Skopje, 3 July 2026 (MIA)

Darko JANEVSKI

On the centenary of the Young Turk Revolution in 2008, the foundation of then-powerful Velija Ramkovski launched a series of commercials portraying the 3 July 1908 Young Turk Revolution as one of the events leading to present-day independence of Macedonia. It is said to have started with the Ilinden Uprising, then continued through the Young Turk Revolution, and ended with Chento and the 1991 referendum.

The message for the uninformed was clear: the Young Turk Revolution is one of the events in the history of Macedonia that is firmly embedded in its independence. And one could, if they believed Ramkovski-or rather his Foundation-indeed come to think so.

But the responsibility for this perception did not lie with Ramkovski. In fact, Macedonian history and school textbooks from the post–World War II period-possibly even to this day-have treated the Young Turk Revolution as something positive for Macedonia. We were raised in that spirit, and in that same spirit we continue to educate children today.

And when it comes to Ramkovski, he did not stop at a few commercials but went further. In those days, in 2008, the grandson of Niyazi Bey, one of the leaders of the Young Turk Revolution, was awarded honorary citizenship of Resen, due to the merits of his ancestor for the town and for Macedonia. The award did have its own logic: if the Young Turk Revolution is considered part of Macedonia’s independence, and Niyazi Bey is one of its leaders, then it seemed only logical to pay tribute, even 100 years later and even through his grandson.

But the problem is that the entire narrative about the Young Turk Revolution, which began on this day - 3 July 1908 - and its connection to the independence of Macedonia, is severely distorted. It would not be strange or alarming if this were done by our neighbors - Greeks, Bulgarians, or Serbs. Nor would it be surprising if such an interpretation came even from Turkey. But when Macedonians themselves falsify their own history to their own detriment, the matter takes on serious dimensions.

In the entire story about Niyazi Bey and the Young Turk Revolution, which was then accepted by the people of Resen led by their mayor at the time, Dimitar Buzlevski, the only truth is that the bey built a palace in the town and that the revolution started from Resen. Everything else is a plain lie. But let us go step by step.

The causes of the Young Turk Revolution can be listed at considerable length. They are numerous, but historians agree on one thing: it would likely not have occurred without the final trigger - Macedonia.

After the Ilinden Uprising, the great European powers imposed Mürzsteg Reforms on the Ottoman Empire for Macedonia. Their non-implementation and above all the increasingly aggressive campaigns of Greece and Bulgaria (both countries had German kings) as well as Austria-Hungary and Germany in Macedonia, brought together the British and Russian tsars, Edward and Nicholas, at the same table.

Their meeting took place on 9-10 June 1908 in the city of Reval (today Tallinn, the capital of Estonia). The main purpose of the meeting was to prevent German–Austro-Hungarian expansion in Europe, including the Balkans, the Middle East, and other parts of the world.

According to British Foreign Secretary Edward Grey, the meeting also discussed the European vilayets within the Ottoman Empire. During the talks, the British king and the Russian tsar reached several agreements, one of which, according to Colonel Lamouche, included an agreement on reforms in Macedonia, through which it would be granted autonomy.

The agreement signed in Reval, according to A.F. Miller, meant Anglo-Russian control over Macedonia (referring to the entire region, including Thessaloniki), while S. Toshev argues that it would inevitably have led to the separation of the European territories from the Ottoman Empire. In any case, regardless of the nuances in interpretations of the agreement between the two emperors in Reval, all agree on one point: its implementation would have led to autonomy for Macedonia, and in the near future to its separation from Turkey, all under Russian and British control.

Documents from the Turkish archives state that the Reval meeting and the agreement reached there became one of the main causes of the outbreak of the Young Turk Revolution. This brings us to Niyazi Bey of Resen, then a vice-major, who, in his memoirs studied by Dr. Yusuf Hamzaoglu from Skopje, wrote:

“Thinking about the consequences of those decisions (referring to the decisions in Reval), I did not sleep for three days and three nights, and for three days and three nights I was in agitation and trembling, and in the end I decided to go off into the mountains and raise the flag of rebellion.”

In this way, Niyazi Bey-whose grandson was awarded in 2008 and made an honorary citizen of Resen – described the reasons for initiating the revolution. Its primary goal, he argued, was to prevent autonomy of Macedonia and thereby the loss of the European territories. According to Miller, had Niyazi Bey not defected, either VMRO would have prevailed in Macedonia or the region would have fallen into the hands of the great powers, which in either case would ultimately have resulted in its territorial wholeness, autonomy and, in the end, independence within its then borders.

This would also imply a predictable course of subsequent events: the Balkan Wars would not have taken place, as Bulgaria, Serbia, and Greece would have had no one to expel from the Balkans. In the First World War, Macedonia - being under Anglo-Russian control - would have participated on their side from the outset, which would have granted it the status of a victor in the war and thus guaranteed the integrity of its territory.

Of course, the Young Turks could not see that far ahead, but Niyazi Bey and his followers knew one thing for certain: there was no alternative – if they were to prevent the reforms in Macedonia agreed upon in Reval and thus its autonomy and later independence, they had to take up arms. They did so and the first step was taken by Niyazi Bey himself on 3 July 1908, as commander of the 3rd battalion of the 88th regiment stationed in Resen.

According to Prof. Hamzaoglu, this also opened the path to the Balkan Wars and the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in them, as the Young Turks had seriously weakened the military capacity of the Empire. Prof. Hamzaoglu’s thesis, in a conversation with the author of these lines, was that it would have been better for the integrity of Macedonia if the old Ottoman regime with the Sultan at its head had remained in power, as it would, in a weakened state, most likely have been forced to grant autonomy to Macedonia, thereby avoiding its partition. 

In contrast, the victory of the Young Turk Revolution led to the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in the First Balkan War, which in turn led to the Second Balkan War and the partition of Macedonia. This creates an absurd situation: in 1908, the only salvation for Macedonia was the man who had caused it so much harm, especially during and after the Ilinden Uprising – Sultan Abdul Hamid. His departure from history opened the way for the partition of Macedonia.

What confuses Macedonians in the narratives about this revolution, and consequently led them to almost joyfully accept the awarding of honorary citizenship in Resen to Niyazi Bey’s grandson, is that in the beginning, after the success of the Young Turk uprising, people truly believed that the time of freedom had come. They went out into the streets and embraced each other, and this is true. But they soon realized that things were getting worse. Under the previous regime, no one forbade them from expressing their nationality or religion. The Young Turks, however, took a different path: they began implementing the idea of creating a Turkish nation, which meant that all subjects of the regime - Muslims and Christians alike, including the inhabitants of Macedonia - were considered Turks.

The second issue that confuses Macedonians is the participation of Jane Sandanski in that revolution and his entry into Istanbul together with other units whose aim was to suppress the counter-revolution.

However, it is likely that few people know that at that time Sandanski had no other choice. To the Sultan, he was considered a rebel who needed to be arrested, which forced him to hide in Bulgaria. But he also had to flee from there due to the assassination of Sarafov and Garvanov, carried out on his orders.

In addition, he also entered into certain arrangements with the Young Turks, which were revealed after his death in 1915 in a letter by the parents of Garvanov and Sarafov. Disturbed by reports in the Bulgarian press that another hero of the Macedonian movement had died with Sandanski’s assassination, they wrote a longer letter stating, among other things, that after the revolution he had been granted a concession by the Young Turks to use the baths in Bansko. Until then, the baths had been managed by an Albanian, but the Young Turks simply revoked his permit and gave it to Sandanski.

That may be less important. Much more attention should be paid to the following: with the victory of the Young Turks, Sandanski finally found a place - Macedonia - where he could move freely without fear of arrest. For him, at that time, there was no other option. Whether he believed that the Young Turks would also bring improvements for Macedonia is another question.

All in all, the entire story of the Young Turk Revolution is rather long and highly complex. However, in none of its parts - from the preparations onward - can one find anything that links it to the present-day independence of Macedonia. The fact that, 18 years ago, the grandson of a man with no contribution to Macedonia’s modern independence and, on the contrary, a man associated with its partition - became an honorary citizen of Resen (a status he likely still holds today) is an entirely different matter. The motives behind this, admittedly, are not entirely clear.

However, if it is any consolation, that false narrative about the Young Turk Revolution - and the truth about it - was first published in the Macedonian Encyclopedia that appeared in those years, but was later withdrawn. There, long after the above lines were written, it stated:

Young Turk Revolution (1908) – a military coup carried out by intellectual, military, and bourgeois forces within the Ottoman state (mainly in Macedonia, as an action to prevent the autonomy of this Turkish province following the meeting of the sovereigns of Russia and England), aimed at establishing a constitutional system in the country. The Young Turks established the Committee of Union and Progress. At its Congress in Paris, the organization decided to initiate armed struggle aimed at fundamental changes in the state system and in the socio-economic order of the country. Although the operation was carried out earlier and not coincidentally with its center in Macedonia, in order to preserve the territorial integrity of the Ottoman Empire in light of the decisions regarding Macedonian autonomy at the Reval Russo-British meeting, the action was also supported by certain Macedonian revolutionary forces led by J. Sandanski.

The Young Turk coup of July 1908 did not bring major changes. The deposition of Sultan Abdul Hamid II and the establishment of the Young Turk regime did not represent a radical turning point. The internal crisis deepened (further aggravated by the war with Italy in 1911), parliament was dissolved in 1912, and soon the Second Balkan War began.