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CORRESPONDENCE OF THE FOREIGN CONSULS IN MACEDONIA

From the report of the Austro-Hungarian consul in Bitola August Kral (27 August 1903)

"...The only earlier attempt at a revolt which can be taken into account was the one undertaken in a state of complete blindness last autumn by the committee of Tsonchev in the region of Razlog, near the Bulgarian frontier, which, however, was limited to several villages and for this reason ended quite disastrously.

Quite different is the state of affairs, however, here in the vilajet ot Bitola. Here real preparations for a revolt are taking place, the first in Macedonia, from the beginning of the Bulgarian movement, which must be truly regarded quite seriously as a very dangerous uprising...

"...The uprising here is almost general, it embraces almost the whole Bulgarian part of the population in the vilajet, i.e. the district of Bitola with its five counties (Kicheve, Ohrida, Bitola, Prilep, Lerin), Part of the county of Kostur in the district of Korcha, and some vilages in the county of Kajlary in the district of Selfidje. In this region the Bulgarian population amounts to more than 250, 000 people, the majority of whom sympathises with the revolution and supports it openly or secretly."

D. Zografski, Information of the Austrian representatives in Macedonia 1903 - 1904, Skopje, 1955, pp. 86-89; the original in German

From the report of the Russian consul in Salonica Giers about the terror against the Bulgarians in Macedonia (28 August 1903)

"...Observations on the spot have convinced the Russian consul general in Salonica that the Turkish authorties direct their efforts not so much to crush the uprising than to exterminate completely the Bulgarian nationality in the vilajet...

...The population of the district, very sensitive to every rumour about the influence of the other countries on the Ottoman government, was deeply stirred by the announcement published in "Neue Freie Presse" about the advice professedly given by the ambassadors of the different countries in Constantinople to crush the uprising as soon as possible. This announcement was interpreted as giving the Turk the green light to crush the uprising by means of total extermination of the Bulgarians."

Archive of the Russian Foreign Policy, Politarchive, 1903, g. 1145, pp. 311-317; the original in Russian.

by: http://www.bulgaria.com/VMRO/consuls.htm