Editing Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising (section)

==Legacy==
{{See also|Historiography in North Macedonia|Macedonian nationalism}}
[[File:Celebration of the Ilinen Uprising in Bitola in 1916 under Bulgarian occupation.jpg|thumb|220px|right|Celebration of the Ilinden Uprising in Bitola [[Bulgarian occupation of Serbia (World War I)|during WWI Bulgarian occupation of Southern Serbia]].<ref>Илюстрация Илинден, София, октомври 1927, бр. 5, стр. 7-8. [https://www.strumski.com/books/Lyubomir_Miletich_Praznuvane_Ilinden_v_Bitola_1916.pdf Любомир Милетич, На Илинденско Тържество в Битоля (1916).]</ref>]]
[[File:Krushevo 1918.jpg|220px|thumb|Procession organized by the mayor of [[Kruševo]], the IMRO komitadji [[Naum Tomalevski]], marking the anniversary of the Uprising in 1918]] 
[[File:Pametnik na preobrazhenskoto vustanie petrova niva.jpg|thumbnail|[[Petrova Niva]] monument, dedicated to the Preobrazhenie Uprising, near [[Malko Tarnovo]], [[Bulgaria]].]]
[[File:Македониум - Крушево.jpg|thumbnail|[[Makedonium]] monument, dedicated to the Ilinden Uprising, [[Kruševo]], [[North Macedonia]].]]
The uprising was commemorated by the Macedonian and Thracian diaspora in Bulgaria, and by all factions within the IMARO.<ref name="db" /> It was commemorated officially in Macedonia under [[Bulgaria]]n rule when it occupied then ''South Serbia'' during [[World War I]].<ref>''Известно е че през 1918 г. в разгара на Първата световна война и в навечерието на контраофанзивата на войските на Антантата на Македонския фронт, страната ни отбелязва 15-годишнината от Илинденско-Преображенското въстание. Но малко известен е фактът, че с тази задача се залавя водачът на ВМОРО Тодор Александров, подпомогнат от ректора на Софийския университет „Св. Климент Охридски“ проф. Георги Шишков и тогавашния кмет на Крушево Наум Томалевски.'' For more see: Цочо В. Билярски, През 1918 година Тодор Александров организира честването на Илинденското въстание.</ref> In the [[Kingdom of Yugoslavia]] during the interwar period, the local celebration of the event was passively ignored or actively repressed by Yugoslav officials.<ref name="pq">{{cite book |title=The Past in Question: Modern Macedonia and the Uncertainties of Nation |publisher=Princeton University Press |date=2003 |isbn=9780691099958 |author=Keith Brown |pages=131–132, 136, 153}}</ref> Celebrations occurred also in 1939 and 1940 in defiance of the ban by Serb authorities.<ref name="db" /><ref>''Appealing to this positive historical inheritance, the Regional Committee of the KPJ in Macedonia organised Ilinden demonstrations in the towns before the war, in 1939 and 1940, as the most effective way of activating nationalism''. For more see: Stefano Bianchini and Marco Dogo as ed., The Balkans: National Identities in a Historical Perspective,	Longo, 1998, p. 125, {{ISBN|8880631764}}.</ref> The Bulgarian regime recognized the legacy of the event as its own during World War II and granted pensions to veterans, but excluded those who were perceived as engaging in "anti-Bulgarian or anti-state expression or activity."<ref name="pq" /> Celebrations of the event then were officially institutionalized.<ref name="db" /> Before World War II, [[Serbian historiography]] claimed the uprising was Bulgarian and also attempted to downplay its significance for the locals in the Bitola region, who were subjected to [[Serbianization]]. After the creation of the [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia]], and the recognition of a Macedonian state and people within it, it changed its stance.<ref name="lod" /> According to historian Elisabeth Barker, there are accounts which claim that the uprising was imposed by the Bulgarian War Office (encouraged by Russia) on the reluctant leaders of IMARO, who thought that the time was not right for an uprising.<ref name="jp" />

During World War II, Macedonian communists claimed to be the inheritors of the Ilinden uprising and the Kruševo Republic.<ref>{{cite book |title=Entangled Histories of the Balkans - Volume Two |publisher=Brill |isbn=9789004261914 |date=2013 |editor1=Diana Mishkova |editor2= Roumen Daskalov |pages=535–536}}</ref> Ilinden veteran [[Panko Brashnarov]] spoke in the first session of [[ASNOM]] on August 2, 1944, declaring a "Second Ilinden" of the Macedonian people.<ref name="ah" /><ref>{{cite book |title=Entangled Histories of the Balkans - Volume One |publisher=Brill |isbn=9789004250765 |date=2013 |editor1=Rumen Daskalov |editor2=Tchavdar Marinov |pages=236, 302, 328}}</ref> In the 1940s, the uprising became one of the most potent foundation myths of [[Macedonian nationalism]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Dimitris Livanios |title=The Macedonian Question: Britain and the Southern Balkans 1939–1949 |publisher=Oxford University Press US |date=2008 |isbn=0199237689 |pages=19, 185}}</ref> During the brief entente between Bulgaria and Yugoslavia from 1946 to 1948, Macedonian historians gained access to Sofia's archival materials and published accounts, on whose basis they claimed Ilinden as an early expression of Macedonian commitment to national liberation.<ref name="lod" /> After the [[Tito–Stalin split]], Bulgarian historians began emphasizing the Bulgarian identity of the uprising's participants again.<ref name="pq" /> In 1948, the IMRO revolutionaries [[Pavel Shatev]] and [[Panko Brashnarov]] wrote a statement to the [[Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Central Committee]] of the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]] on the situation in Yugoslav Macedonia, where they declared themselves against [[League of Communists of Yugoslavia|Communist Party of Yugoslavia]]'s policy. They insisted that it was a mass practice to neglect everything Bulgarian, even though it was a historical fact the participants in the Ilinden Uprising were Bulgarians. Afterwards they were quickly eliminated.<ref>{{cite book |editor1=Vlado Treneski |editor2=Dejan Tančovski |title=White Book about the Language Dispute Between Bulgaria and the Republic of North Macedonia |url=https://www.academia.edu/45406587/WHITE_BOOK_ABOUT_THE_LANGUAGE_DISPUTE_BETWEEN_BULGARIA_AND_THE_REPUBLIC_OF_NORTH_MACEDONIA |location=Sofia |publisher=Orbel |date=2021 |isbn=978-954-496-149-7 |page=66}}</ref><ref>Панко Брашнаров и Павел Шатев за обстановката във Вардарска Македония през 1944-1948 г. — изложение до ВКП(б). Във Веселин Ангелов, "Македонският въпрос в българо-югославските отношения (1944-1952)", УИ "Св. Климент Охридски", София  2005. Том 31 от “Архивите говорят” на Главно Управление на архивите, стр. 437-444.</ref>  

During the [[Greek Civil War]], many of [[SNOF]]'s leaders adopted ''noms de guerre'', that had been used by participants in the Ilinden uprising.<ref name="jkc">{{cite book |editor=Jane K. Cowan |title=Macedonia: The Politics of Identity and Difference |date=2000 |publisher=Pluto Press |isbn=9780745315898 |pages=75, 80–81, 105}}</ref> [[SR Macedonia]] granted monthly pensions and commemorative medallions (''Ilinden spomenica'') to Ilinden veterans whose applications were successful. However, those who were prosecuted in a court for criminal acts against the ''people'' and the state were excluded.<ref name="pq" /> Extensive historical research was done to nationalize the Ilinden myth. This process of nationalization caused tensions with Greece and Bulgaria.<ref name="il">{{cite book |editor1=Ljiljana Šarić |editor2=Karen Gammelgaard |editor3=Kjetil Rå Hauge |title=Transforming National Holidays: Identity Discourse in the West and South Slavic Countries, 1985-2010 |date=2012 |publisher=John Benjamins Publishing |isbn=9789027206381 |pages=193, 195, 208}}</ref> [[Greek historiography]] has downplayed the uprising as the work of extremists. During the [[Cold War]], in response to Macedonian scholarship, the [[Bulgarian Academy of Sciences]] published works highlighting the Bulgarian aspects of the uprising.<ref name="reg" /> The uprising has been traditionally commemorated by Bulgarian Macedonians.<ref name="col" /> A monument for the uprising was revealed in Petrova Niva in 1958.<ref name="mig" /> Approximately 20% of the essays in the journal ''Macedonian Review'' between 1971 and 1989 mentioned the Ilinden uprising.<ref name="col" />

The post-WWII [[Macedonian historians|Macedonian rendition of history]] has reappraised the Ilinden uprising as an anti-Bulgarian revolt, led by [[ethnic Macedonians]].<ref>Gold, Gerald L. ''Minorities and mother country imagery'', Memorial University of Newfoundland. Institute of Social and Economic Research, 1984, {{ISBN|0919666434}}, p. 74.</ref> Both North Macedonia and Bulgaria claim the uprising as their own, which has led to a dispute about its legacy between both countries.<ref name="db" /> The uprising has been seen by the [[Macedonian historiography]] as exclusively Macedonian, although Ottoman and European sources usually called it "Bulgarian".<ref>{{cite book |editor=Ulf Brunnbauer |chapter=Historiography, Myths and Nation in the Republic of Macedonia |title=(Re)Writing History. Historiography in Southeast Europe after Socialism |publisher=Lit Verlag |date=2004 |url=https://unipub.uni-graz.at/obvugroa/content/titleinfo/5971976 |page=185}}</ref> Macedonian historians regard the qualification of the uprising as Bulgarian as biased, with one historian asserting that it was a uprising of the Macedonian people regardless in which church they prayed, school they learned and which [[Slavic speakers in Ottoman Macedonia#National antagonisms|national name they carried]].<ref>{{cite journal |author=Ulf Brunnbauer |title=Serving the Nation: Historiography in the Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) after Socialism |journal=Historien |volume=4 |date=2004 |doi=10.12681/historein.86 |page=166|doi-access=free }}</ref> The leader of the IMARO and architect of the uprising [[Ivan Garvanov]],<ref>Perry, Duncan. “Ivan Garvanov: Architect of Ilinden.” East European Quarterly 19, no. 4 (1986): 403–416.</ref> is regarded there as a [[Greater Bulgaria]]n agent who pushed the decision for a premature uprising.<ref name= "Palairet 2016"/><ref>Pero Korobar, Orde Ivanoski, The Historical Truth: The Progressive Social Circles in Bulgaria and Pirin Macedonia on the Macedonian National Question: Documents, Studies, Resolutions, Appeals and Published Articles, 1896–1956. Kultura, 1983, p. 277.</ref> [[Bulgarian Officers' Brotherhoods|Bulgarian Army officers]]' significant participation is represented there as an alien element,<ref>Keith Brown (2003) The Past in Question: Modern Macedonia and the Uncertainties of Nation, Princeton University Press, p. 175, {{ISBN|0691099952}}.</ref> while the fact the uprising's leaders were Bulgarian schoolmasters,<ref>Bulgarian teachers in Macedonia constituted the backbone of the Internal organization while, according to their social profile, its leaders were quite often themselves former Exarchist teachers. For more see: Perry, Duncan. The Politics of Terror. The Macedonian Liberation Movements 1893–1903. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 1988. pp. 144–151, 182–183.</ref> is neglected. The leaders of the Ilinden uprising are celebrated as national heroes in modern-day [[North Macedonia]], and regarded as founders of the strive for [[Independent Macedonia (IMRO)|Macedonian independence]].<ref name="Frusetta">{{cite book|editor=John R. Lampe, Mark Mazower|title=Ideologies and national identities: the case of twentieth-century Southeastern Europe|year=2004|publisher=Central European University Press|isbn=978-963-9241-82-4|pages=110–121|author=James Frusetta|chapter=Common Heroes, Divided Claims: IMRO Between Macedonia and Bulgaria}}</ref> The Kruševo Republic and the names of the IMARO revolutionaries like [[Gotse Delchev]], [[Pitu Guli]], [[Dame Gruev]] and [[Yane Sandanski]] were included into the lyrics of the Macedonian national anthem [[Denes nad Makedonija]] ("Today over Macedonia").<ref name="db" /> August 2 is a [[Public holidays in North Macedonia|national holiday]] in [[North Macedonia]], known as [[Republic Day (North Macedonia)|Day of the Republic]],<ref>{{cite web|title=August 2nd, non-working for Macedonian citizens |url=http://macedoniaonline.eu/content/view/2562/1/ |website=macedoniaonline.eu |date=2008-07-29 |access-date=30 July 2008 |archive-date=2012-03-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120315134321/http://macedoniaonline.eu/content/view/2562/1/ |url-status=dead}}</ref> which considers it the date of its statehood in modern times. Although a national holiday, ethnic Turks in the country do not relate with the event.<ref name="jkc" /> Macedonian historians connected the uprising with the partisan struggle during World War II. SR Macedonia was regarded as having fulfilled the goals of the uprising. Since it is also the symbolic date on which in 1944 the [[People's Republic of Macedonia]] was proclaimed at the [[Anti-fascist Assembly for the National Liberation of Macedonia]] (ASNOM) as a constituent republic of the [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia]], the ASNOM event is referred as the "Second Ilinden" in North Macedonia.<ref name="Frusetta"/> September 8, 1991, the day when the Republic of Macedonia declared its independence from Yugoslavia, has been often referred to as the "third Ilinden" there.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Macedonian Conflict: Ethnic Nationalism in a Transnational World |publisher=Princeton University Press |author=Loring M. Danforth |date=1997 |isbn=0691043566 |page=52}}</ref> In the Macedonian narrative, there have been attempts to establish a continuity between Ilinden and other events such as the establishment of IMARO in 1893, [[Karposh's rebellion|Karposh's uprising]] and the [[Battle of Chaeronea (338 BC)|battle of Chaeronea]]. This campaign was promoted by the [[Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts]].<ref name="il" /> While insurgents and the [[Principality of Bulgaria]] regarded the Ilinden uprising and Preobrazhenie uprising as part of the same revolutionary movement, Macedonian scholarship only refers to the Ilinden uprising.<ref>{{cite book |title=Images of Imperial Legacy: Modern Discourses on the Social and Cultural Impact of Ottoman and Habsburg Rule in Southeast Europe |publisher=LIT Verlag Münster |page=122 |date=2011 |isbn=9783643108500 |editor1=Tea Sindbaek |editor2=Maximilian Hartmuth}}</ref>

The name for the uprising in the [[Bulgarian historiography]] is ''Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising''.<ref name="ah" /> The dominant view in Bulgaria is that at that time the [[Macedonian Bulgarians|Macedonian]] and [[Thracian Bulgarians]] predominated in all regions of the uprisings and that Macedonian ethnicity did not exist yet.<ref>"The Ilinden - Preobrazhenie Uprising of 1903". Authors: Hristo Hristov, Dimiter Kossev, Lyubomir Panayotov; Publisher: Sofia Press - 1983; in English language.</ref> According to political scientist [[Alexis Heraclides]], Bulgarian historian Tchavdar Marinov wrote that the Ilinden Uprising is the founding myth of the Macedonian identity in all its formulations, and the Bulgarian state has tried to appropriate the myth of the Ilinden uprising and include it in the pan-Bulgarian narrative, since the uprising in Bulgaria does not have the same value as in North Macedonia and is less popular compared to the [[April Uprising of 1876]], which is the Bulgarian foundation myth.<ref name="ah" /> There are annual celebrations in Petrova Niva commemorating the uprising.<ref name="mig" /> Attempts from Bulgarian officials for joint actions and celebration of the Ilinden uprising were rejected from the Macedonian side as unacceptable.<ref>[http://www.duma.bg/2006/0606/070606/sviat/sv-1.html "Сите ние сме Бугари". Македонски историци "на бунт" срещу общото честване на празниците ни. в-к "Дума", 07.06.2006.] {{dead link|date=May 2017|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref><ref>[http://www.bnr.bg/RadioBulgaria/Emission_Bulgarian/Theme_Bulgaria_i_Sveta/Material/040806_po_sasedski.htm България и светът. 04 Август 2006, По съседски: Събития с балкански адрес. Новина № 2.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061020034258/http://www.bnr.bg/RadioBulgaria/Emission_Bulgarian/Theme_Bulgaria_i_Sveta/Material/040806_po_sasedski.htm |date=2006-10-20}}</ref>

According to anthropologist Keith Brown, there is evidence in the historical record to confirm the narratives of the three historiographies (Bulgarian, Greek and Macedonian).<ref name="lod"/> On August 2, 2017, the Bulgarian Prime Minister [[Boyko Borisov]] and his Macedonian colleague [[Zoran Zaev]] placed wreaths at the grave of Gotse Delchev on the occasion of the 114th anniversary of the Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising, after the previous day, when both signed a treaty for friendship and cooperation between the neighboring states.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.focus-fen.net/news/2017/08/02/421632/pms-borisov-zaev-place-wreaths-at-gotse-delchevs-grave-in-skopje.html |title=PMs Borisov and Zaev place wreaths at Gotse Delchev's grave in Skopje, 2 August 2017, FOCUS News Agency. |access-date=2 August 2017 |archive-date=19 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190419202056/http://focus-fen.net/news/2017/08/02/421632/pms-borisov-zaev-place-wreaths-at-gotse-delchevs-grave-in-skopje.html |url-status=dead}}</ref> The treaty also calls for a committee to "objectively re-examine the common history" of Bulgaria and Macedonia and envisages both countries will celebrate together events from their shared history.<ref>Macedonia, Bulgaria Sign Historic Treaty, Renounce Rivalry, [https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2017/08/01/world/europe/ap-eu-macedonia-bulgaria-treaty.html Aug. 1, 2017, The New York Times.]</ref> In an interview on August 4, 2018, Zaev said that "the Ilinden uprising is Macedonian" and "if any citizen of Bulgaria wants to celebrate it, let them celebrate it."<ref>Martin Dimitrov, Macedonia PM Apologises for Offending Bulgarians. [https://balkaninsight.com/2018/08/10/zaev-underscores-importance-of-friendship-with-bulgaria-amidst-controversial-ilinden-remark-08-10-2018/#:~:text=In%20an%20interview%20with%20Macedonian%201TV%20on%20August,from%20Bulgarian%20Socialist%20Party%2C%20BSP%20leader%20Kornelia%20Ninova. Sophia, BIRN, August 10, 2018.]</ref> In 2020, Bulgaria blocked the candidature of North Macedonia to the European Union over an 'ongoing nation-building process' based on [[Historical negationism#North Macedonia|historical negationism]] of the Bulgarian legacy in the broader [[Macedonia (region)|region of Macedonia]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Foreign Minister Zaharieva: Bulgaria Cannot Approve EU Negotiating Framework with North Macedonia - Novinite.com - Sofia News Agency|url=https://www.novinite.com/articles/206579/Foreign+Minister+Zaharieva%3A+Bulgaria+Cannot+Approve+EU+Negotiating+Framework+with+North+Macedonia|access-date=2020-12-09|website=novinite.com}}</ref>