Macedonian Patriotic Organization of the Bulgarians -- USA 3

Atanas Stefanov, a chairman of the "Kostur" Brotherhood in Fort Wayne [33], was the first to address the First Congress of the Macedonian Patriotic Organization. In his speech he described the tragic fate of their enslaved brothers in Vardar and Aegean Macedonia. He called for the unification of all Macedonian emigrants into a powerful Bulgarian patriotic organization and proposed that the Permanent Board of the Congress be elected. The congressmen elected Mihail Nikolov to be the Chairman of the first congress, and Kosta Popov [34] became his deputy.

On October 2, 1922 the delegates reported of the local patriotic organizations' positions. The were unanimous about the fact that Bulgarian immigrants in North America could not stay far from the struggles in enslaved Macedonia to reject the hard clauses of the peace treaty in 1919. All delegates who spoke at the congress emphasized their Bulgarian origin and national identity. When the issue of MPO's aims was discussed, most of the delegates spoke in favor of the idea of creating a free and independent Macedonia. They thought that this strategic aim would neutralize opposition on the side of Athens and Belgrade and would do away with the Great Powers' motives that were afraid of the creation of a powerful state on the Balkan Peninsula [35]. If they had their own independent state, the Bulgarians in Macedonia would be saved from forceful denationalization and assimilation. If the future presented a good chance, liberated Macedonia would become a building element in the creation of a Balkan Confederation. The delegates believed that within such a confederation the national unity of the Bulgarian people would be achieved [36].

http://macedonia-science.org/page.php?127
http://www.macedonian.org/media/buneva3.asp

Category:

Education

Tags:

• MPO
• --
• Macedonian
• Patriotic
• Organization
• of
• the
• Bulgarian
• emigrants
• in
• United
• States
• Canada
• Australia
• USA
• 03

[jillbuckel]

I would recognize that beautiful music anywhere!!!! Elia Kalkoff Orchestra, my stara Dedo! :)