BALKAN STATES

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 157, 31 March 1937, Page 8

BALKAN STATES

Yugoslavia and Bulgaria “ETERNAL FRIENDSHIP” On Junimry 24 a “pact of eternal frieudsltip” tvits signed at Belgrade between Yugoslavia and Bulgaria. The pact contains the statement that ’’lietween the kingdom of Yugoslavia and the kingdom of Bulgaria there shall be irrefrangible peace and sincere and eternal friendship.” Relations between Bulgaria and Yugoslavia thus enter on a new era. and an end is formally put to the fratricidal period which lias its roots in the World War and the second Balkan V\ .<■ In that period, which lasted more than fifteen years, it was not possible to speak of normal relations between these two important countries of SouthEastern Europe. The unfriendly tension even became so strong as to lead to the introduction of extraordinary measures iu the frontier territories of the two countries, and transport contacts were interrupted for a number of years except for one point, where the principal international route led to Constantinople. In such an atmosphere it was a simple matter to arrive at recrimination and reprisals. The history of Bui-garo-Yugoslav relations before the World War reveals the fact that foreign Powers interested in the Balkans desired to exploit the tension between the two States and nations for their own purposes.

Constant Tension. Except for a brief period which ended with the tragic death of Alexander Stambolijski in 1923, the two countries lived in a state of constant tension through the influence of the unceasing attacks of Macedonian raiders who were the instrument of disturbance in the Balkans and whose mission was to prevent the Balkan nations, and especially Bulgaria and Yugoslavia, from developing sufficient strength to exclude all foreign influences from this important area.

The first symptom of a turn for the better was seen in 1930-1931. Bulgaria, who up to then had based her political expectations on the League of Nations, was compelled to look for nearer support through the enfeeblement of the Geneva institution. Yugoslavia, for reasons logically arising out of her geographic and international position, began to appreciate the possibility of a relief and cover on the Eastern frontier. The Macedonians, in place of local action .against the Yugoslavs, abandoned themselves to fratricidal struggles which only weakened their claims in the eyes of the Bulgarian public also. In addition, the elections of June, 1931, ga.ve Bulgaria a wholly different Government, supported principally by the farmers and the democrats, convinced adherents of rapprochement with Belgrade. At the same time ,a number of publicists in Bulgaria, led by Michal-

cev and Antonov (both diplomats; Antonov recently succeeded Miclialcev as Minister at Moscow), began a Press campaign in favour of rapprochement. At the same time developments had reached the point at which King Alexander was really a dictator, and in Bulgaria King Boris, as a result of the gradual weakening of the Democratic Government, was the sole deciding factor. Both sovereigns, making an objective analysis of post-war geography, came to the conclusion that a policy of rapprochement was a vital interest for the two countries.

Thus in 1933 an unofficial meeting of the two kings took place, when the Bulgarian royal jiair on return home from a foreign visit halted at Belgrade, and conversations took place, it is understood, in the railway waiting-room. The Balkan tour of the King and Queen of Yugoslavia followed, and attracted much European attention through the meeting of the two kings at Euxinograd. Future action in the direction of rapprochement was agreed on at these meetings. The year 1933 saw the first official visit of the King and Queen of Bulgaria abroad since the World War, and the object of the journey was Belgrade, the capital of Yugoslavia. This official meeting of the heads of the two States indicated that both parties regarded the state of tension as harmful to both nations. That the two kings discussed this in full harmony with the feelings of their peoples is testified to by the Press of Yugoslavia and Bulgaria. The Yugoslav Press of that time reported that the country was unanimously of the opinion that these signs of a new Bulgarian orientation must appeal to every Yugoslav heart, and that both sides must learn to forgive.

In Complete Harmony

The Balkan Pact concluded in 1933 on the basis of the Balkans for the Balkan nations did not as yet include Bulgaria among its adherents, although the way was left open for Bulgaria. Despite the tragic death of King Alexander, which is regarded as a serious blow to the policy of rapprochement with Bulgaria, the favourable tendency continued. The pact is in complete harmony with Yugoslavia’s bonds of alliance, and it must be considered as the first step to a general regulation of relations in the Balkans, and as such was a brilliant New Year’s gift by that area to the rest of Europe.