Part:2 Road to European Reform Schemes


The new map drawn in the summer of 1878 by the signatories of the Berlin Treaty did not bring any tranquillity to southeast Europe. In particular, the Bulgarians, sympathetic to the idea of Greater Bulgaria, stepped up their activities in the Macedonian provinces soon after the Treaty was signed. Also, the unification of Eastern Rumelia with the Bulgarian Principality in 1885 further encouraged the Bulgarian-backed insurgents within the Ottoman provinces. In order to achieve their goals, the Bulgarians used the influence of the Exarchate by sending Exarchist teachers and religious men over the border to awaken the national aspirations of the people. In addition, many Bulgarians took up arms and believed that the best way of liberating Macedonia was to form bands of revolutionaries, preparing the civilians for an uprising and attracting the attention of the Great Powers.

After 1878, the geographical area of Macedonia consisted of the provinces of Monastir, Salonika, Kossova and the two independent Sanjaks of Drama and Serres. The provinces had nearly two and a half million inhabitants composed of mainly Bulgarians, Greeks, Serbs, Vlachs, Albanians and Turks. In the Macedonian provinces, the Bulgarian movement was directed not only against the Ottoman administration but against the Greeks as well. The Greek Patriarchate, pioneer of the revivalist Hellenic movement, was the oldest institution in the region, and it opposed the expansionist tendencies of the Exarchists. This development made it easier for the Ottoman government to collaborate with the Greeks and bury their differences.

As the Bulgarian activities gained momentum in Macedonia, the Ottoman government feared that European intervention, which aimed at reforms in favour of the Christian population, was likely. But the Ottoman authorities did not have any clear-cut ideas as to how to respond, nor were they able to formulate policies which would, in the long run, strengthen Ottoman domination in Macedonia. In these circumstances, the Ottoman policy was to benefit first from the differences between the Balkan states and their nationals on Macedonian soil, and secondly from the Great Powers' policies, which favoured the maintenance of the status quo. Also, as an immediate response to counter the Bulgarian danger, Abdulhamid conducted a defensive policy by increasing the armed forces stationed in the provinces, in the hope that they would keep the insurgents under control. The Ottoman administration in Macedonia needed sizeable forces to tackle the insurgents ,but at the same time it was unable to feed and pay the troops regularly. Over the years, the demoralized soldiery became another factor that contributed to the existing turmoil.


Following the Berlin Treaty, a further cause of unrest in Macedonia was the increase in Albanian activities. The Albanians resented the fact that the Ottomans had to cede certain territories to Montenegro and Greece which they claimed for themselves, and they were also upset that article 23 of the Treaty left them out of the European reforms. At the same time, a large group of Muslim migrants from Bosnia and Bulgaria settled in Macedonia. They were not happy with the latest developments in the Peninsula and started to operate as irregulars, which became an additional problem for the Ottoman authorities. With the deterioration of the Ottoman position in Macedonia, the concerned regional powers, Russia and Austria, signed the Austro-Russian Entente in May 1897, after which they began to co-operate in formulating reform proposals which they believed would help to pacify the Christian population of Macedonia. At the same time, the Sublime Porte, fearing European intervention, felt the need to put reform packages into effect. First Hussein Hilmi Pasha was selected by the Porte with the approval of the Great Powers to become the Inspector General of three Macedonian provinces in late 1902 and was given authority to reorganize them. Secondly, the Grand Vizier Said Pasha came up with a package of reforms in late 1902 that he had himself prepared to reduce maladministration and to put an end to abuses. The reform programme covered a wide range of areas, such as agriculture, commerce, industry and education.

In terms of the military administration, the new proposals went beyond the traditional Ottoman attitude. It was proposed that the police and gendarmerie be recruited from both the Muslim and the Christian population and one of the priorities in this programme was a well-organized gendarmerie and police force. Ottoman officials wanted to build a fairly proportioned gendarmerie force of Christians and Muslims according to the population distribution in each province. However, the gendarmerie never attracted the Christians, and those who entered the service did not necessarily have the right background to fulfil their duties. Judicial and educational reforms were also to be undertaken. New courts were to be opened in every district where there were none, and the extension of schooling across Macedonia was recommended. The notable aspect of the judicial reforms was the absence of any requirement regarding the recruitment of non-Muslims, nor was it proposed to expand the schools run for non-Muslims, which meant that the number of schools for Christians was to remain the same. The Ottomans were worried that further reforms in favour of Christians would alienate the Muslim Albanians and bring additional problems to the provinces. However, these initiatives did not satisfy the Great Powers and they shaped their own programme.The intervention of the Europeans under the guise of the reforms failed to address the situation in Macedonia, which was worsening daily and led to the popular Bulgarian uprising which had always been on the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization's agenda. The Ilinden Uprising started on 2 August, St Elijah's Day (Ilinden in Slavonic), in Monastir vilayet and soon spread to villages in Adrianople and Salonika. Though the Ottoman troops managed to suppress it without much difficulty, it turned into the bloodiest uprising that Macedonia had ever witnessed. Soon after the uprising Austria-Hungary and Russia set about formulating new reform proposals in order to extend their control over the provinces. The new package, to be known as the Murzsteg Scheme, came to completion on 2 October 1903. According to this scheme, Hilmi Pasha was appointed Governor General of the vilayets, but two European (Austrian and Russian) supervisors were to be attached to him for the purpose of calling his attention to the needs of the Christian population and abuses by local authorities. A second issue concerned the gendarmerie reforms. A European General in the service of the Ottoman Empire would be appointed with the task of reorganizing the gendarmerie, and military officers of the Powers would be attached to him and would have responsibilities for the districts apportioned to them. In addition, there were also articles related to the reforms of the financial, judicial and administrative institutions to which Christians would be admitted.

The Sultan and the Ottoman authorities believed that the Murzsteg Scheme was mainly designed for the Christians in Macedonia, and that it would upset the Muslims and lead to their exodus from European Turkey in the near future. They were also concerned that a triple government under an Ottoman Governor General and two foreign assessors would cause confusion in authority. At the same time, Ottoman officials were convinced that the foreign military officers would not be content simply with the reorganization of the gendarmerie, but would also interfere with the regular army, and that this would be likely to produce tension between the Ottomans and Europeans.However, the reformers dismissed these concerns as baseless and the Porte had no choice than to accept the Scheme in early November.