ABSTRACT
The city of Thessaloniki occupies an important place in Bulgarian culture and history. The history of ‘Bulgarian’ Thessaloniki before 1912 reveals a gradual emancipation of the Bulgarian community from Greek economic and cultural domination. In this process, a key turning point was the recognition of the Bulgarian Exarchate by the Ottoman government in 1870. For a number of years thereafter, many wealthy Bulgarian merchants continued to remain under the influence of Hellenism. The situation was complicated after 1880 with the foundation of the Bulgarian high school for boys, where in 1893 the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Organisation was created. Ultimately Thessaloniki became a problem for Bulgarian foreign policy, which was divided between moderates, who believed that maintaining a good relationship with Greece was more important than the inclusion of the city within Bulgarian borders, and nationalists. The latter prevailed, making the Second Balkan War inevitable.
