{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2015}} {{Infobox political party | native_name = Съюз на българските конституционни клубове | leader = [[Toma Karayovov]]<br>Vladimir Rumenov<br>Todor Lazarov | foundation = 7 September 1908 | ideology = [[Bulgarians|Bulgarian interests]] | headquarters = [[Salonica]] | dissolved = 18 November 1909 | split = [[Internal Macedonian-Edirne Revolutionary Organization|IMORO]] }} [[Image:SBKK edno.JPG|thumb|right|Constituent Assembly of UBCC in September 1908.]] '''Bulgarian Constitutional Clubs''', also known as '''Union of the Bulgarian Constitutional Clubs''' ({{langx|bg|Съюз на българските конституционни клубове}}), was an ethnic [[Bulgarians|Bulgarian]] political party in the [[Ottoman Empire]], created after the [[Young Turk Revolution]], 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 7 and 13 September 1908 in [[Thessaloniki|Solun]]. Attending the congress were 72 representatives of the [[Macedonians (Bulgarians)|Macedonian-Bulgarian]] middle class, but only two farmers, one craftsman and one worker. A statute and an agenda of the organization were soon established:
{{Quote|"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."}} [[File:SBKK dve.JPG|thumb|right|First Regular Congress of UBCC, Solun, 1909]] [[Toma Karayovov]], [[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]], [[Hristo Batandzhiev]], [[Simeon Radev]] and others. [[Hristo Tatarchev]] openly supported UBCC, although he never participated in the organization's affairs.
''Otechestvo'' (''Fatherland'' in Bulgarian) served as the party's newspaper. An article, dedicated to the [[Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising]] and published in issue 43 of the newspaper from 18 July 1909, reads:
{{Quote|"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 10 July. 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]] in unifying Bulgarians from those regions. The organization was a strong opponent to the colonization of the Macedonian land by [[Muslim]] settlers.
On 23 August 1909, the Ottoman parliament accepted a law banning national political organizations and parties, and the Bulgarian Constitutional Clubs was dissolved.
== References == * [https://web.archive.org/web/20080915014229/http://www.bg-history.info/?p=calendar&statiaid=515 UBCC is created, Bulgarian History] (in Bulgarian) * [http://www.promacedonia.org/rami/h_hristov_agrarni_3.htm Agricultural Relations in Macedonia in the 19th century and beginnings of the 20th century, Hristo Hristov, Sofia, 1964]{{dead link|date=November 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} (in Bulgarian) * [https://web.archive.org/web/20071223180349/http://macedonia-science.org/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?45 Macedonian Scientific Institute] * [http://www.promacedonia.org/gb/gb_3_1.html Georgi Bazhdarov, My Memories] (in Bulgarian) * [http://www.promacedonia.org/ag/ag_2_9.html Antoni Giza, The Balkan nations and the Macedonian question] (in Bulgarian)
{{Ottoman Empire political parties}} {{Authority control}}
[[Category:1908 in Bulgaria]] [[Category:Macedonia under the Ottoman Empire]] [[Category:Ottoman Thrace]] [[Category:Political parties in the Ottoman Empire]] [[Category:Political parties established in 1908]] [[Category:Political parties disestablished in 1909]] [[Category:1908 establishments in the Ottoman Empire]] [[Category:Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization]]