Aydemir, Ş.Ş., 1970. Makedonya'dan Orta Asya'ya Enver Paşa, Istanbul: Remzi Kitabevi.
The Macedonian issue
Sultan Abdülhamit’s policy to deal with these troubles in the Balkans was to exploit the conflicts between the newly independent Balkan states and prevent them from unifying against the Ottoman Empire. There was justification in this policy, because it was a time when there were no common goals among the Balkan states, but instead a great distrust. It was for this that Abdülhamit II managed to slow down the movements in the Balkans. However, the Sublime Porte did not dare to act against the fait accompli of Bulgaria and with an agreement signed in 1886 it approved the annexation with the condition that Rhodopi (TR: Rodop), a town with Muslim majority, would remain within the boundaries of the Ottoman Empire. The idea of a “Greater Bulgaria” required access to the Aegean Sea and the acquisition of Macedonia. However, it was not only Bulgarian who had laid eyes on this Ottoman province. Serbia and Greece were also claiming that this province should belong to them and this collision of interest had already turned Macedonia into a breeding ground for bands and terrorist organizations, mostly Bulgarians who were worrisome to the Serbs and the Greeks
Abdülhamit’s attempts to bring reforms to Macedonia in 1902 were futile. In 1903, a Salonica committee bombed the Ottoman Bank branch in the city and suddenly the revolt was in full swing with Macedonian Slavs and Albanians joining the Bulgarians. The revolt went on for three months before being suppressed by the Turkish army.
Turkish historian Şevket Süreyya Aydemir remembers the Macedonia of his childhood: “The whole Macedonia was surrounded by raids, arson, kidnappings and ransom money paid from government coffers, train robberies, destruction and bloodshed. People were uneasy, they were always on guard. Villagers of Macedonia from any religion and language, they could not know as they were going to bed, if they would be able to open their eye the next morning. Muslim villages, Muslim farms and event towns were under constant danger of being raided by bands. Macedonia was under the reign of terror and anarchy. Gangs that’s were stronger than the government itself were thinking that it was their time for retaliation… In fact, the Ottoman government was also raiding villages, trying to find out cradles of bands, seizing guns and grenades. Churches, priest lodges, schools and teacher hostels were like gun storages. Those who were caught were given sentences of prison, exile and in some cases even execution. However intervention from the Russian Consul General, his help and intercession would immediately come to rescue. When I was I a child, probably during the uprising of 1905, I can remember members of Greek and Bulgarian bands freed from the prison in Edirne by the Russian Consul General and brought back to their villages amidst cheers and celebrations…”
