Bulgarian Constitutional Clubs (also known as Union of the Bulgarian Constitutional Clubs) was an ethnic Bulgaria

Bulgaria

Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...

n political party in the Ottoman Empire

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

, created after the Young Turk Revolution

Young Turk Revolution

The Young Turk Revolution of 1908 reversed the suspension of the Ottoman parliament by Sultan Abdul Hamid II, marking the onset of the Second Constitutional Era...

, by members of the Internal Macedonian Adrianople Revolutionary Organization. The party functioned for a little over a year - from September 1908 until November 1909. Its main political rival was the Peoples' Federative Party (Bulgarian Section).

Inauguration, Ideas and Goals

The Constituent assembly of the party was held between the 7'th and the 13'th of September 1908 in Solun. Attending the congress were 72 representatives of the Macedonian

Macedonia (region)

Macedonia is a geographical and historical region of the Balkan peninsula in southeastern Europe. Its boundaries have changed considerably over time, but nowadays the region is considered to include parts of five Balkan countries: Greece, the Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria, Albania, Serbia, as...

-Bulgarian middle class, but only two farmers, one craftsman and one worker. A statute and an agenda of the organization were soon established:

The Bulgarian Constitutional Club has as its aim: a) to give civic and political education of the Bulgarian people in the spirit of the constitutional freedoms in autonomous Macedonia and Adrianople; b) to preserve and develop Bulgarian culture.
Toma Karajovov, Vladimir Rumenov, Todor Lazarov were voted members of the Central Committee. Among the founders of the party were also Georgi Kulishev, Georgi Bazhdarov, Kiril Parlichev, Andon Dimitrov

Andon Dimitrov

Andon Dimitrov - was a Bulgarian 19th-20th century revolutionary. He was among the founders of the Bulgarian Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Committees.-Biography:...

, Hristo Batandzhiev

Hristo Batandzhiev

Hristo Batandzhiev was a revolutionary, one of the founders of "The Committee for Obtaining the Political Rights Given to Macedonia by the Congress of Berlin" from which, later developed the IMRO known prior to 1902 as Bulgarian Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Committees...

, Simeon Radev

Simeon Radev

Simeon Traychev Radev was a Bulgarian writer, journalist, diplomat and historian most famous for his two-volume book The Builders of Modern Bulgaria....

 and others. Hristo Tatarchev

Hristo Tatarchev

Hristo Tatarchev was a Bulgarian revolutionary and first leader of the revolutionary movement in Macedonia and Eastern Thrace . He wrote the memoirs The First Central Committee of the IMRO . He authored several political journalism works between the First and Second World Wars...

 openly supported UBCC, although he never participated in the organizaztion's affairs.

'Otechestvo' (Fatherland in Bulgarian) served as the party's newspaper. An article, dedicated to the Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising

Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising

The Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising or simply the Ilinden Uprising of August 1903 |Macedonia]] affected most of the central and southwestern parts of the Monastir Vilayet receiving the support mainly of the local Bulgarian peasants and to some extent of the Aromanian population of the region...

 and published in issue 43 of the newspaper from July 18 1909, reads:

The tenth of July (Huriet), is an epilogue of Ilinden: Ilinden is the most solemn act of the great Macedonian revolutionary struggle. Without Ilinden there would be no July 10. The latter date is all-Ottoman. Ilinden belongs to us, the Bulgarians.

The Union of the Bulgarian Constitutional Clubs put emphasis on the collective rights of the non-Turkish peoples in the Ottoman Empire; agricultural and social reforms, aiming an improvement of the lives of Christians. The party concentrated efforts on the subject of autonomy for Macedonia and the region of Adrianople. It also believed in the important role of the Bulgarian Exarchate

Bulgarian Exarchate

The Bulgarian Exarchate was the official name of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church before its autocephaly was recognized by the Ecumenical See in 1945 and the Bulgarian Patriarchate was restored in 1953....

 in unifying Bulgarians from those regions. The organization was a strong opponent to the colonization of the Macedonian land by Muslim

Muslim

A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

settlers.