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By:
Syle Ukshini
- November 19, 2023 09:19
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Russia and Austria-Hungary could not only influence the Balkans, but from 1903 to 1908 they would have the last word in efforts to restore order in Macedonia. Also in this period, Austria-Hungary and Russia took joint action to maintain the status quo in the European provinces of the Ottoman Empire. This intervention was diplomatically legitimized first by the Vienna reform plan and then, in October 1903, by the Mürzsteg program. The leaders of the European powers considered reform efforts (the Mürzsteg Program) as an alternative that could dampen the unrest in the Ottoman vilayets in the Southern Balkans and satisfy the bulk of their population. The effort of the powers to organize extensive reforms in Macedonia and in the Province of Kosovo ended however in fiasco
From the beginning of the 1890th century, the Balkans again became the focus of international attention. The policies of the European powers in the first half of the XNUMXs continued to depend on their rivalry with each other as they tried to maintain status quo when it came to the European part of the Ottoman Empire. At the same time, the Balkans continued to be a source of antagonism between Russia and Austria-Hungary, as both states had their own interests there. Russia needed unrestricted access to the Mediterranean, and Austria-Hungary aimed to control the western part of the peninsula and the port of Thessaloniki in the Aegean. After British opposition to Russian ambitions to conquer the Bosphorus Straits, and Constantinople and part of Asia Minor, Russia had returned to its previous line: strengthening its cooperation with France. Meanwhile, Germany officially protected the integrity of the Ottoman Empire and held key positions in its economic and military affairs.
For Austria-Hungary, which in the second half of the XNUMXth century and the beginning of the XNUMXth century had the status of a major European power, the Balkans was the last possible region where it could develop an active foreign policy, as well as to play an important role in the alliances between the most powerful states of the European Concert. Furthermore, the Habsburg Monarchy could also promote its economic and more or less political and cultural influence there, but at the beginning of the XNUMXth century, it could only do so with great difficulty. This was due to South Slavic nationalism, which permeated the entire Balkan Peninsula and was also closely involved in the existential problems of the Habsburg monarchy. Both Austria-Hungary and Russia used political agents and religious propaganda. Catholic missionaries from Austria, supported by Rome, carried out a large-scale campaign among the local population, both Slavic and Albanian, while Russia continued its traditional line of support for Orthodoxy.
The Albanian state as a prevention of Serbian ambitions
The central unresolved political issue in the Balkans was the Albanian and Macedonian one (Ottoman vilayets of Kosovo, Thessaloniki and Bitola), which intensified greatly at the beginning of the XNUMXth century. The Congress of Berlin affected the Albanian and Macedonian territory within the borders of the Ottoman Empire. These territories became part of the claims of three Balkan states: Greece, Bulgaria and Serbia.
Against this background, Austro-Hungarian policy initially focused on the Catholic Albanian population, which was offered protection from the attacks of the Ottoman state and was used for the spread of Austro-Hungarian influence on the one hand, and the national awareness of the Albanians on the other. This foreign policy of official Vienna was in function of opposing the pan-Slavic ambitions of Russia and Serbia in the late XNUMXth and early XNUMXth centuries. In this context, the Albanian issue occupied a key place in the priorities of Austria-Hungary's foreign policy, which had the aim of establishing the Albanian state as a barrier against the unbridled Serbian ambitions to reach the Albanian coast, the Adriatic Sea. Immediately after the Congress of Berlin, a special geopolitical weight in the region took northern Arnautlëk (Kosovo Province), namely the proposal related to the construction of the Mitrovica-Selanik railway, which simultaneously aimed to be a dividing line of Austro-Hungarian and Russian influence. Meanwhile, Austria-Hungary also had a military force in the Sanjak of New Pazar, which served as a connecting bridge between Kosovo and Bosnia and at the same time as a barrier to breaking the Serbian territorial continuity with Montenegro.
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Macedonia as the fuse of the Balkans
In this period the European part of the Ottoman Empire, consisting of Aranutllek (Albania), Macedonia and Thrace, was the cause of permanent tensions regarding the ethnic, religious and national diversity of its citizens, and the inability of the central government to implement reforms necessary to achieve law and order. A campaign of comity/bandit groups organized by neighboring countries (Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece), which aimed to create constant unrest and turmoil within the Ottoman state, also played its part in increasing separatist tendencies. These relatively new countries shared the objective of bringing Ottoman power to a final end in Europe and capturing its remaining territory, as well as the individual objectives of these Balkan states, which were more or less incorporated within the policies of the Great Powers. . They themselves defended their interests in the peninsula, which was considered a gunpowder power in Europe. At the beginning of the XNUMXth century, the diplomatic problem regarding the "Macedonian issue" grew and the activity of the Macedonian insurgents became unstoppable. Macedonia was considered the fuse of the Balkans, which was seen as the "gunpowder power in Europe" by all statesmen who played a role in world politics. Macedonia consisted of three vilayets, the provinces of Thessaloniki, Manastir and Kosovo, with the center in Skopje and the regions connected to it.
As long as the policies of the two powers were not in conflict in the Balkans, and as long as it was in the interests of both powers to maintain the status quo, peace was not in great danger. Mutual distrust was bound to project itself in the Balkans. Subsequently, the idea of initiating the creation of a Balkan bloc (including the Ottoman Empire) came to the forefront of Russian diplomacy, a bloc which would function as a system of "collective security" against Austria-Hungary. Although the initial goal of Russian diplomacy was quite different, the initiative of the great European powers led to an agreement between Austria-Hungary and Russia with the aim of accelerating reforms in the Balkan territory of the Ottoman state, namely in Macedonia, which, we underlined even more above, it should not be confused with the name of today's Macedonia, as it included the Ottoman vilayets of Kosovo, Thessaloniki and Manastir.
Under these circumstances, the High Porte had no choice but to submit to pressure from the European powers, even though the demands of the European powers were clearly considered to be interference in the internal affairs of the Ottoman state. However, the Ottoman government, trying to avoid the intervention of the Great Powers, in January 1902 appointed Hilmi Pasha as inspector general in Rumeli, who would implement the Ottoman reforms. But this step of the Ottoman government did not bring the expected approval, neither in Vienna nor in Petersburg. In late December 1902, the Russian Foreign Minister, Count Vladimir Nikolayevich Lamsdorf, met his Austrian counterpart, Count Agenor Goluchovski, in Vienna. Before arriving in Vienna in December 1902, Count Lamsdorff went first to Serbia and then to Bulgaria, in order to inform the governments of these two countries of the imminent decision of Austria-Hungary and Russia to take steps to maintain the status quo in Macedonia and not to start processes that could lead to autonomy for the Macedonian vilayets of the Ottoman Empire. This was a compelling point. It reflected Austria-Hungary's need for security, for the Empire was unwilling to tolerate the creation of an autonomous Macedonia stretching from Bulgaria to Albania, with the prospect (or rather the threat, as far as Austria-Hungary was concerned) of its unification with Bulgaria and thus realizing the vision of Greater Bulgaria embodied in the Treaty of Saint Stephen.
But as a result of the inability of the two European powers to create any kind of mechanism for overseeing the reforms, the absence of any measure to implement the reform on the part of the High Porte, which was given the main role in ensuring their implementation, was the main weakness in the realization of the Vienna Program reforms. The same weakness characterized the moves of the Austro-Hungarian and Russian governments to stop the activities of the Bulgarian gangs/committee. While in the summer of 1903, the well-known Ilinden uprising broke out (August 2, 1903), which marked the end of the Vienna Program. These developments caused Austria-Hungary and Russia to resume discussions on reforms.
Accordingly, in September, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia visited Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary at his castle in Mürzsteg, Russia and Austria-Hungary in particular wanted to avoid a conflict between the Ottoman Empire and the Balkan states, as their spheres of influence would be directly affected. After mutual consultation between the leaders of Austria-Hungary and Russia, the Agreement of Mürzstegu was reached on October 2, 1903, which was then accepted and under pressure from the High Gate. For this reason, the two countries drew up a program for future procedures, the so-called "Mürzstegu Program" for the territory of Macedonia, which included the Ottoman vilayets of Kosovo, Thessaloniki and Manastir as part of the Ottoman Empire in 1903. Mainly, it reiterated points of the Vienna agreement of the previous year. Most important was the appointment of two civil servants from each side. Under the auspices of both states, reforms of the gendarmerie and administrative and judicial institutions took place; Christians would be part.
Reforms in the Vilayet of Kosovo, Manastir and Thessaloniki
The main goal of the two European powers, which with the Mürzstegut Program presented a new program of reforms in Macedonia and Kosovo and for this received the consent of other great powers, was a commitment to maintaining peace and continuing the status quo in the Balkans , as well as the reorganization of the gendarmerie under the supervision of European officers. Despite the efforts of Sultan Abdyl Hamit, this program of the European powers was forced to be accepted unchanged. The reforms in the Vilayet of Kosovo, Manastir and Thessaloniki, which were envisaged by the Mürzstegu Program, were the following:
The states of Austria-Hungary and Russia for the control and audit of reforms in Macedonia (Vilayate of Kosovo, Monastir and Thessaloniki) would appoint special officers to be next to the general inspector;
The Ottoman state, to ensure peace and security in Macedonia, would give a foreign state the reformation of the gendarmerie and police forces, while a foreign officer had to be appointed, until it was deemed necessary in the accompanying team of this general;
A general amnesty would be announced;
Assistance would be provided by the government for the reconstruction of burnt villages; whereas no tax would be collected from the population of the affected countries for a period of one year:
The borders of the three vilayets that formed Macedonia (Vilayate of Kosovo, Manastir and Thessaloniki) would change and be corrected;
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They would be appointed civil servants from the Christian population.
It was also planned to include representatives of the Christian population in the administration, courts and police and to disband the "bashibozuks", the irregular troops of the Ottoman Empire. Christians were to participate in all these institutions. The goal of these reforms was to preserve the integrity of the Ottoman state, while providing greater rights for Christians living under it. They began their work under Hysein Hilmi Pasha, the inspector general of Macedonia, in early 1904. Under the Mürzsteg program, each Great Power appointed an advisory official to the Ottoman official responsible for reforming the gendarmerie in each province. Austria-Hungary appointed an adviser to the sanjak of Skopje/Üsküp, Russia to the sanjak of Thessaloniki, France to the sanjak of Serres, and Britain to the sanjak of Drama.
According to the decisions of the military commission on April 5, 1094, the division of the reform areas within the three Ottoman vilayets was made as follows:
The official headquarters of the reorganization center was located in Thessaloniki, where the gendarmerie school was also to be established. The unit of Austro-Hungarian officers in the Vilayet of Kosovo (Skopje), the Russians in Thessaloniki, the Italians in Bitola and the French in the Sanjak of Seresi, and the English members in the Sanjak of Drama led the gendarmerie organization. Germany's military unit, which had refrained from sending a guidance officer, would take over the direction of the gendarmerie school in Thessaloniki.
This definition of the reform areas did not fully correspond to the political boundaries of the Rumelian vilayets, since the mainly Albanian sanjaks of Tashlije (Plevlje), Sjenica (Novi-Pazar), Dibra and Prizren, as well as parts of the sanjaks of Peja, Elbasan, Ohrid and Korça - due to the expected violent resistance - would be included in the reform action at a later time.
A similar exception was made for the region of the monasteries of Hagion Oros. (Mount Athos), given the recognized administrative independence. After that, despite energetic notes to the High Porte, which had failed to obtain any additional concessions regarding the number of foreign officers and officials of the reform, the Military Commission decided that in the interest of the possible rapid restructuring of the gendarmerie, that initially called only by one officer from each major power participating in Thessaloniki. Also, in order to carry out the reforms, the European powers would also appoint their civil agents, who had a limited mandate. In his initial comments on the provisions of the Mürzsteg Program, the Foreign Minister in Vienna, Count Goluchowski, wrote to the Consul in Constantinople, Calice, that the purpose of limiting the term of civilian agents to two years was to show the Sultan that both European powers did not consider their intervention as a permanent factor and that active intervention would cease once they had achieved their goal of pacifying the region. This detail alone reveals how little determined the two European powers were to intervene forcefully in Macedonian affairs. On the one hand, they were adopting radical interventionist measures to implement reforms, and on the other hand, they were showing that they did not want those measures to appear forced and coercive, so as not to arouse the displeasure of the Sultan.
Secret goals in Sofia, Belgrade and Athens
Austro-Hungarian Consul Calice stated that it was absolutely vital that the process be closely monitored and noted that this could be done by the local Russian and Austrian consuls, who should highlight weak points and press for the speedy implementation of reforms. . It is clear that their reports to their ambassadors must be impartial and confined to a direct account of events.
In terms of defining the problem, it is clear that the Austrian diplomats correctly discovered that the fundamental parameter was the growing nationalism of the various Christian peoples in European tourism, especially the Bulgarians. It was a factor that no longer allowed the ethnic groups in question to tolerate the current situation, because all of them, to a greater or lesser extent, now openly demanded national emancipation. But precisely this basic consideration was not addressed by the authors of the Austrian foreign policy. The reason was their refusal to instigate substantial changes in the administrative regime of the Macedonian vilayets, due to their deep reluctance to weaken the authority of the Sultan and thus bring about the separation of these provinces from the body of the Ottoman Empire.
Ultimately, the purpose of the intervention of the European powers was simply to restore normal conditions and stability within the Ottoman Empire and above all to alleviate social and economic problems, as well as inter-ethnic conflicts and the Ottoman state. But the interventions of the Balkan states in different ways actually worsened the situation and hindered the progress of the reforms, as they conflicted with the hidden goals of the political centers in Sofia, Belgrade and Athens, which aimed at the opposite of the reforms, on all the fragmentation of the European part of the Ottoman Empire.
Although recognized as the core of the problem, ethnic conflicts were not the subject of any serious concern in their efforts to find a solution. The result was that the status quo continued in the region for only nine more years, along with ever-increasing conflict between rival ethnic groups. Another lack of foresight was their interest in Ottoman Macedonia perhaps in keeping a crisis under control, which, however, would not last long.
To be continued in the next issue of the Culture Supplement
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