Vatasha

Struga

Solun

An appeal from the Macedonian Bulgarians to the Great Powers

begging them not to sever them from Bulgaria, their common motherland

May 20th, 1878

The whole world already knows of the age-long sufferings and

torments to which the defenceless Christians have been subjected under

fanatical Turkish rule. It is also well-known that the hellish tortures

which the peace-loving Bulgarian people have, of late, endured through the

unparalleled barbarism of the Turks all over their paternal hearth in

Moesia, Thrace and Macedonia, aroused general indignation throughout the

civilized world, and finally provoked the Russo-Turkish War, which recently

ended with the conclusion in San Stefano of a Peace Treaty between the two

warring sides. The whole Bulgarian people rejoices to see that their wishes

have been fulfilled and their needs satisfied, and we, all the Bulgarians in

Macedonia, by virtue of the San Stefano Treaty, were impatiently awaiting our

liberation from the Turkish bar­barism which still rages over us. But instead

of this, we see with great regret that the local authorities, on the one hand,

and the Greek clergy, on the other, have extorted signatures by various means

from some of our innocent brothers, in order to misuse them, by alleging before

the Great Powers that we are Greeks and want only an improved status quo and not

unification with the newly formed Bulgarian Principality. This unpunished mockery

of our signatures, indeed, of our name and feeling, has deeply grieved us all,

especially since a false declaration of this kind from the Macedonian Bulgarians

may have been presented to Your Excellency. That is why, we, the obedient representatives

of different communes in Macedonia venture to present most humbly our petition,

protesting against every abuse of our signatures and at the same time imploring

Your Excellency, in the name of justice and humanity, to condescend to intercede

with the honourable Government of His Majesty ..., to set up, if it is necessary,

a committee to carry out impartial and reliable in­vestigations, and assure itself

that our wishes and needs are common with and inseparable from those of our Bulgarian

brothers in Moesia and Thrace, thus stifling once and for all the shameless shouts of

the insignificant Greek eleme here, who never cease bothering philanthropic Europe,

with its not feelings and intentions towards the suffering.

Firmly convinced that you will mercifully consider this humble petition ours,

we have the honour to call ourselves Your Excellency's most obedie servants.

Macedonian Bulgarians, representatives of different communes in Macedonia.

Salonica, May 20, 1878 Representatives