The Macedonian Question in Bulgaria

Abstract

Abstract. The Macedonian question has been at the core of Balkan politics since the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Since the end of the nineteenth century, Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece have all put forward competing claims to geographic Macedonia in whole or in part. Each of these states legitimised their policies by arguing that the territorial, ethnic, linguistic, religious and cultural boundaries of Macedonia are congruent with their respective nation‐states. All of these claims stirred vigorous debate among the people living in the geographical region of Macedonia, attracting support or opposition, depending on the political circumstances of the time. In Bulgaria, the Macedonian question has been understood largely as a result of the violation of national integrity, beginning with the revision of the San‐Stefano Treaty of March 1878. Bulgaria to this day denies the existence of a separate Macedonian identity and argues that the establishment of the Macedonian nation undermines its national unity. The Bulgarian denouncement is based on the strong sense of loss of the territory, history and language which it shared with Macedonia in the past. After the collapse of the Federative Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia and the consequent independence of the Macedonian state in 1991, Bulgaria renewed the question of the legitimacy of Macedonian nationhood, yet at the same time recognised the Republic of Macedonia. The Bulgarian government of 1991‐2 promoted this political compromise as a constructive way of living with the national questions rather than suppressing them. Yet none of the fundamental tensions over the Macedonian question have been fully resolved, and the issue remains an important and possibly explosive undercurrent in Sofia politics.