It has demonstrated till now and will prove in
the future that it establishes its activities on the interests and
works for the ideals of struggling Macedonia and the Bulgarian
race."
TODOR ALEXANDROV, The Leader of the IMRO from 1911 to 1924
The Treaty of Berlin killed Peter Lazov. A Turkish soldier first
gouged his eyes out, some say with a spoon, others insist it was a
knife. As the scream-imbued blood trickled down his face, the Turk
cut both his ears and the entirety of his nose with his sword. Thus
maimed and in debilitating agony, he was left to die for a few days.
When he failed to do so, the Turks disembowelled him to death and
decapitated the writhing rump.
The Ottomans granted independence to Bulgaria in the 1878 Treaty of
San Stefano unwillingly, following a terminal defeat at the hands of
a wrathful Russian army. The newly re-invented nation incorporated a
huge swathe of Macedonia, not including Thessaloniki and the
Chalcidice Peninsula. Another treaty followed, in Berlin, restoring
the "balance" by returning Macedonia to Turkish rule. Turkey
obligingly accepted a "one country, two systems" approach by
agreeing to a Christian administration of the region and by
permitting education in foreign languages, by foreign powers in
foreign-run and owned schools.
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