OCR Text |
Show B0LGAR1A IE1ES Statement Declares People of Conquered Territory Welcome Change. WASHINGTON. Match S. The legation lega-tion of Bulgaria, in a statement issued tonight, defended the Bulgarian policies in Macedonia, old Serbia and Moravia region, and denied the charge of the Serbian Ser-bian legation in London that the population popula-tion of those sections bad been mistreated mis-treated by Bulgarian military forces. The statement follows: In a statement recently issued by the Serbian legation in 1 .ondon and published in some papers here, charging charg-ing Austria-Hungary with having instituted in-stituted a regime . of tyranny and crueltv in Serbia, insinuations are made " about the treatment by Bulgaria Bul-garia of the populations in Macedonia, Mace-donia, old Serbia and the Moravia region. re-gion. No facts are advanced, but iL is stated in general terms that "a rule of terror prevails in the regions under un-der Bulgaria." and that this rule of terror has for its object "the elimination elimina-tion of the Serbian element and the terrorizing of the population by the removal of all the leading men in the country." To talk about the elimination of the Serbian element in Macedonia is to talk about eliminating something which does not exist. The overwhelming over-whelming majority (about 1,200.000) of the Christ ia n popula t ion . in Macedonia Mace-donia is Bulgarian, and it met. with joy and enthusiasm the Bulgarian troops when they occupied the country coun-try and put an end to Serbian rule. What the character of that rule was is best shown by the Draconian laws enacted by the Serbian government for the administration of the province. prov-ince. Itt was a military dictatorship of the worst type, which sou slit by terror a nd oppression to break the will and crush the national spirit of t he people, who were treated as "rebels in a perpetual state or revolt." re-volt." The military and police authorities were, given a free hand in dealing with the people, and they could, without any formal trial, inflict the death penalty, penal servitude, imprisonment, im-prisonment, confiscation of property, deportation of individuals or whole families even for minor and insignificant insig-nificant offenses. This exceptional regime in Macedonia was so revolting revolt-ing and outrageous in its nature that even some Serbians who had not lost all sense of right and. justice condemned con-demned it. The population of tMte Moravia region re-gion is essentially Bulgarian. The districts of Nish, Pirot and Vranya were part of Bulgaria up to 1S7S, when t lie Berlin congress decreed, contrary con-trary to the wishes of the population, their annexation to Serbia. |