Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1941-10-24
Says YugosIovio
Absorbed BuIgors
Minister Cites Authorities
To Show How Serbiuns
Oppressed Minority
To the Editor of The Star:

/
For the benefit of the historical truth,
feel compelled to make the following
remarks with reference to the article of
the Military Attache of the Yugoslav
Legation, published in The Star of Oc-
| tober Is:
The author, while describing at length
the origin of the ChetnikS, insists that
| they should not be confused with the
| Comitadjis who ARE members of
Bulgarian terroristic organization which
tried to change the Serbs into Bull
garians." The tendency is self-evident
and most unfortunately is in line with
the official view of Yugoslavia that there
are no Bulgarians in Macedonia. Yet
| the population has demonstrated in
various ways and beyond any doubt it's
national character long before the Serbs
took interest in Macedonia.
After the partition of photographic
Bulgaria by the treaty of Berlin in 1878,
expecting in vain the application of
article % of that treaty, providing for
reforms, the bulk of the population had
been organized since 1893 in the Internal
q. M. r. o.. The latter had local
committees even in the remotest towns
| and villages, its aim being to achieve
freedom by general inSurrection.
The members of the committees were
| called Comitadjis only by the Turks, but
those who took more active part and
! gathered in small armed bands were
known under nf tpiL
Cheta-"small group"
According to the author: 1T was only
in 1904 that Serbia felt strong enough
to become the Piedmont of all the
Serbs and hastily prepared for her
new role" by sending "Chetniks" into
Macedonia. And yet year before, the
struggle for freedom of the Macedonian
population had climaxed in an epic
fight against the Turks known as the
Instruction Of st. Ellie, taking its name
from the day when it broke out august,
1909.
The Well-known English writer, H. M.
Brailsford, whose integrity no one could
question, and who according to his own
WORDS spent five months of the winter
OF 1904 in the Province of Monastir
tBitolia) after the Bulgarian rising, act
ing on behalf of the British Relief Fund"
states in his book, Macedonia" published
IN 1906, that 1.-THE Servian cause in Mace
donia proper is negligible and arti-
hclal movement. 1t exists only insofar
as 1t pays its way and insofar as the
TURKS encourage 1t as counterpoise to
the menaclng Bulgarian agitation"
To come to more recent times. here
IS the verdict of the International Com
mission set up by the Carnegie Endow-
ment for International Peace to inquire
INTO the causes and conduct of the
Balkan wars terminated by the treaty of
Bucharest Of 1913. This commission was
composed OF leading statesmen and
scholars of worldwide reputation:
"A comparison of the ethnographic
ana linguistic maps drawn I'D bv
Messrs. Kantchev, Tsviyits (Cviyic)
and BELTS. with the new frontiers of
the treaty of Bucharest reveals the
gravity Of the task undertaken bv the
Servians. They have not merely re-
sumed possession of their ancient
domain, the Sandjak of Novi-Bazar
and Old Servia proper CKosovo Pole
and Metchia), despite the fact that
TINS historic domain was strongly
Albanian: they have not merely added
thereto the tract described by patri-
QUO SerVlan ethnographers as En-
larged Old Servia' (an ancient geo.
graphical term which We have seen
twice enlarged, once by Mr. TSyivits
and again by Mr.. Belts; over and
ABOVE all this their facile generosity
mpelled them to share with the
Greeks the population described on
their maps as v-Macedonian-a
euphemism designed to conceal the
existence OF BulgarianS in Macedonia,
And their acquisitions under the
treaty OF Bucharest went beyond their
most extravagant pretenSions. They
took advantage of the Bulgarians'
need to conclude peace at any price
to deprive them of territories to the
east of the Vardar, for example.
Chtipe and Radoviche, where Bulgar-
ian patriotism glowed most wildly
and where the sacrifice accepted by
Bulgarian patriots for the sake of
freeing Macedonia had always been
exceptionally great. This was adding
insult to injury"
Finally, let us see how the situation
presented itself after the first World
War. The answer is given by the former
British Prime Minister David LLOYD
George, who was one of the makers of
the peace treaties In his book. The
Truth about the Peace Treaties" pub
lished in 1888, the author writes:
by many authorities the most tragic
instance of minority oppression in
violation of the 1919 treaty is held to
be that of the 100000 Macedonians
now residing within the borders of
Yugoslavia. OF this community an
overwhelming majority are of Bull
garian stock and language, in other
words. Bulgaro-Mac edonians 1t was
because of this fact, that at the peace
conference. the Italian, British and
American members of the New States
Committees, when drafting the Yugo-
slav Minority Treaty, endeavored, first
to secure special local regime for
this area, and when their efforts in
this direction failed, in the face of
Franco-Yugoslav opposition, to ensure
the appointment of resident League
of Nations Commissioner.
Generally speaking, the lot of the
minority in Yugoslavia, with certain
exceptions pertaining to TIE 100000
Germans, is perhaps harder than in
any other of the Succession States.
For these minorities have to endure,
both the terroriStic methods intro
duced as result of the dictatorial