Petar Pop-Arsov ( bg, Петър Попарсов, mk, Петар Поп Арсов) originally spelled in
older Bulgarian orthography: ''Петъръ попъ Арсовъ''; (14 August 1868 – 1 January 1941) was a
Bulgarian educator and revolutionary from
Ottoman Macedonia, one of the founders of the
(IMARO), known in its early times as ''Bulgarian Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Committees'' (BMARC). Although he was Bulgarian teacher and revolutionary, and thought of his compatriots as
Bulgarians
Bulgarians ( bg, българи, Bǎlgari, ) are a nation and South Slavic ethnic group native to Bulgaria and the rest of Southeast Europe.
Etymology
Bulgarians derive their ethnonym from the Bulgars. Their name is not completely unders ...
, according to the post-WWII
Macedonian historiography
Historiography in North Macedonia is the methodology of historical studies used by the historians of that country. It has been developed since 1945 when SR Macedonia became part of Yugoslavia. According to the German historian it has preserve ...
, he was an ethnic
Macedonian.
Early life
He was born in 1868 in the village of
Bogomila, near
Veles. He was one of the leaders of the student protest in the
Bulgarian Men's High School of Thessaloniki
The Sts. Cyril and Methodius Bulgarian Men's High School of Thessaloniki ( bg, Солунска българска мъжка гимназия „Св. св. Кирил и Методий“, ''Solunska balgarska mazhka gimnazia „Sv. sv. Kiril i ...
in 1887/1888 where the main objective was to replace the East Bulgarian dialect with a Macedonian dialect in the lecturing. As a consequence, he was expelled along with 38 other students. He managed to enroll in the philology studies program at
Belgrade University
The University of Belgrade ( sr, / ) is a List of universities in Serbia, public university in Serbia. It is the oldest and largest modern university in Serbia.
Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 i ...
in 1888, but because his resistance to
Serbianisation
Serbianisation American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), or Serbianization, also known as Serbification, and Serbisation American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), or ...
, he was once more evicted in 1890. In 1892 he graduated in
Slavistics
Slavic (American English) or Slavonic (British English) studies, also known as Slavistics is the academic field of area studies concerned with Slavic areas, languages, literature, history, and culture. Originally, a Slavist or Slavicist was prim ...
from
Sofia University
Sofia University, "St. Kliment Ohridski" at the University of Sofia, ( bg, Софийски университет „Св. Климент Охридски“, ''Sofijski universitet „Sv. Kliment Ohridski“'') is the oldest higher education i ...
.
Young Macedonian Literary Society
In 1891 he is one of the founders of
Young Macedonian Literary Society in
Sofia
Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and h ...
and its magazine ''Loza'' (The Vine). The purpose of the society was twofold: the official one was primarily scholarly and literary. One of the purposes of the magazine of Young Macedonian Literary Society was to defend the idea the dialects from
Macedonia to be more represented in Bulgarian literature language. The articles where historical, cultural and ethnographic. The authors of this magazine clearly considered them as
Macedonian Bulgarians
Macedonians or Macedonian Bulgarians ( bg, македонци or македонски българи), sometimes also referred to as Macedono-Bulgarians, Macedo-Bulgarians, or Bulgaro-Macedonians are a regional, ethnographic group of et ...
, but the Bulgarian government suspected them of the lack of loyalty and some separatism and the magazine was promptly banned by the Bulgarian authorities after several issues.
IMARO
![Statute-Bulgarian-Macedonian-Adrianopolitan-Revolutionary-Committees](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e7/Statute-Bulgarian-Macedonian-Adrianopolitan-Revolutionary-Committees.jpg)
The best proof of the aims and tasks of the
Young Macedonian Literary Society was provided during the following year when its members became either founders of or active participants in "The Committee for Obtaining the Political Rights Given to Macedonia by the Congress of Berlin" from which, as Petar Poparsov says, there later developed
IMARO
The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO; bg, Вътрешна Македонска Революционна Организация (ВМРО), translit=Vatrešna Makedonska Revoljucionna Organizacija (VMRO); mk, Внатр ...
. These were the Macedonian intellectuals who were "the witnesses to the hellish condition of Macedonia and took account of the geographical, ethnographic, economic and other characteristics of the country". In 1894 Petŭr Poparsov was asked by the founders to prepare a draft for the first statute of the IMARO, based on the Statute of
Vasil Levski
Vasil Levski ( bg, Васил Левски, spelled in old Bulgarian orthography as , ), born Vasil Ivanov Kunchev (; 18 July 1837 – 18 February 1873), was a Bulgarian revolutionary who is, today, a national hero of Bulgaria. Dubbed t ...
's
Internal Revolutionary Organization
The Internal Revolutionary Organisation ( bg, Вътрешна революционна организация) or IRO was a Bulgarian revolutionary organisation founded and built up by Bulgarian revolutionary Vasil Levski in the period between 1 ...
, which was available to them in
Zahari Stoyanov's ''Notes on the Bulgarian Uprisings''. Some Macedonian and Bulgarian researchers assume, that in this first statute the organization was called
Bulgarian Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Committees, and Poparsov was its author.
From 1896-7 he worked in
Štip
Štip ( mk, Штип ) is the largest urban agglomeration in the eastern part of North Macedonia, serving as the economic, industrial, entertainment and educational focal point for the surrounding municipalities.
As of the 2002 census, the city ...
as a
Bulgarian teacher and president of the regional IMARO section. In 1897 he was arrested by
Ottoman authorities on charges of inciting rebellion, and sentenced to 101 years in prison. He was pardoned in August 1902. After his release he encountered a changed political climate in
Macedonia. He remained passive during the
Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising of 1903. However, after the failure of the uprising, he was admitted to the Central Committee of IMARO. At the Rila Congress in November 1905, he was elected in the representative body of IMARO. He championed the idea of Macedonian autonomy. After the
Young Turk revolution
The Young Turk Revolution (July 1908) was a constitutionalist revolution in the Ottoman Empire. The Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), an organization of the Young Turks movement, forced Sultan Abdul Hamid II to restore the Ottoman Consti ...
of 1908, he took an active part in the preparation and holding of the elections for the
Ottoman Parliament
The General Assembly ( tr, Meclis-i Umumî (French romanization: "Medjliss Oumoumi" ) or ''Genel Parlamento''; french: Assemblée Générale) was the first attempt at representative democracy by the imperial government of the Ottoman Empire. Als ...
with the list of the
People's Federative Party (Bulgarian Section) but did not receive the necessary number of votes for a deputy.
During the
First Balkan War
The First Balkan War ( sr, Први балкански рат, ''Prvi balkanski rat''; bg, Балканска война; el, Αʹ Βαλκανικός πόλεμος; tr, Birinci Balkan Savaşı) lasted from October 1912 to May 1913 and invo ...
he participated in an unsuccessful meeting attended by some local revolutionaries from the left wing of the IMARO in
Veles. It was organized by
Dimitrija Čupovski and its aim was to authorize representatives to participate in the
London peace conference. They had to try to preserve the integrity of the region of Macedonia.
In Bulgaria
After the
Balkan Wars he moved to
Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...
. Here he married to Hrisanta Nasteva, a former teacher of
Bulgarian Girls' High School of Thessaloniki. They settled in
Kostenets in 1914, where he continuous taught from 1914 to 1929. He worked not only as a teacher but also a director to his retirement. His brother Andrey Poparsov was Mayor of
Bogomila during the Bulgarian rule in the area in the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, but was killed in October 1918 by the
Serbian authorities. In 1920, he protested against the
Serbianization of
Macedonian Bulgarians
Macedonians or Macedonian Bulgarians ( bg, македонци or македонски българи), sometimes also referred to as Macedono-Bulgarians, Macedo-Bulgarians, or Bulgaro-Macedonians are a regional, ethnographic group of et ...
implemented in the
Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes
Kingdom commonly refers to:
* A monarchy ruled by a king or queen
* Kingdom (biology), a category in biological taxonomy
Kingdom may also refer to:
Arts and media Television
* ''Kingdom'' (British TV series), a 2007 British television drama s ...
and described its early stages in
Macedonia as one of the most powerful factors to the creation of the
IMRO
The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO; bg, Вътрешна Македонска Революционна Организация (ВМРО), translit=Vatrešna Makedonska Revoljucionna Organizacija (VMRO); mk, Внатр ...
.
[Бруталната политика на посърбяване, която отричаше всяко човешко достойнство у македонските българи и жестоко нараняваше националното им чувство - създаде в душата на тоя милионен български народ една трагедия, която ставаше още по-страшна пред вид на това, че посърбяването означаваше не само денационализиране, ами и повръщане на македонските българи под ведомството на Гръцката патриаршия, против която бяха водили дългогодишна кървава борба и едва се бяха изкопчили от вампирските ѝ нокти. Лозунгът беше: далече от България! Не за това, че тя беше виновница за положението в Македония, ами защото всяко подозрение за нейна намеса можеше да напакости и ней, и на делото, което трябваше да си запази своя чисто вътрешен македонски характер. Върху тези ясни и точно определени основи се образува първия таен "Комитет за придобиване политическите права на Македония, дадени ѝ от Берлинския договор", от който сетне се разви тъй наречената Вътрешна М. Р. Организация...'', в "Бюлетин на Временното представителство на обединената бивша Вътрешна македонска революционна организация", брой №8 от 19 юли 1919, стр. 2-3.] He died after a brief illness in
Sofia
Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and h ...
in 1941.
Books
Стамболовщината въ Македония и нейнитѣ прѣдставители- Петъръ Попъ Арсовъ
Notes
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Poparsov, Petar
1868 births
1941 deaths
People from Čaška Municipality
Members of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization
Bulgarian revolutionaries
Prisoners and detainees of the Ottoman Empire
Recipients of Ottoman royal pardons
Bulgarian people imprisoned abroad
Bulgarian educators
Macedonian Bulgarians
Bulgarian Men's High School of Thessaloniki alumni