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Macedonism (Macedonian and Serbian: Македонизам, Bulgarian: Македонизъм, all transliterated: Makedonizam) is a political term used to refer to a set of ideas regarded as characteristic of ethnic Slav Macedonian nationalism. The term is mostly used in a polemic sense by opponents of such views, mainly by Bulgarian and sometimes Greek authors, where it has strong negative connotations. It is occasionally also used in international scholarship, and sometimes in a positive sense by ethnic Macedonian authors themselves.

Origins

The roots of the concept were first developed in the late 19th century, in the context of Greek, Bulgarian and Serbian initiatives to take control over the region of Macedonia, which was then ruled by the Ottoman Empire. It was used to refer to the idea that Macedonian Slavs constituted a distinct ethnicity, separate from Bulgarians. The first to coin the term Macedonists in this sense was the Bulgarian author Petko Rachev Slaveykov, who used it to criticise such a view in an article The Macedonian Question published on 18th January 1871 in the newspaper Makedoniya in Istanbul. An early recorded use of the exact term Macedonism is in a report by the Serbian politician Stojan Novaković from 1887. He proposed to employ the Macedonist idea as an ally of Serbian as opposed to Bulgarian influence in Macedonia.

Ideas

Among the beliefs and opinions that are often perceived as typical of Macedonian nationalism and are criticised as parts of "Macedonism" by those who use that term are the following:

• The idea that there is a fundamental, ancient ethnic distinction between Macedonians and Bulgarians, going much further back than the political divisions between the two nations during the 20th century;
• The belief that this distinction is related to the inheritance of ethnic elements of the ancient non-Slavic tribe of the Bulgars, supposed to form an essential part of modern Bulgarian but not Macedonian heritage;
• The idea that there is ethnic continuity between the modern Slav Macedonians and the pre-Slavic Ancient Macedonians, the inhabitants of the kingdom of Macedon under Alexander the Great;
• Irridentist political views about the neighbouring regions of Greek Macedonia ("Aegean Macedonia") and parts of southwest Bulgaria ("Pirin Macedonia") and about Slav Macedonian minorities living in these areas, connected to the political idea of a United Macedonia.

Other, related areas of Macedonian-Bulgarian national polemics relate to:

• The presence of the Bulgars in Medieval Macedonia and their connection with today Macedonians.(see Kouber)
• The ethnic character of various medieval historical figures and entities, including the saints Cyril and Methodius, the medieval Tsar Samuil and his kingdom, and the medieval Archbishopric of Ohrid;
• The historical role of the Bulgarian Exarchate and the ethnic character of Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization
• The historical role of various Macedonian insurgent movements during the Ottoman rule and during the Bulgarian occupation of Macedonia in World War II (see Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising, National Liberation War of Macedonia)
• The belief, held by some Bulgarians, that a separate Macedonian nationhood was an artificial product of Yugoslav propaganda during the 20th century and that Macedonians should naturally form part of the Bulgarian nation.(see Demographic history of Macedonia)

Notes

1. Nikolaĭ Genov, Anna Krŭsteva, (2001) Recent Social Trends in Bulgaria, 1960-1995, Page 74
2. Society for Macedonian Studies, "Μακεδονισμός", ο Ιμπεριαλισμός των Σκοπίων, 1944-2006 ("Macedonism", Skopje's Imperialism, 1944-2006), Retrieved on 2007-10-05.
3. Kentrotis, Kyriakos (1996): "Echoes from the Past: Greece and the Macedonian Controversy", in: Richard Gillespie (ed.) Mediterranean Politics, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, p. 85–101
4. Evangelos Kofos (1994): "Remarks on FYROM 's new school textbooks"
5. John D. Bell, edited by Sabrina P Ramet - (1999) The Radical Right in Central and Eastern Europe Since 1989, Page 252
6. The "Mi-An" encyclopedia - a great victory for Macedonism
7. Example cited in: Loring Danforth (1995), The Macedonian Conflict: ethnic nationalism in a transnational world, Page 45
8. From the report of S. Novakovic to the Minister of Education in Belgrade about 'Macedonism' as a transitional stage in Serbianizing the Macedonian Bulgarians - BULGARIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES - Institute of History - Bulgarian Language Institute, MACEDONIA, DOCUMENTS AND MATERIALS - Sofia 1978.
9. Representative of the anti-"Macedonist" criticism from the Bulgarian side is the work by Bozhidar Dimitrov (2003), The Ten Lies of Macedonism, Sofia.

• Politics of Bulgaria
• Politics of the Republic of Macedonia
• Nationalism