ПРАШАЊЕТО ЗА АМНЕСТИЈА НА ВОДАЧИТЕ ОД ИЛИНДЕНСКОТО ВОСТАНИЕ
THE QUESTION FOR AMNESTY OF THE LEADERS FROM THE ILINDEN UPRISING

Summary/Abstract: The Mürzsteg reforms were an attempt to pacify and relieve the situation in Macedonia after the Ilinden Uprising. Amongst other things, these reforms tackled the issue of amnesty for the political perpetrators. More specifically, the issue of amnesty for those who had escaped or who had been detained and convicted in connection with the unrest in Macedonia in 1903 was regulated by the Turkish-Bulgarian agreement of April 1904. When the diplomatic representatives, the Ottoman authorities, as well as the international mandatories in the reform process, proclaimed amnesty for this category of people, they also tackled the issue of extending the amnesty to the chieftains who were then acting as illegal leaders of the Macedonian revolutionary movement. However, the prescribed procedures for legalizing the illegal leaders were extremely vague and complicated, while the lack of proper coordination between the central and local authorities did not allow implementation of the offered opportunity. The vast majority of the revolutionary movement leaders were dissatisfied by the Mürzsteg reforms and chose to continue the armed struggle. Thus they did not show willingness to accept the amnesty. On the other hand, the authorities refused to grant amnesty to those who expressed such a desire. Hence the surrender of illegal activists happened only incidentally and was more common among the lower-ranked insurgents. Thus, the issue of extending the amnesty to the illegal leaders and chieftains of the Macedonian revolutionary movement ended in a complete fiasco.

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