Temko Popov | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Темистокли Попов c. 1855 |
| Died | 1929 |
| Nationality | Ottoman, Serbian, Yugoslav |
| Other names | Temko Popov (Темко Попов); Temko Popović (Темко Поповић) |
| Organizations | |
| Known for | being Macedonian national activist and an activist of the Serbian national movement in Macedonia |
Temko Popov (Macedonian: Темко Попов; Serbian: Темко Поповић) was a pro-Macedonian activist and Serbian national worker in the Ottoman Empire. He espoused in his youth, according to Bulgarian sources, developed a kind of Macedonian pro-Serbian identity. Per Serbian sources, this plan was used by Serbian politicians as a counterweight to Bulgarian influence and to serbianize the Macedonian Slavs.[1][2]
- ^ ...In other words, Macedonianness is a direct consequence or, more precisely, construct of the competing Balkan ideologies. Marinov provides a few examples of how this Macedonianness found expression. However, these examples yield only one conclusion: it is not quite clear what Macedonianness means because all the Macedonian intellectuals defined it and expressed it in a different way, including Grupčević and Popović. According to Marinov, “there are historical personalities from late Ottoman Macedonia whose identity largely ‘floated’ between the Serbian and the Bulgarian national option,” and between them appeared the third Macedonian option, which was used by Serbian diplomatic circles as “a possible counterweight to Bulgarian influence in Macedonia.” Stojan Novaković concretely assumed it would be much better to use the already present vague sense of this Macedonianness, and turn, harness and mold it to Serbian advantage, instead of attempting to impose Serbian nationhood directly upon Macedonians. This was obviously the case with the two owners of Carigradski glasnik, who turned from the Greek education they had been given and their vague sense of Macedonianness to Serbian nationhood... For more see: Klara Volarić, Forgotten Istanbul-based Paper in the Service of Ottoman Serbs, 1895-1909” (Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, Central European University, Budapest, 2014), p. 94.
- ^ The Serbian politician might have had in mind the “successful” example of Macedonian Slavs who migrated to Serbia and developed a kind of Macedonian pro-Serbian identity. One such case was Despot Badžović, a personal friend of Gjorgjija Pulevski, who in 1879 published a primer written in a Serbified variety of the Macedonian language. Similarly, some of the first “Macedonists” were educated in Serbia or under Serbian cultural influence; sometimes they sought to spread that influence. This was likely the case with four activists—Naum Evro(vić), Kosta Grupče(vić), Temko Popov(ić) and Vasil(ije) Karajovov(ić)—who, in 1886, formed in Sofia an ephemeral “Secret Macedonian Committee.” For more see: Roumen Daskalov and Tchavdar Marinov. Entangled Histories of the Balkans: Volume One: National Ideologies and Language Policies. BRILL, 2013. p. 315.