R.A. Gallop - quotes

R.A. Gallop, British diplomat in Belgrade, who visited Macedonia in April 1926:

"The most striking thing to one familiar with North Serbia [Serbia proper], who has been accustomed to hear Macedonia described as Southern Serbia and its inhabitants as Serbs, was the complete difference of atmosphere which was noticeable almost as soon as we had crossed the pre-1913 frontier some miles south of Vranje. One felt as though one had entered a foreign country. Officials and officers from North Serbia seemed to feel this too, and I noticed especially in the cafes and hotels of Skopje that they formed groups by themselves and mixed little with the Macedo[nian]-Slavs. THOSE OF THE LATTER THAT I MET WERE EQUALLY INSISTENT ON CALLING THEMSELVES NEITHER SERBS NOR BULGARS, BUT MACEDONIANS...THERE SEEMED TO BE NO LOVE LOST FOR THE BULGARS IN MOST PLACES. THEIR [Bulgarian] BRUTALITY DURING THE WAR HAD LOST THEM THE AFFECTION EVEN OF THOSE WHO BEFORE THE BALKAN WAR HAD BEEN THEIR FRIENDS..."

(Foreign Office document O371/11405, Kennard (Belgrade) to A. Chamberlain, 21 April 1926, Enclosure, R.A. Gallop, "Conditions in Macedonia," 19 April 1926, pg. 1).