Removed to be readded After the Christian population of the bishoprics of Skopje and Ohrid voted in 1874 overwhelmingly in favour of joining the Exarchate Skopje by 91 Ohrid by 97 the Bulgarian Exarchate became in control of the whole of Vardar and Pirin Macedonia The Exarchate was also represented in the whole of southern Macedonia The Macedonian Question became especially prominent after the Balkan wars in 1912 1913 and the subsequent division of Macedonia between the three neighboring states followed by tensions between them over possession of Macedonia This partitioning of the territory had a tremendous influence on the development of the Macedonian national identity Center for Documentation and Information on Minorities in Europe Southeast Europe CEDIME SE MINORITIES IN SOUTHEAST EUROPE Macedonians of Bulgaria pg 6 In order to legitimise their claims each of these countries tried to persuade the population into allegiance Paul Fouracre Cambridge Encyclopedia of Medieval History Some scientists argue also that the use of any ethnic definition of the Slav speekers in Macedonia during the 19th and early 20th Century did not refer to ethnicity but rather a socio occupational description The Slav population in Macedonia tended to be Christian peasents farming folk The Macedonian Conflict Ethnic Nationalism in a Transnational World Loring M Danforth ISBN13 978 0 691 04356 2 attested socio political circumstances such as in what language the local schooling was provided or whether the local church aligned itself with Serbian Bulgarian or Greek Orthodoxy The majority were under the influence of the Bulgarian Exarchate and its education system thus in the early 20th century and beyond were regarded as Bulgarians whatever that meant Brubaker 1996 153 Ruhl 1916 6 Perry in Lorrabee 1994 61 The 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica The Races and Religions of Macedonia National Geographic November 1912 Carnegie Endowment for International peace REPORT OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION To Inquire into the causes and Conduct OF THE BALKAN WARS PUBLISHED BY THE ENDOWMENT WASHINGTON D C 1914 However the key events in the formation of a distinctive Macedonian identity emerged during the first half of the 20th century in the aftermath of the Balkan Wars of 1912 1913 when the Bulgarian Exarchate discontinued its activity in most of the region The process strengthed especially following the Second World War with the withdrawal of Bulgarian authorities from Macedonia the establishment of Yugoslav Macedonian Republic and the signing of Bled agreement With the founding of the People s Republic of Macedonia in 1944 as part of SFRY a sense of a Macedonian national identity gained strength and became systematised Bell 1998 193 The Yugoslav government began a policy of removing any Bulgarian influence and cementing the Macedonian identity Europe since 1945 Encyclopedia by Bernard Anthony Cook ISBN 0815340583 pg 808