Western Outlands
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A map of the Western Outlands |
The
Western Outlands (
Bulgarian: Западните покрайнини,
Zapadnite pokraynini;
Serbian Cyrillic:
Западне покрајине;
Zapadne pokrajine) or the
Western Bulgarian Outlands is a term used in
Bulgaria which depicts a region in southeastern
Serbia. It refers to the territory which Bulgaria ceded to the
Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (future
Yugoslavia) after the
World War I.
The Treaty of Neuilly
The Western Outlands were part of
Bulgaria from the liberation of the country in
1878 until
1919 when they were ceded to the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes under the
Treaty of Neuilly. The cession of the region was partly a compensation for the occupation of the southern and eastern part of Serbia by Bulgarian troops in the period between
1915 and
1918 and partly served strategic grounds. The old political boundary between Bulgaria and Serbia followed a chain of high mountain ridges, whereas the new one gave significant military and strategic advantages to the Serbs exposing dangerously the Bulgarian capital of
Sofia and thus reducing significantly the military threat for eastern Serbia in case of a new war between the two countries (see also
Balkan Wars and World War I).
The Treaty of Neuilly was one in the series of treaties after the World War I (like the
Treaty of Versailles,
Treaty of Saint-Germain,
Treaty of Trianon,
Treaty of Sèvres) which were meant to diminish the militar and political stength of the countries members of the
Central Powers which lost the war. As a result of this, some ethnically completely Bulgarian areas (like Bosilegrad or part of Dimitrovgrad municipality) were ceded to Serbia, while some areas with Serbian population (around the town of Trn) remained in Bulgaria.
Bulgarian sources claim that treaty was to last for 20 years and that territories should be returned to Bulgaria in
1939 but that is not specified in the treaty.
Territories ceded by the treaty cover an area of 1,545 km² in Serbia and 1,028 km² in
Republic of Macedonia.
In Serbia, to which the term generally applies in Bulgaria, area is split between the modern Serbian
District of Pirot (municipality of
Dimitrovgrad and smaller parts of the municipalities of
Pirot and
Babušnica) and
District of Pčinja (municipality of
Bosilegrad and small part of the municipality of
Surdulica). It also includes a small section along the
Timok River in the municipality and
District of Zaječar.
In 1919 the area corresponded to the following parts of the Bulgarian
okrugs:
Kyustendil, 661 km²,
Tzaribrod 418 km²,
Trn 278 km²,
Kula 172 km² and
Vidin 17 km².
Bulgarian sources claim that Bulgarian population made 95% of the population in Bosilegrad and 75% of the population in Tzaribrod at the time. In the Yugoslav Census of
1931 all
South Slavs were simply counted as
Yugoslavs (Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, Bulgarians) so a comparision can't be made. According to the last Census in Serbia from
2002, Bulgarians make 50% and 71% of population in Dimitrovgrad and Bosilegrad respectively.
The term itself is exaggerated and highly controversial. Several small, fractioned and sparsely populated areas have been named
Western Outlands as respresenting one entity, even though they are not connected in any geographical, political, historical or ethnic sense. Calling part of one country western part of another is a clear example of territorial claim. As when
Germany would refer to
Alsace in
France as its western outland (or
Russia for
Poland,
United Kingdom for
Ireland, etc).
Presumably for that reason, in official contacts of Sofia and Belgrade the term was never used. It was mentioned once, in the Bled Accords in
1948 by
Josip Broz Tito and
Georgi Dimitrov, but that was in the period of
Joseph Stalin's insisting of Communist super-state in the
Balkans, the
Balkan Federation, comprised of Yugoslavia (with annexed
Albania) and Bulgaria. After the
Informbiro Resoultion in
1948 when Tito and Stalin split, the idea was off too, so as the term itself. Despite not being used internationally (until
1990s when it was revived), it is very widely used in internal social and political commuication in Bulgaria.
The
Internal Western Outland Revolutionary Organisation (Bulgarian:
'ътрешна Западно-Покрайненска Революционна Организация), by todays standards a terrorist organization, was engaged in repeated attacks against the Yugoslav police and army in the
1920-
1941 period. As a part of
World War II Bulgaria re-occupied the territory 1941-
1944.
With the wake of nationalisms in the Balkans in the late
1980s and early 1990s, Bulgarian nationalists began internationalizing the issue. With Serbia and Yugoslavia being under severe sanctions from the
international community and in succession of wars, it was an easy target. Serbia has been accused for:
* not allowing the Bulgarian population to get educated in their mother tongue, even though it was available and out of all minorities in Serbia granted such education, Bulgarians excersized it the least, even today. Also, the rate of people declaring themselves Yugoslavs and not by their ethniciity in Serbia was among the highest in these two municipalities.
* for not allowing Bulgarians to return the old, historical name of Tzaribrod to Dimitrovgrad, which Tito changed in
1950 after Georgi Dimitrov's death. On a referendum of
2004 57% of the voters voted to keep the name Dimitrovgrad. Serbs even completely dropped their own name of
Bosiljgrad in favor of Bulgarian
Bosilegrad.
* for settling thousands of Serbian refugees in the area in the 1990s to diminish the number of Bulgarians, which Censuses of population from 1991 and 2002 proved to be totally untrue, not to mention the poor economic status of the area which could not support such an influx of population.
* for
Slobodan Milošević's regime and his oppression against Bulgarians, even though municipalities in these areas were some of the strongholds of his and his wife
Mirjana Marković's parties with the most ardent supporters, which was a source of many jokes in Serbia.
* for decades long deliberate neglection of the area which caused economic fall behind and depopulation of Bulgarians. As much as this is true, it can be said for the entire southern Serbia which has been totally left without any attention from the central government, which did cause these areas to be the least developed in Serbia, but all of them, regardless of the ethnic structure. Serbian municipalities from this area, like
Trgovište,
Surdulica or
Crna Trava are among the poorest in Serbia. Also, Crna Trava is a record breaker in depopulation as it plunged from 13,748 in
1953 to 2,563 in 2002.
*
Report of the United Nations on the situation of the Bulgarian minority in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
