Gyorche Petrov - Ethnicity

Ethnicity

As with many other IMARO leaders of the time, he is considered nowadays an ethnic Bulgarian in Bulgaria and an ethnic Macedonian in the Republic of Macedonia. In his memoirs, Gjorche Petrov calls himself Bulgarian. In his book about the geography of Macedonia (Материали по изучаванието на Македония, София 1896) Gyorche Petrov describes the Slavic people in Macedonia as Bulgarian and considers the term "Macedonians" as regional belonging, explaining that the Macedonian population consists of Bulgarians, Turks, Arnauts, Vlachs, Jews and Gypsies. His opinion was that Bulgarians constitute the bulk or more than a half of the population in this region.