The Memoir of the Rumelian Political Emigrants in the Ottoman Empire (4 December 1886)

Мемоарът на румелийските политически емигранти в Османската империя – 4 декември 1886 година

Исторически преглед, 82 (2026) No. 3, pp. 120-157 (ISSN 0323-9748)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.71069/IPR3.26.MPNT05

Milko Palangurski, Nikolay Todorov / Милко Палангурски, Николай Тодоров

Prof. Milko Palangurski, DSc - Institute for Historical Studies, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Bulgaria; Scopus ID: 57416237400, https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0586-1427; e-mail: m.palangurski@gmail.com
Assoc. Prof. Nikolay Todorov, PhD - University of Ruse “Angel Kanchev”, Bulgaria; Web of Science Research ID: AAF-7073-2021, Scopus ID: 57416480900; e-mail: ntodorov@uni-ruse.bg

Abstract: The Unification of the Principality of Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia on 6 September 1885 triggered a new phase of the Eastern Crisis. Following a military coup, a counter-coup, and the voluntary abdication of Prince Alexander I in August 1886, Bulgaria entered a severe political crisis and stood on the brink of civil war. The situation was further complicated by Russian pressure aimed at steering Bulgaria’s domestic and foreign policy and securing an outcome favourable to Russia. These developments prompted the formation of groups of political and military émigrés in Constantinople, Bucharest, and Odessa, who sought to bring about change in Sofia by diplomatic and forceful means. On 4 December 1886, political figures – mainly from the former Eastern Rumelia – submitted a special memoir to the Sublime Porte and to the diplomats of the Great Powers. In it, they reported the establishment of a dictatorship in Bulgaria and appealed to the suzerain power and the signatories of the Treaty of Berlin to intervene in accordance with the treaty’s provisions. The memoir called on the diplomats to take an interest in “the misfortunes of our country” in order to end the “desperate situation” allegedly sustained by those holding power. It marked the first instance in which leaders of the Christian population in unified Bulgaria addressed the signatories of the Treaty of Berlin seeking external involvement in Bulgaria’s internal affairs, including the dispatch of an “impartial Commission” to visit the country and hear the population’s demand: “deliver us from this Government!”.

Keywords: memoir, occupation, political emigrants, Bulgarian-Russian relations.

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