Krste Misirkov

Krste Petkov Misirkov (, ; ; ; 18 November 1874 – 26 July 1926) was a philologist, journalist, historian, folklorist and ethnographer from the region of Macedonia.

In the period between 1903 and 1905, he published the book titled On Macedonian Matters and the journal Vardar in which he affirmed the existence of a Macedonian national identity separate from other Balkan nations, and attempted to codify a standard Macedonian language based on the central Western Macedonian dialects. Misirkov is regarded as the forefather of the Macedonian nation and for his efforts to codify a standard Macedonian language, he is often considered "the founder of the modern Macedonian literary language". A survey conducted by the newspaper Vreme in the Republic of Macedonia (now North Macedonia) in the 2000s found Misirkov to be "the most significant Macedonian of the 20th century".

He was one of the founders of the pro-Bulgarian Secret Macedonian-Adrianople Circle established in 1900 in Saint Petersburg. In 1902, he was among the founders of the Macedonian Scientific and Literary Society. After 1905, he began publishing predominantly articles, written from a Bulgarian nationalist perspective in the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization-affiliated press. In his diary written during the Balkan Wars, he espoused a Bulgarian nationalist stance. During the First World War, he became a member of the local parliament in Bessarabia as a representative of the Bulgarian minority there. After the First World War, he switched back and forth between the Bulgarian national cause and the Macedonian one. Because Misirkov expressed conflicting views about the national identity of the Macedonian Slavs at different points in his life, his national affiliation and legacy have been disputed between Bulgaria and North Macedonia.

Biography

Early years

Krste Petkov Misirkov was born on 18 November 1874 in the village of Postol in the Salonica vilayet of the Ottoman Empire (present-day Pella, Greece). He completed his primary education in a Greek school in his native village. Due to the poor financial situation of his family, he became a farmer. Misirkov was granted a scholarship by a Serbian association, Society of Saint Sava. He then continued his education in Belgrade at the evening school of the Society of St. Sava in 1889. Due to the reaction of the students against the assimilationist tendencies of the Serbian government, a group of them was expelled, including Misirkov. He continued his education in Sofia in 1890. In 1897 he managed to enroll in University of Saint Petersburg, first at the Military Medical Academy and then at the Faculty of History and Philology. The main objective of the circle was the political Autonomy for Macedonia and Adrianople regions guaranteed by the Great Powers. In a letter sent to the President of the Supreme Macedonian-Adrianople Committee on 28 November of the same year, the founders of the circle stated that "there is no Bulgarian who is not interested in the situation and fate of that part of our homeland, which continue to groan under the yoke of the tyrant". In 1902, he was among the founders of the Macedonian Scientific and Literary Society. He graduated in 1902. Misirkov argued for a distinct Macedonian identity and language. Misirkov's ideas were mostly unknown to people. IMRO's activists opposed Misirkov's program and regarded his language as "Misirkov's mess".

After 1905, Misirkov halted his advocation of Macedonian separatism and opposed the Serbian position on the Macedonian Question.

Balkan Wars and World War I Questionnaire written in the Russian language filled by Misirkov as a member of Sfatul Țării in Bessarabia, where he defined himself as a Bulgarian born in Macedonia. When the First Balkan War had begun, Misirkov went to Macedonia as a Russian war correspondent. In Macedonia, he could follow the military operations of the Bulgarian Army. Misirkov published some articles in the Russian press demanding that the Ottomans be driven out of Macedonia. "As a Bulgarian, I would willingly return to Bulgaria, if there is a need of a scientific research of the fate of the Bulgarian lands, especially Macedonia..." A shorter letter with similar content was sent to another professor at Sofia University – Vasil Zlatarski, with the request to be assigned as a chosen at the newly established department for history of Macedonia and the other western Bulgarian lands. During the Balkan Wars, Misirkov was politically active as a Macedonian Bulgarian.

Misirkov published articles in Russian in the newspaper Macedonian Voice in 1913 and 1914. In this period, Misirkov also advocated a Bulgarian identity for the Macedonians as a choice preferable to Serbian. He also resumed his journalistic activity and published many articles on the Macedonian Question in the Bulgarian press, such as Bulgarian nationalist ones, Misirkov died on 26 June 1926 after a short illness and was buried in the graveyards in Sofia.

Works

On the Macedonian Matters

The most influential work by Misirkov is the book On the Macedonian Matters (Original: За македонцките работи), published in 1903 in Sofia, in which he laid down the principles of modern Macedonian. This book was written in the Macedonian dialects from the area between Prilep and Bitola. It argued in favor of national separation, the establishment of autonomous national institutions within the Ottoman Empire, and the standardization of a distinct Macedonian language. Misirkov wrote that one of the primary aims of the Macedonian intelligentsia should be to drive out the national and religious Serbian, Bulgarian and Greek propaganda from Macedonia, otherwise they would eventually lead to its partition. Furthermore, Misirkov appealed to the Ottoman authorities for eventual recognition of a separate Macedonian nation. Misirkov admitted that there was no Macedonian nation, but argued that it should be created, when the necessary historical circumstances would arise. Misirkov attacked both the Bulgarian Exarchate and the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) as agents of the Bulgarian interests in Macedonia. According to Misirkov, the Macedonian literary language should be based on dialects from the west-central part of Macedonia, which were used in the book itself. Misirkov's book is considered the "manifesto" of Macedonian nationalism and "both a political pamphlet and the first serious attempt at standardization of the Slavic vernacular language of Macedonia". The journal Vardar was published in 1905 in Odesa, Russian Empire. He expressed views about the national distinctiveness of the Macedonians. The data was collected as part of the ethnographic research made during the Macedonian expedition by the Russian Academy of Sciences in 1900, in which Misirkov was invited to participate in his native village, by his professor Petr Alekseevich Lavrov.

Diary

In 2006, a handwritten diary by Misirkov during his stay in Russia in 1913 was discovered in Sofia. It has been recognized as authentic by Bulgarian and Macedonian experts, was published in 2008, The manuscript includes 381 pages written in the Russian language. Misirkov wrote it in Klimentove, where he lived and worked at the time. It also contains articles and excerpts from the Russian press from that time. The discovery of his diary gave rise to public discussion over Misirkov's stances on Bulgarian and Macedonian ethnicity. Per Heraclides, Misirkov's stance was not clear-cut and he sounded Macedonian at times too. Misirkov opposed the use of j, apparently seeing it as foreign to the Cyrillic script. Misirkov further wrote: "We will be Macedonians rather than Bulgarians, but Macedonians with a self-consciousness other than your Serbian-national one, with a historical past of our own, with a literary language of our own, alongside the Bulgarian one, with a Macedonian-Bulgarian national school of our own, with a national church of our own, in which the national and religious sentiment of Macedonia is not offended by the face and spirit of Serbian saints such as 'St. Sava'." He concluded: "Whether we call ourselves Bulgarians or Macedonians, we always recognize ourselves as a separate, unified, completely distinct from the Serbs and with a Bulgarian consciousness of nationality." In the preface to Notes on South Slavic Philology and History, he wrote: The readers of this article will probably be surprised by the huge contradiction they will encounter in it compared to what they have read or can read in my brochure "On Macedonian Affairs". To guess this contradiction, it is enough to recall that I acted as an improvised politician there. This "policy" was supposed to neutralize Macedonian interests in the Balkan states and prove the ethnic and historical individuality of the Macedonians. But since in this "policy" they could see the "manner" of the Bulgarian government, not a few unnecessary harsh words were uttered against the latter. These superfluous "proofs" that my thoughts were not at all the manner of the Bulgarian government, but of an improvised "politician" on the Macedonian question, as well as the entire content of the brochure, were so far removed from impartial science that I considered it extremely inconvenient in my two-month stay in Sofia to meet with any of Sofia's philologists and historians. A memorial plaque on the house where Misirkov lived in Odesa was revealed during the Days of Science of the Republic of Macedonia in Odesa in 2008.

North Macedonia In North Macedonia, Misirkov is regarded as the forefather of the Macedonian nation. Ristovski described him as "the most eminent, most significant and more versatile cultural and national worker before liberation". Misirkov is regarded as the author of the first scientific magazine in Macedonian. The Institute for Macedonian language "Krste Misirkov" has been named after him since 1953. The Macedonian historiography sees his work as a scientific continuation of Gjorgji Pulevski's work.

There was a debate about Misirkov's ethnicity in North Macedonia issued by Rastislav Terzioski, who brought to light memos from Russian archives which clearly stated his pro-Bulgarian positions. The publication of his 1913 diary, which revealed his pro-Bulgarian views, sparked a major controversy in Skopje. Regarding Misirkov's signature as a "Macedonian Bulgarian", a Macedonian philologist argued: The signature Macedonian Bulgarian only points to the historical context of the non-existence of an independent Macedonian state. All this is just taken out of context, from a linguistic aspect the phrase can certainly be commented on, it is one thing to be a citizen somewhere, it is another to belong ethnically to someone and have the feeling. Misirkov in many missions, before the end of his life, when he says, the feeling that I am Macedonian should be the highest of all in the world. Also per Ristovski, based on the testimony of Misirkov's son and grand-daughter, when Misirkov lived in Sofia, and particularly in Bessarabia, he had to assist the Bulgarians because they were more numerous compared to the Macedonians, who were few. who was a proponent of Macedonism to promote Serbian interests in the region of Macedonia. According to Bulgarian observers, after the breakup of Yugoslavia, polemics have also arisen in the Republic of Macedonia about the identity of Misirkov. Per historian Chris Kostov, he abandoned the ideas of his 1903 book.