Politika
- The Bulgarian Loan
- Leka's Testament
The legible part of this Politika page is dominated by an editorial signed "K." on the League-sponsored Bulgarian refugee loan. It argues that penniless refugees from Greece, Romania and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes weighed on Bulgaria's economy, fed internal disorder and bred distrust abroad. Settling more than 200,000 people would instead turn marshes and forests into farmland, with roads and railways, strengthening the nation economically and politically. It notes that not only Sofia but also Athens, Bucharest and Belgrade attached importance to the Geneva Protocol. A second, fragmentary item, "Leka's Testament," recalls the last Ottoman mutesarif of Prizren, who stood alone in the town square, rifle in hand, and fired on the men of Ljuma during an Albanian rebellion.
This is a partial reading. The editorial excerpt starts and ends mid-sentence, and the item "Leka's Testament" survives only as a short, faint fragment from the lower-right of the page. That fragment does not name the mutesarif. Neither his identity nor the date of the rebellion described could be checked against an authoritative source, so the commentary does not cover them.
Translation
The Bulgarian Loan
settlement of refugees from Greece, Romania and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, who have for years represented an important problem for Bulgaria. Refugees without means are a great evil. Economically, they are a negative element. Politically, likewise. In the general economy they are a burden on the community. In domestic politics they are a breeding ground of disorder. In foreign policy, a cause of distrust. With the settlement of the refugees, the refugee problem disappears. With the disappearance of the refugee problem, the evil that accompanies it disappears. More than two hundred thousand men, women and children enter the life of the nation and contribute to its strengthening. Out of commons, marshes and forests, cultivated fields spring up. Settlements rise. Roads are cut through. Railways are built. The economic power of the nation grows. With the economic, the political grows as well. Elements that until yesterday represented a negative quantity now represent a positive one. In the general economy they are part of the community. In domestic politics, a resistance to disorder. In foreign policy, a reason for trust. Yet Sofia is not the only one that attaches importance to the signing of the Geneva Protocol. Athens, Bucharest and Belgrade attach importance to it too. The Protocol in Bul-
Leka's Testament
[?] But he is chiefly famous for his mad courage and unheard-of impetuosity. As the last mutesarif of the Prizren sanjak, during the Albanian rebellion he met the men of Ljuma at the Shadrvan in Prizren, rifle in hand. And while the soldiers, gendarmes and volunteer townsmen fired from behind cover, he stood alone in the middle of the square and fired into the crowds until they wavered. The whole world was astonished wh-
Context
Why a refugee loan was also a security question
The editorial's claim that unsettled refugees were a "breeding ground of disorder" at home and a "cause of distrust" abroad closely follows the reasoning of the League of Nations itself. Bulgaria asked the League for help on 3 May 1926. The League's Financial Committee recommended the loan on both political and economic grounds: the refugees were a heavy charge on Bulgarian finances and a source of internal and external political unrest. The stakes for Belgrade and Athens were concrete. Many refugees from Macedonia and Thrace were men who had come without their families and who were tied to Macedonian revolutionary organisations. They gathered in bands, mainly near the frontier, and raided Yugoslav and Greek territory. The paper's hope that settlement would turn a "negative quantity" into a "positive" one therefore echoed the League's own case for the loan: refugees given land and a livelihood would cease to be the source of internal and external unrest that the Financial Committee had cited.
Contested refugee numbers and limits on settlement near the frontiers
The editorial speaks of "more than two hundred thousand" people joining the nation's life. That figure matches the official Bulgarian return of 1926, which counted 221,191 people of Bulgarian nationality who had entered the country between 1913 and 1925. Of these, only about 120,000 were judged suitable for the settlement scheme. The numbers were contested at the time. After a series of frontier incidents, Bulgaria's neighbours disputed the government's figures and suggested that its real aim was to build strategic railways. They also asked to be represented on a control committee in Bulgaria. The difficulties were smoothed out through the intervention of the League Council. It adopted the scheme on 7 September 1926, and Bulgaria signed it the next day; this is the Geneva Protocol the editorial refers to. The League Commissioner received powers to stop large numbers of refugees being settled along the frontiers and to block strategic works. This explains the paper's point that Belgrade, Athens and Bucharest valued the Protocol too. The loan was later issued, on 21 December 1926, and was heavily oversubscribed.
The Greek precedent behind the Bulgarian Geneva Protocol
The Bulgarian scheme followed an earlier model. At first, Bulgarian opinion leaned towards approaching foreign banks directly, but "the influence of the Greek example prevailed." That example was Greece's League-sponsored refugee loan, governed by a Geneva Protocol signed in September 1924. Under that protocol, Athens promised not to pledge its revenues as security for any loans that were not for productive purposes or for its peace-treaty obligations. A British aide-mémoire of November 1926 explained that London had agreed to these arrangements because of the political and humanitarian importance of helping Greece cope with its influx of refugees. Politika's editorial therefore described a League framework that the Balkan governments already knew: international money for resettlement, tied to financial and political conditions.
Original
Бугарски зајам
смештају избеглица из Грчке, Румуније, Краљевине Срба, Хрвата и Словенаца које за Бугарску већ годинама представљају важан проблем. Избеглице, без средстава, велико су зло. Економски, негативни су елеменат. Политички, исто тако. У општој привреди на терету су средине. У унутрашњој политици легло су расулу. У спољашњој узрок неповерењу. Смештајем избеглица нестаје проблем избеглица. Нестанком избегличког проблема нестаје зло које га прати. Преко две стотине хиљада људи, жена, деце ступа у живот нације и доприноси њеном јачању. Из утрина, мочвара, шума ничу обрађена поља. Дижу се насеобине. Просецају друмови. Граде железнице. Економска моћ нације повећава се. С економском повећава се и политичка. Елементи који су до јуче представљали негативну количину представљају сада позитивну. У општој привреди део су средине. У унутрашњој политици отпор расулу. У спољашњој разлог поверењу. Није пак Софија једина која потпису Женевског Протокола придаје значај. Значај му придају и Атина, Букурешт, Београд. Протокол у Буго -
Лекино завештање
[?] Али је у главном знаменит по лудој храбрости и невиђеној плаховитости. Као последњи мутесариф призренскога санџака, он је за време арнаутске побуне дочекао Љумане код Шедрвана у Призрену са пушком у руци. И док су војници, заптије и добровољни грађани пуцали иза заклона, он је стајао насред трга усамљен и пуцао у гомиле док се нису поколебале. Сав се свет зачуди ка -