Organizational Changes in the Bulgarian Exarchate after the Young Turk Revolution (1908 – 1909)

Following the introduction of the constitutional parliamentary regime in the Ottoman Empire post-July 1908, the Exarchate attempted to make use of the new situation in order to protect its rights and privileges that had been violated by the former authorities. 

The first step taken in that direction was the constitution of its governing bodies in Constantinople – the Synod and the Exarchate Council. The legal justification of this decision is contained in a number of founding documents: the Sultan’s firman for the establishment of the Bulgarian church of 28 February 1870; the Statute for the management of the Bulgarian Exarchate, which was accepted in 1871 also in the Ottoman constitution itself. 

The establishment of the collective governing bodies of the Exarchate had a great significance for the Exarchate’s activities in the vilayets as a whole.