Struggle over Macedonia : Florina 1906, according to the records of Rumeli Inspectorship

Abstract

The Macedonian Question was one of the diplomatic problems that statesmen and the international public opinion were mostly concerned with at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century. The expansionist and irredentist desires of the Balkan states Greece, Serbia, and especially Bulgaria lay at the core of the problem.These states encouraged, and even organised terrorist activities in Macedonia. The Great Powers-Austria-Hungary, Russia, Great Britain, France, Germany, and Italy-, meanwhile, viewed the issue in terms of their own political and economic interests. These powers, while supporting this or that Balkan state in various ways and pressurising the Sublime Porte to conduct reforms so as to improve the lives of Christian communities in the European lands of the empire, also wanted the Ottoman Empire to preserve its territorial integrity. Under these circumstances, during the first decade of the twentieth century life in Macedonia was highlighted by anarchy, terror, insecurity and disorder. This thesis deals with certain aspects of the Macedonian Question. The activities of the influence agents of the states that considered Macedonia within their national boundaries and aspired to annex the land, and put forth claims accordingly, such as the bands of Macedo-Bulgarian organisations or the Greek bands, are studied. In addition, the Greek and Bulgarian activities in the kaza of Florina, which is in the vilayet of Manastır, in 1906 are examined in particular with reference to the documents of Rumeli Inspectorship; attempting to construct a micro-history of the region.