page_title: Serbs in North Macedonia
section_title: Macedonian Struggle and Balkan Wars (1903–13)
hierarchical_section_title: Serbs in North Macedonia / Macedonian Struggle and Balkan Wars (1903–13)
caption_attribution_description: English: Group photo of the most notable commanders of the Serbian Chetnik Organization, taken in July 1908 during the Young Turk Revolution. Individuals, from the top, left to right: —1st row: 1. Undetermined, 2. Zafir Premčević —2nd row: 1. Živko Gvozdić, 2. Petko Ilić, 3. Rista Starački, 4. Cene Marković, 5. Denko, 6. Čuma, 7. Boško Virjanac —3rd row: 1. Koce Drenovski, 2. Đorđe Skopljanče, 3. Gligor Sokolović, 4. Jovan Dovezenski, 5. Jovan Babunski, 6. Kosta Pećanac, 7. Trenko Rujanović, 8. Milan Babović —4th row: 1. Dane Stojanović, 2. Todor Krstić-Algunjski, 3. Mihailo Josifović, 4. Jovan Dolgač, 5. Stefan Nedić-Ćela
context_page_description: Serbs are one of the constitutional peoples of North Macedonia. Numbering about 36,000 inhabitants, they are based on the medieval populations as well as later relocated or migrated ethnic Serbs.
context_section_description: At the end of the 19th century, the liberated countries started actively to process the Christian population in European Turkey. In the beginning, there were unarmed, propagandic, cultural and likewise activities. Later, the activities would transition into a revolt against the Ottoman Empire, and between the rebel bands. Greece, Bulgaria and Serbia claimed Macedonia as legitimate owners.
  Greece pointed at its Antique and Roman/Byzantine province of Macedonia. Bulgaria pointed at its holding of Macedonia during Simeon I and Asen II. Serbia pointed at its material heritage, endowments of the Nemanjić and Mrnjavčević eras, and the identity-preserved in many regions; traditions such as slava (Serbian Orthodox tradition) and linguistical bonds (see Macedonian language).
  In 1886, the Society of Saint Sava was formed, which aimed to aid the Serbian cause in Macedonia. Serbian consulates were opened in Skopje in 1887, Pristina in 1889, Bitola in 1889, and Prizren in 1896.
  As of 1903, the Serbian Chetniks, men like Jovan Stojković Babunski, Micko Krstić, Jovan Dolgač, Gligor Sokolović, Vasilije Trbić confronted Turkish, Albanian and Bulgarian (VMRO-led) military formations together with their squads called "Četa"-mobile volunteer units strongly armed with personal weapons.
  The Serb Democratic League in the Ottoman Empire (Serbian: Српска демократска лига у Отоманској царевини) was an Ottoman Serb political organization established on August 13, 1908, at the First Serb Conference (August 10–13), immediately after the Young Turk Revolution. Some 26 most distinguished Serbs in the Ottoman Empire attended and Bogdan Radenković was selected to head the "Temporary Central Board of the Organization of Ottoman Serbs" in July in 1908. Bishop Vicentije Krdzić of the Serbian Orthodox Eparchy of Skopje headed the clergy and Bogdan Radenković the lay membership of the  "Assembly of Ottoman Serbs in Skopje", held on Sretenje in 1909. These organizations included the Serb elite of Old Raška, Kosovo and Metohija, and Vardar Macedonia and Aegean Macedonia. It included many members of the Serbian Chetnik Organization as well. They were: Bogdan Radenković; Aleksandar Bukvić; Gligorije Elezović; Vasa Jovanović; Milan Čemerikić; Sava Stojanović; David Dimitrijević; Đorđe Hadzi-Kostić; Velimir Prelić and Jovan Šantrić.
  With the founding of the Serb Democratic League, it became the first political party to represent the interests of the Serbs in the Ottoman Empire. The Serbian Democratic League sent to Thessaloniki Bogdan Radenković, Jovan Šantrić, and Đorđe Hadži-Kostić to negotiate with the Central Young Turk Board. The Serbian demands were as follows: for the three non-Muslim “ethnic groups” – Serbian, Greek and Bulgarian – to get an equal number of
  seats in the Ottoman Parliament. But the Young Turks refused that concept and they conditioned the electoral agreement with the Serbs with having an agreement on broader bases that would not have a national
  background. In 1910 as a representative of the party, he was sent to Istanbul where he urged the Turkish authorities to stop using their troops (Bashi-bazouk) to terrorize the Serbian population in Gjilan. The Sublime Porte denied the violence in Kosovo claiming that it was a fabrication. Yet to the Albanians are credited many of the outrages that have been committed to Old Serbia, where Turkish troops are alleged to have massacred more than 60,000 Christians.
  The Young Turks Revolution of 1908 created slightly better conditions for the expression of Serbian cultural life in Macedonia. Serbian publishing of books, religious calendars, newspapers briefly flourished. The "Assembly of Ottoman Serbs" was held in Skoplje and Serbs had their deputies in the Ottoman parliament.
  During the Balkan Wars (1912–13), Serbia liberated most of the Macedonians (called "southern Serbs") by taking over the vast land including today's North Macedonia and northern Albania (its ally Greece initially winning over the lands immediately south), much at the grievance of Bulgaria. The period from 1913 to 1914 is a period of t
caption: Chetnik commanders in Macedonia, July 1908.
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