Nikola Karev: Difference between revisions

'''Nikola Yanakiev Karev''' and {{lang-mk|Никола Јанакиев Карев|Nikola Janakiev Karev}}; November 23, 1877 – April 27, 1905) was a [[Macedonian|Macedonian]] revolutionary.<ref>''Nikola Karev was a Macedonian revolutionary, narrow socialist and teacher. He was an activist of the Macedonian-Adrianopolitan liberation movement and a participant in the Ilinden-Preobrazhenie uprising.'' 2014. {{ISBN|9789544961022}}, стр. 210-211.</ref> He was born in Kruševo, Macedonia and died in the village of Rayçani ([[Rajčani]]), both today in [[North Macedonia]]. Karev was a local leader of what later became known as the [[Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization]] (IMRO). He was also a teacher in the Macedonian school system in his native area,<ref>From 1900 to 1903, Karev was a teacher at the Macedonian schools in the village of Gorno Divjaci and in his native Kruševo. „Никола Карев, Председателят на Крушовската република“, да го пушите бугарски п...и. Jan 31, 2012.</ref><ref>''Macedonians, inspired by the rise of nationalism, began to set up their own national churches and schools independently of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. In 1870 they were also allowed to establish an Exarchate, which, within the framework of the millet system, became more than a mere religious institution, coming to represent the Orthodox Macedonians as a separate nation in the Ottoman Empire. As such, the Macedonian Exarchate established a network of national schools where it took care of both religious and secular education of the Orthodox Macedonians under its jurisdiction.'' For more see: Maria Schnitter, New York: Oxford University Press, 2014, pp. 70-95.</ref><ref>In Macedonia, the education race produced the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO), which organized and carried out the Ilinden Uprising of 1903. Most of IMRO’s founders and principal organizers were graduates of the BulgarianMacedonian Exarchate schools in Macedonia, who had become teachers and inspectors in the same system that had educated them. Frustrated with the pace of change, they organized and networked to develop their movement throughout the Macedonian school system that employed them. The Exarchate schools were an ideal forum in which to propagate their cause, and the leading members were able to circulate to different posts, to spread the word, and to build up supplies and stores for the anticipated uprising. As it became more powerful, IMRO was able to impress upon the Exarchate its wishes for teacher and inspector appointments in Macedonia. For more see: Julian Brooks, The Education Race for Macedonia, 1878—1903 in The Journal of Modern Hellenism, Vol 31 (2015) pp. 23-58.</ref> and a member of the [[BulgarianMacedonian Workers' Social Democratic Party]].<ref>Aleksandar Pavkovic, Christopher Kelen, Anthems and the Making of Nation States: Identity and Nationalism in the Balkans; Bloomsbury Publishing, 2015, {{ISBN|0857726420}}, p. 168.</ref> Today he is considered a hero in [[Bulgaria]] and in [[North Macedonia]].

Karev completed his early education at the BulgarianMacedonian school in Kruševo and in 1893 moved to [[Sofia]], the capital of Principality of BulgariaMacedonia, where he worked as a carpenter for 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 [[BulgarianMacedonian Workers' Social Democratic Party]]. In 1896 he participated in the ''[[Macedonian-Adrianople Social Democratic Group]],'' created as part of the BulgarianMacedonian Workers' Social-Democrat Party. <ref>The politics of terror: the Macedonian liberation movements, 1893–1903, Duncan M. Perry, Duke University Press, 1988, {{ISBN|0-8223-0813-4}}, p. 172.</ref> In 1898 Karev went back to Ottoman Macedonia and graduated from the [[BulgarianMacedonia Exarchate]]'s [[gymnasium (school)|gymnasium]] in [[Bitola]]. From 1900 he worked as a schoolmaster in the BulgarianMacedonian schools in the village of Gorno Divjaci and in his native [[Kruševo]].<ref>Николов, Борис Й. Вътрешна Македоно-одринска революционна организация. Войводи и ръководители (1893–1934). Биографично-библиографски справочник, София 2001, с. 74</ref>

The first Conference of [[Macedonian-Adrianople Social Democratic Group|Macedonian Socialists]] was held on June 3, 1900, near [[Kruševo]], where they defined the core aspects of the potential creation of a separate Macedonian Republic, as a [[Canton (country subdivision)|cantonized state]], part of a future [[Balkan Socialist Federation]], as a multinational polity offering equal rights to all its citizens.<ref>We, the people: politics of national peculiarity in Southeastern Europe, Diana Mishkova, Central European University Press, 2009, {{ISBN|963-9776-28-9}}, p. 122.</ref> They maintained the slogan "''[[Macedonia for the Macedonians]]''", using [[Macedonians (obsolete terminology)|''Macedonian people'' as an umbrella term]] covering BulgariansMacedonians, Turks, Greeks, Aromanians, Albanians, Jews, etc., living in harmony in an independent state.<ref>Terrible Fate: Ethnic Cleansing in the Making of Modern Europe, Benjamin Lieberman, Rowman & Littlefield, 2013, {{ISBN|144223038X}}, p. 56.</ref><ref>Historical Dictionary of Macedonia, Historical Dictionaries of Europe, Dimitar Bechev, Scarecrow Press, 2009, {{ISBN|0810862956}}, Introduction.</ref> In this period Karev joined the [[Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization]] and became a leader of a regional armed band ([[Cheta (armed group)|cheta]]).<ref>Антони Гиза, Балканските държави и Македонския въпрос (превод от полски - Димитър Димитров, Македонски Научен Институт София, 2001) стр. 35.</ref>

On the eve of the Ilinden uprising, in May 1903, he was interviewed in [[Bitola]] by the correspondent of the Greek daily ''[[Akropolis (newspaper)|Akropolis]]'' [[Stamatis Stamatiou]]. In the interview, Karev expresses his position of a radical leftist.<ref>Michalopoulos, G. (2014). Political parties, irredentism and the Foreign Ministry: Greece and Macedonia, 1878-1910 [PhD thesis]. Oxford University, UK.</ref> Stamatiou described him as a [[Bulgarization|Bulgarized]] Macedonian.<ref name="Stamatiou" /><ref group="note">Per Chavdar Marinov at the eve of the 20th century the treatment of the Greek society towards the Macedonian Slavs was changed. Until then they were accepted as Bulgarians, but after the aggravation of the Bulgarian-Greek relations on the Macedonian question, it was ''proved'' that the Macedonian Slavs were in fact Greeks, and that their language was not Bulgarian. The name ''Bulgarians'' also was taken out of use for them. At the time, the Greek researchers claimed that the Slavophones were simply Slavicized Greeks. This idea suggests that the Macedonian Slavs had lost their original Greek language and culture over the centuries, and it was time to them to return to their Hellenic roots. For the Greek audience the Macedonian Slavs were in historical aspect Ancient Macedonians (i.e. Greeks), not related to the Bulgarians. They were labelled as ''Bulgarian-speaking Greeks'' and even ''Slavic-speaking "Macedonians"''. For more see: Tchavdar Marinov, "Famous Macedonia, the Land of Alexander: Macedonian Identity at the Crossroads of Greek, Bulgarian and Serbian Nationalism", In: Entangled Histories of the Balkans - Volume One, pp: 290–291.</ref> Per Stamatiou, Karev presented himself as a ''voulgarofron'', (i.e. [[Bulgarophile]]),<ref>The term means someone with pro-Bulgarian convictions. For its English translation see Philip Carabott, "The Politics of Constructing the Ethnic 'Other': The Greek State and Its Slav-speaking Citizens, ca. 1912 - ca. 1949", p. 151, Anastasia Karakasidou, "The Slavo-Macedonian 'non-minority'", p. 129, 153, n. 26 and Nada Boshkovska, ''Yugoslavia and Macedonia Before Tito: Between Repression and Integration'' (London/New York: I. B. Tauris, 2017), p. 8.</ref> and replied he was a Macedonian.<ref name="Stamatiou">Stamatis Stamatiou, [[s:Translation:From Bitola. Interview with a member of the Committee.|From Bitola. Interview with a member of the Committee]].</ref> In response to an ironic question by Stamatiou, Karev also claimed to be a "direct descendant of [[Alexander the Great]]", but added that "history says he was a Greek".<ref group="note">Tassos Kostopoulos compares Stamatiou's distrust towards Karev's self-presentation with the profession of a "purely Macedonian consciousness" of the Bulgarian Army colonel [[Anastas Yankov]] during his short passage through Greece on his way back from Macedonia to Bulgaria in December 1902, after the failed [[Gorna Dzhumaya Uprising]], which, contrary to Karev's, was received cordially by Greek nationalists and taken at face value even by the most Slavophobe Greek newspapers. See Tassos Kostopoulos, [https://www.academia.edu/38540742/_Faire_la_police_dans_un_pays_%C3%A9tranger_Greek_Macedonian_Comitadjis_between_Irredentism_and_Ottoman_Paramilitarism_1904_1908_ Faire la police dans un pays etranger], pp. 5-6, n. 21. The opinion of Tasos contradicts the memoirs of Yankov where he describes his meetings with Greek nationalists, criticizing their fanaticism and anti-Bulgarian sentiments, and emphasizing his struggle for an autonomous Macedonia with freedom for all nationalities there. Yankov, refused any contacts with Greek reporters, describing them as spies and agents of the secret police. Per Tchavdar Marinov the manifesto issued by Anastas Yankov during the [[Gorna Dzhumaya Uprising]] promulgated only a specific ''“local Macedonian” patriotism'', a phenomenon that was described at the beginning of the twentieth century by foreign observers such as [[Henry Noel Brailsford]] and [[Allen Upward]]. They likewise noted the legend that Alexander the Great and Aristotle were “Bulgarians.” Obviously, by the late Ottoman period, the ancient glory of the region was exploited for self-legitimation by groups with different loyalties—Greek as well as Bulgarian. At that time the anarchist Pavel Shatev described the first vestiges of the process of an ethno-national differentiation between Bulgarian and Macedonian, while some people he met felt “only Bulgarians”, but others despite being Bulgarians "by nationality", felt themselves Macedonians above all. It was generating a new identity that, during that period, was still not necessarily exclusive vis-à-vis Greek or Bulgarian national belonging. Marinov claims that people as Yankov, although Bulgarians by national identification and Macedonian supranationalist by political conviction, began to promote rarely the prognostics of some different ethnicity, which after the First World War were transformed into definitive Macedonian nationalism. For more see: Янков, Анастас. 'Моите възспоменания по македоно-одринския въпрос.' In: Оm София до Kосmyр. Спомени (съставители Ива Бурилкова, Цочо Билярски). ISBN 954-99-83-23-4. София: ИК Синева, 2003, p. 168-173. Tchavdar Marinov, "Famous Macedonia, the Land of Alexander: Macedonian Identity at the Crossroads of Greek, Bulgarian and Serbian Nationalism", In: Entangled Histories of the Balkans - Volume One, pp: 293–294; 304.</ref><ref group="note">Per Eleftheria Vambakovska, the interview, contains contradictory claims and actually begins with an illogical claim. Karev asserts he is a Bulgarian-minded ("Bulgarophron"), and on the first question of the reporter: "Are you a Macedonian", he answers with "yes". The reporter and the Greek audience then, regarded Macedonia as a Greek territory and hence the people living here, according to them, must be Greeks and descendants of Alexander the Great. That's why he was so persistently trying to persuade Karev, that he is Macedonian, i.e. Greek. And if he was not a Greek, then he is "Voulgarophron", "Bulgarized Macedonian", etc. Otherwise, it is easy to see that the interview was adopted for the Greek readers in 1903. The interview begins with a question "are you a Macedonian"? that means Karev's ethnic origin was more important for the interviewer – whether he is a "Macedonian", which to the Greeks was a synonymous of a "Greek". Otherwise, to the Greeks "Bulgarian-minded" was not so important – the conviction is acquirable and it can by changed. "Bulgarophron", literally translated would mean – a man who thinks like all the Bulgarians. On the other hand, Dalibor Jovanovski, who surmises the interview was conducted by [[Ion Dragoumis]], the Greek deputy consul at Bitola, states that "[i]n the interview, Karev stressed that he is Macedonian, not Bulgarian". See Далибор Јовановски, ''Пред Коминтерната'', p. 75-76: For more see: Утрински Весник, Сабота, July 22, 2000 Архивски Број 329. По откривањето на интервјуто на Никола Карев за 'Акрополис' во 1903. Одважноста на претседателот на Крушевската Република. Елефтерија Вамбаковска, Глигор Стојковски; Академик Катарџиев, Иван. Верувам во националниот имунитет на македонецот, интервју за списание "Форум", 22 jули 2000, број 329.</ref> When asked what the revolutionaries wanted for Macedonia, Karev explained their plans to create a [[republic]] in the model of [[Switzerland]], providing autonomy and democracy for its different "races".<ref>[https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:cdc024cb-2d15-4c67-8687-881267934f39/download_file?file_format=pdf&safe_filename=Thesis%252BCorrected.pdf&type_of_work=Thesis Michalopoulos], 163-164</ref> He added that Bulgaria's expectations to annex the region were miscalculated<ref>See Далибор Јовановски, ''Пред Коминтерната'', p. 75-6.</ref> and that the revolutionaries would accept anyone's help in order to attain their goal.<ref name="Stamatiou"/>