Autonomy for Macedonia and Adrianople regions

Excerpt from the statute of the Bulgarian Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Committees
Art. 1. The goal of BMARC is to secure political autonomy for the Macedonia and Adrianople regions.
Excerpt from the statute of the Supreme Macedonian-Adrianople Organization.
Art. 1. The goal of SMAO is to secure political autonomy for the Macedonia and Adrianople regions.
Receipt of the External Representation of the IMARO. in Sofia, depicting a map of the territories of Macedonia and Adrianople Thrace.

Autonomy for the region of Macedonia and Adrianople Thrace within the Ottoman Empire was a concept that arose in the late 19th century and was popular until ca. 1920. The plan was developed among Macedonian and Thracian Bulgarian emigres in Sofia and covered several meanings. Serbia and Greece were totally opposed to that set of ideas while Bulgaria was ambivalent to them.[1] In fact Sofia advocated granting such autonomy as a prelude to the annexation of both areas, as for many Bulgarian emigres it was seen in the same way.[2]

  1. ^ David Turnock, The Economy of East Central Europe, 1815–1989: Stages of Transformation in a Peripheral Region, Routledge, 2004, ISBN 1134678762, p. 43.
  2. ^ Andre Gerolymatos, The Balkan Wars, Hachette UK, 2008, ISBN 0786724579, p. 210.