочо. Протоколите на Върховния македоно-одрински комитет между VII и VIII конгрес (1900-1901), ИДА, 1986.
  • Билярски, Цочо. Статути на Върховния македоно-одрински комитет, в: „Военноисторически сборник“, 1984, №2.
  • Билярски, Цочо, И. Бурилкова, Писма от дейци на Върховния македонски комитет и на Българските македоно-одрински революционни комитети в архива на д-р Константин Стоилов (1895-1898 г.), Македонски преглед, кн. 4, 1996, стр. 101-128.
  • Георгиев, Георги. Македоно-одринското движение в Кюстендилски окръг (1895-1903), Македонски научен институт, София, 2008.
  • Елдъров, Светлозар. Върховният македоно-одрински комитет и Македоно-одринската организация в България (1895 - 1903), Иврай, София, 2003.
  • Елдъров, Светлозар. Кореспонденцията между генерал Иван Цончев и капитан Александър Протогеров за македоно-одринското революционно движение (октомври 1901 - юли 1903 г.), ИВИНД, 1991, кн. 52, стр. 118-143.
  • Елдъров, Светлозар, Т. Петров. Офицерите от Българската армия на Княжество България в Илинденско-Преображенското въстание 1903 година, ВИС, 1988, кн. 4, стр. 137-146.
  • Николов, Б. Протоколи от районните конгреси на Върховния македоно-одрински комитет през 1905 г., ВИС, 1984, кн. 3, стр. 164-179.
  • Пандев, К. Вътрешната организация и Върховният комитет 1899-1901, Етюд историк, 1973.

See also

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