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report states that a band which was shot down by the Turks was armed with Gras rifles, although it is well known that not Bulgaria, but Greece, is armed with those weapons. The groundlessness of these assertions is best shown by the following facts: The pursuit and arrest of those agents of the Macedonian Committee who have been guilty of improper proceedings; the warning addressed by the Government to the Supreme Macedonian Committee in Sophia that it will be dissolved if it lays itself open to suspicion of such proceedings; the prohibition of the sale of arms in all places adjoining the Turkish frontier; the confiscation of a great number of arms in the district of Sophia by the Mayor of the capital. In the face of these facts it requires great audacity still to assert that the Bulgarian Government distributes rifles from its depôts to the Macedonian bands." F. Elliot.

Nr. 12822. GROSSBRITANNIEN. — Bericht des Generalkonsuls in Saloniki an den Botschafter in Konstantinopel über die Lage im Vilajet Saloniki.

Salonica, April 11, 1902.

Sir, I consider it most important to give some general details with regard to the real situation in the vilayet under my consular jurisdiction, which all papers describe as exceptionally precarious. || There is no doubt that the Bulgarian population of certain villages has had in some cases, to submit to ill-treatment and violence at the hands of the Turkish authorities. But in all such cases it was in consequence of the Bulgarian peasants harbouring, or siding with, the bands, either of their own free will or as the only means of saving their lives. || The only instance worth reporting which has been brought to my notice for some time are details related to me at the beginning of December as coming from two priests and three women connected with the expedition of the Kaïmakam of Vodena to the village of Sborsko in September. The women said they had been violated by the native Moslems accompanying the Governor, and the priests, one of whom still suffered from a swollen foot, that it was the result of the treatment to which he had been subjected. They further stated that many of the peasants had been similarly treated, and that the Kaïmakam had extorted about 500 1. from them, &c. I communicated this information to Tewfik Bey, who ordered an immediate inquiry. Nothing could be proved against the subordinate authorities, but as a consequence of the Vali's prompt action, no subsequent complaints of a similar nature have come in from that or

any other quarter. | About the same time, the Bulgarians complained to me that the notorious Turkish brigand Kiazim had, at a few hours' distance from Salonica, waylaid and plundered Bulgarian peasants returning to their villages in Kilkish, wounding nine of them. I again communicated with the Vali, who took fresh measures, and not long after, Kiazim's body was found in the bed of a river, without any clue being ever obtained as to how he came by his death. But whatever the cause of his death, I have since heard of no complaints about Turkish brigandage, and from that date to the beginning of this month, i. e., for four months, I have received no complaints whatever on the part of Bulgarians, who, as a rule, do not fail to come to me with an account of their grievances. The insecurity, which exists now to a certain extent, is caused by just those people who complain most of it. In fact, besides the permanent and inherent defects of the Turkish Administration, there is nothing at this moment to justify the anxiety manifested in the press so far as the Turkish population is concerned, Rayahs on the whole being left unmolested. But Bulgarian bands, which had for a time interrupted their murders, have begun again to assassinate Christians of other races, as well as Moslems. Hitherto neither of these parties has retaliated on a scale worthy of notice, but their position is becoming very precarious, and the Greeks, Servians, and Vlachs, as well as Moslems, are complaining in emphatic terms of the proceedings of the Bulgarian bands and of the consequent behaviour of the Bulgarian population. || I think that the most efficient way of giving a complete and impartial idea of the present grounds of complaint of the Bulgarians is to report the cases, together with the dates at which they were related, in the very words in which the Bulgarians themselves narrated them to me. April 4. Seven women from Lower Poroïa appeared before the Vali and complained that about twenty men and two women from their village had, two months ago, been transported to Demir-Hissar, the seat of the Government, and detained there, without, however, being imprisoned, in consequence of a certain Alexis, a native of their village, having taken the leadership of a band, and that about seventy of the inhabitants of the village, frightened by this measure, had fled in different directions. They admitted that the two women were Alexis' wife and mother, and that the twenty men were all more or less related to him. The Vali told me that the men and women had all been allowed home before the deputation of seven women had applied to him. || Mr. Acting Vice-Consul Theodorides replied on the 10th instant to my request for information that, in consequence of a denunciation, the Kaïmakam of

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Demir-Hissar went to Poroïa and ascertained for certain that Alexis, who was at the head of a Bulgarian band, was in constant touch with his relations and friends, to the number of about twelve, who provided him with victuals. The Kaïmakam, therefore, conveyed them to DemirHissar, until some decision had been arrived at concerning them. Mr. Theodorides adds that the statement that seventy peasants, frightened by this measure, had fled in all directions is entirely without foundation. April 4. Three Bulgarian peasants having disappeared under suspicious circumstances from Ghevgheli, the authorities, notified by the relatives, arrested some thirty-three Bulgarians three weeks ago on suspicion, of whom thirty from Ghevgheli and two or three from neighbouring villages. Their relatives complain that they have not yet been tried. The Vali, who at my requests asked for explanations from Ghergheli, has not yet received an answer. || April 4. In consequence of the murder at Doïran of a Serbophile Greek, about thirty Bulgarians were arrested to give evidence; of these, three, imprisoned on suspicion, were innocent. The murder took place on the 30th March, and at the time when complaint was made to me the morning of the 4th instant -the prisoners had already been released, with the exception of three, who, with five others, are supposed to have committed the crime. The facts of the case are these: A certain Patrioti, a Greek by origin, but in the Servian service as a kind of school-inspector in the Caza of Doïran, enjoyed a degree of influence which made him obnoxious to the Bulgarian Committees. An ineffectual attempt was made to murder him last year. On the 30th ultimo, however, at 6 P. M., he was surrounded in the market place of Doïran by eight Bulgarians, who gagged and pinioned him, stabbed him nine times in the back, and then nearly severed his head from his body. The Turkish authorities arrested thirty of the inhabitants living in the vicinity of the scene of the crime, and held an inquiry, when, as already stated, only three suspects were detained in prison. || The Greek and Servian Consulates expressed themselves in the strongest terms on this crime, and I learn that the impression produced at Doïran is such that Christians (Bulgarians excepted) and Moslems close the doors of their houses at sunset. Thus the methods employed by the Macedonian Committees are developing into terrorism of all the races in this district, including even a considerable number of Bulgarians themselves. || April 11. - Four women from the village of Novo Selo, Caza of Strumnitza, came to complain that about thirty of their fellow villagers, including their husbands, were being kept in the prisons of Salonica without trial, during which time three

of them had died. | There is no doubt that prisoners are frequently kept a long time awaiting their trial, but, on the one hand, cases have often to be postponed owing to the contradictory statements made by witnesses from one day to the other, which entails a delay necessary to the determining of the truth; and also, on the other, owing to the press of work at the Courts. || Since the arrival, however, of Hakki Bey, the new Procureur-Général, a Cretan who has had experience of political trials in his native island, cases have been proceeded with with an expedition hitherto unknown, which has satisfied even the Bulgarians. Of the 139 prisoners who, according to memorandums received here from Bulgarians at the end of November, were brought down from Stroumintza, 6 were sentenced to five years' hard labour, and only 32 are still awaiting their trial. I shall abstain from comment on the other complaints preferred by the Bulgarians. The facts in these cases speak for themselves. These, then and no other are the instances of disorder in this vilayet, which are represented in the press as endangering the security of European Turkey, as they undoubtedly tend to do; but the authors of the disorders are neither Moslems nor any Rayahs, but the Bulgarian brigand bands and the population they influence. || The present agitation in the vilayets under my jurisdiction is, so far as the Macedonian Committees are concerned, temporary and not likely to succeed any better later on if it should fail now, as is probable, unless the subordinate Turkish authorities commit some great blunder. But the disappearance of the bands will not do away with the permanent injustice, corruption, and maladministration, arising chiefly from the state of the finances, which leaves a free field to political intrigues. || Without touching on other reforms, the regular payment of the official salaries, police, and gendarmes' pay, &c., would do away with more than twothirds of the present abuses. Alfred Biliotti.

Nr. 12823. GROSSBRITANNIEN.

Der Minister des Ausw. an
Antwort

den türkischen Botschafter in London.

auf Nr. 12818 und 12819.

Despatches have been received from His Majesty's Agent and ConsulGeneral at Sophia, which contain information in regard to some of the matters mentioned verbally by the Turkish Ambassador to Lord Lansdowne on the 9th instant, or referred to in his Excellency's note of the 11th instant. || The Bulgarian Telegraphic Agency at Sophia recently published a communiqué stating that there is no foundation for the report that rifles of the

Carnicaset model have been distributed to the Macedonians out of the Government depôt at Kustendil, or for the report that Bulgarian brigands, who were shot by the Turkish troops, were found to be armed with Gras rifles. It is pointed out that rifles of these two models are not used by the Bulgarian army. The communiqué declares that the groundlessness of such reports is shown by the following facts: the pursuit and arrest of those agents of the Macedonian Committee who have been guilty of improper proceedings; the warning addressed by the Government to the Supreme Macedonian Committee at Sophia that it will be dissolved if it lays itself open to suspicion of such proceedings; the prohibition of the sale in arms in all places adjoining the Turkish frontier; and the confiscation of a great number of arms by the Mayor of Sophia. || M.Ludskanoff, the Bulgarian Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs, assured Mr. Elliot in conversation that his Government would certainly carry out their threat to dissolve the Macedonian Committee if it in any way transgressed the bounds of legality. Mr. Elliot having alluded to the proceedings of Colonel Yankoff, M. Ludskanoff stated that he belonged to the Reserve; that some of his speeches of which complaint was made appeared to have been delivered at private meetings, and that they could, therefore, not be prevented; but that if they held any incendiary language at a public meeting he would at once be arrested. || On the 19th instant a further communiqué was published by the Bulgarian Telegraphic Agency, stating that the Bulgarian Commercial Agents in Turkey had been instructed by Circular to urge the Bulgarian population to remain quiet. The communiqué added, however, that in sending copies of this Circular to the Bulgarian Diplomatic Agents, the Government had instructed them to point out to the Powers that its endeavours to preserve the tranquillity of the Balkan Peninsula would be ineffectual until measures were taken to improve the situation in Turkey,

Foreign Office, April 30, 1902.

Nr. 12824. TÜRKEI

Der Botschafter in London an den englischen Minister des Ausw. Beschwerden über das mazedonische Komitee.

Communication de son Altesse le Grand Vizir au Haridjié, le 7 Mai, 1902. Le Haut Commissaire Impérial fait savoir que les mesures récemment prises par le Gouvernement Bulgare contre les agitateurs ayant affecté plus que tout autre moyen Savaroff et son parti, ceux-ci ont résolu de Convoquer un Congrès pour fusionner les différents Comités, et dans ce

Staatsarchiv LXVIII.

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