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Template:Infobox revolution biography

Nikola Karev (Macedonian: Никола Карев) (November 23 [O.S. December 6] 1877 – April 27 1905) was a Macedonian revolutionary, a member and a local leader of what later became known as the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO). Karev was also a socialist and a member of the Bulgarian Workers' Social Democratic Party.

The Ilinden Uprising

Main article: Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising.

The Ilinden Uprising was the turning point in the revolutionary struggle of IMRO. It began on 2 August 1903, and soon spread over the entire region of Macedonia, with various degrees of participation by the local population.

The heaviest fighting took place in the Bitola and Odrin regions. The insurgents captured significant area around the towns of Bitola, Ohrid, Kičevo, Florina and Prilep as well as in the Strandža mountains. There was less pronounced fighting in the Thessaloniki, Serres and Skopje regions. The towns of Kruševo, Neveska and Klisura were captured. Most nationalities living in Macedonia and the Odrin region took part in the uprising, a witness to its popular and democratic character. On 3 August 1903, the rebels captured the town of Kruševo and established a revolutionary government, proclaiming the Kruševo Republic - which was the first modern day republic in the Balkans. The Republic existed only for 10 days - August 3 to August 13, and was headed by president Nikola Karev.

Amongst the various ethnic groups in Kruševo a Republican Council was elected with 60 members - 20 representatives from each. The Council also elected an executive body - the Provisional Government, with six members (2 from each religious group), whose duty was to promote law and order and manage supplies, finances, and medical care. The "Kruševo Manifesto" was published. Written by Nikola Karev himself, it outlined the goals of the uprising, calling upon the population to join forces with the provisional government in the struggle against Ottoman tyranny, in order to attain freedom and independence.

The Turkish government was surprised by the uprising, taking extraordinary military measures to suppress it: 176,000 soldiers, 3,700 mounted troops and 444 cannons were sent to Macedonia. After fierce battles near Sliva and Mečkin Kamen, the Turks managed to destroy the Kruševo Republic, committing atrocities against the rebel forces and the local population. As a result, over 200 communities were exterminated, more than 12,000 houses burned to the ground, more than 70,000 people were left homeless, and 8,816 were killed. Some 30,000 people fled their homes to avoid the Turkish reprisal.

Documents

Letter from Nikola Karev to Goce Delčev:

1902

Dear G(oce)

... In Kruševo and Bitola the night blockades appear almost every day, and a lot of affairs throw people in jail. We shouldn't wait anymore, Goce. It is time for us to stand up and fight. We shouldn't wait for freedom from Greeks, neither from Bulgarians, but we Macedonians should fight for our Macedonia, ... As I am concerned, nobody can take away my courage and my patriotism. I am proud to report to you, that all our men are prepared to fight, with guns in their hands.

N(ikola)

“Сами ние да се бориме за наша Македонија”, (Необјавено писмо на Никола Карев до Гоце Делчев) – Nova Makedonija (Skopje) year XXIV no. 7744 (5 May 1968) p. 8.

Notes

1. One of the first names of the organisation was "Bulgarian Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Committees" (BMARC оr БМОРК), which was later changed to Secret Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organisation (SMARO, ТМОРО). There is a dispute between Bulgarian historians (Pandev, 1969, 1970) and Yugoslav (later Macedonian) historians (Bitoski, 1997) regarding when the renaming took place: 1896/97 or 1902. Most Western scholars seem to have accepted Pаndev's view (Poulton, 2000; Adanir, 1979; Perry, 1988) although prior to the publication of his article Bulgarian historiography seemed to agree that the name SMARO dates back to 1896/7 (e.g. Silyanov, 1933, vol. 1, p. 46). Hugh Poulton writes that "The organisation repeatedly and confusingly changed its name, often as a reflection of the balance between pro-Bulgarian and pro-Macedonian autonomists (see below). It appears to have originally been called the Bulgarian Macedonian-Adrianopolitan Committee (BMORK -- the 'O' standing for Odrin or Adrianopole). In 1902 it changed its name to the Secret Macedonian Adrianopolitan Revolutionary Organisation (TMORO) while from 1905 it was first known as VMORO and then simply VMRO, where the 'V' stands for 'inner' in Bulgarian."
2. Keith Brown,The Past in Question: Modern Macedonia and the Uncertainties of Nation, Princeton University Press, 2003.
3. An interview with Nikola Karev for the Greek newspaper "Akropolis", 8 May 1903

References

• Пандев, К. "Устави и правилници на ВМОРО преди Илинденско-Преображенското въстание", Исторически преглед, 1969, кн. I, стр. 68—80. Template:Bg icon
• Пандев, К. "Устави и правилници на ВМОРО преди Илинденско-Преображенското въстание", Извeстия на Института за история, т. 21, 1970, стр. 250-257. Template:Bg icon
• Битоски, Крсте, сп. "Македонско Време", Скопје - март 1997, quoting: Quoting: Public Record Office - Foreign Office 78/4951 Turkey (Bulgaria), From Elliot, 1898, Устав на ТМОРО. S. 1. published in Документи за борбата на македонскиот народ за самостојност и за национална држава, Скопје, Универзитет "Кирил и Методиј": Факултет за филозофско-историски науки, 1981, pp 331 - 333. Template:Mk icon
• Hugh Pouton Who Are the Macedonians? , C. Hurst & Co, 2000. p. 53. ISBN 1-85065-534-0
• Fikret Adanir, Die Makedonische Frage: ihre entestehung und etwicklung bis 1908., Wiessbaden 1979, p. 112.
• Duncan Perry The Politics of Terror: The Macedonian Liberation Movements, 1893-1903 , Durham, Duke University Press, 1988. pp. 40-41, 210 n. 10.
• Keith Brown,The Past in Question: Modern Macedonia and the Uncertainties of Nation, Princeton University Press, 2003.

External links

• An interview where Nikola Karev speaks about his Macedonian ethnicity according to Macedonian newspaper Makedonsko Sonce. Template:Mk icon

• 1877 births
• 1905 deaths
• Macedonian revolutionaries (ethnic group)