The World Macedonian Congress (shortened as WMC or SMK; ) is a Macedonian diaspora organization based in Skopje. Its aims are to represent the rights and interests of Macedonians domestically and internationally.Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, The radical right in Macedonia, Zdravko Saveski, Artan Sadiku, December 2012, , pp. 1–3. It is seen as a nationalist or ultranationalist organization by researchers. The organization was registered during the fall of communism, on 15 September 1990 by Todor Petrov, who is also the president of the organization.Historical Dictionary of North Macedonia, Dimitar Bechev, Rowman & Littlefield, 2019, , p. 309.The Macedonian Conflict: Ethnic Nationalism in a Transnational World, Loring Danforth, Princeton University Press, , 1995, p. 101.The Australian People: An Encyclopedia of the Nation, James Jupp, Cambridge University Press, 2001, , p. 573.
History Foundation and ideology The World Macedonian Congress was the second of the two international lobby organizations or World Macedonian Congresses established in the Republic of Macedonia (now North Macedonia) with the disintegration of former Yugoslavia. It was created as a rival to the first World Macedonian Congress (created by John Bitove, Sr., a Canadian-Macedonian businessman with the encouragement of the first president of the Republic of Macedonia, Kiro Gligorov) by the independent politician Todor Petrov and president of the Congress. Petrov claimed the Congress was created partly to replace the "Institute for the Macedonian Diaspora", which had been discredited through its past association with the Yugoslavian secret service.James Jupp, The Australian People; An Encyclopedia of the Nation, its People and their Origins, ch. "Macedonians", Cambridge University Press, 2001, p. 572
The organization claims ideological descent from one offshoot of the Macedonian Secret Revolutionary Committee, founded by Georgi Kapchev in Geneva, which sent a call to convene an International Congress, to solve the Macedonian Question in January 1899.The program of Kapchev contained 12 items and was a revision of the program of reforms made by the Supreme Macedonian-Adrianople Committee in 1896. According to it, Macedonia and Eastern Thrace should to form an autonomous region into the Ottoman Empire with its own legislative and executive powers and presumed that Bulgarian language, ought to be used there as official one. "Istoricheski pregled," Volume 48, Issues 7–12, Bŭlgarsko istorichesko druzhestvo, Institut za istoria (Bulgarian Academy of sciences) Bŭlgarsko istorichesko druzhestvo, 1992, pp. 106-108. This idea is disputed by Bulgarian historians on the grounds that Kapchev was a Bulgarian journalist and lawyer.Централният македонски комитет на Георги Капчев (1898 – 1899), в: Елдъров, Светлозар. Върховният македоно-одрински комитет и македоно-одринската организация в България (1895 – 1903), Иврай, 2003, стр. 241–268.Нова организация с познати идеи. По повод решенията на X-то юбилейно генерално събрание на Световния македонски конгрес. Анализи, прогнози, документи. Бюлетин на Македонски научен институт, 2001, № 1, с. 21–29;39.16.
International researchers and Macedonian researchers have generally seen the organization as a nationalist or ultranationalist organization. In 2001, the organization called NATO the "New Albanian Terrorist Organization" and blocked a highway to prevent NATO from supplying KFOR. According to Macedonian researcher Cvete Koneska, the organization has generally taken hard nationalist stands on political issues, usually regarding Macedonian foreign policy and the country's issues with Greece and Bulgaria. During the Macedonia naming dispute, the organization stood for ending talks with Greece and continuation of Macedonia's membership in the United Nations under its then constitutional name. It also saw antiquity as a source of Macedonian national identity. Macedonian political scientist Zdravko Savevski labelled the organization as far-right and ultranationalist. Political scientist Ognen Vangelov referred to the organization as right-wing.
2004 referendum In 2004, Todor Petrov and the World Macedonian Congress initiated 2004 referendum against changes of administrative divisions. According to the government proposal of municipal border, which would decrease the percentage of Macedonians, and transform Struga and Kičevo into Albanians dominated cities, as well as make Albanian an official language in the capital Skopje.TV Sitel (In Macedonian) Prior to the referendum, the U.S. recognized the Republic of Macedonia under its constitutional name.A narrow squeak, The Economist, 11 November 2004. The referendum was held on 7 November. Although 95% voted in favor of the change, the voter turnout of 26% was well below the 50% threshold, and the referendum was unsuccessful.
See also
Macedonian nationalism Makedonsko Sonce Antiquization
References