Hellenic Macedonian Committee

Macedonian Committee

Seal of the Committee, showing Alexander the Great and Basil II ("the Bulgar Slayer")
Formation	1903
Type	Irredentist organization
Purpose	Liberation of Macedonia from the Ottoman Empire
Key people
Main organ	Macedonian Committee

The Macedonian Committee (Greek: Μακεδονικό Κομιτάτο, Makedoniko Komitato), formally the Hellenic Macedonian Committee (Ελληνομακεδονικό Κομιτάτο, Ellinomakedoniko Komitato), was a Greek irredentist organization with the aim of liberating Macedonia from the Ottoman Empire (in the vilayets of Monastir and Salonika). It formed in 1903 under the leadership of wealthy publisher Dimitrios Kalapothakis; its members included Ion Dragoumis and Pavlos Melas. The committee organized the sending of guerrilla fighters to Macedonia—the so-called Makedonomachoi—during the Macedonian Struggle (1904–1908).

Following the establishment of the Bulgarian Exarchate, Greeks and Bulgarians were engaged in a propaganda struggle for the allegiance of the inhabitants of Macedonia. Following the abortive Ilinden Revolt in August 1903 by the Bulgarian-sponsored IMRO, in 1903 the Macedonian Committee organized to preserve Greek interests in the region. The Bishop of Kastoria, Germanos Karavangelis, sent to Macedonia by the ambassador of Greece Nikolaos Mavrokordatos and the consul of Greece in Monastiri, Ion Dragoumis, realised that it was time to act in a more efficient way and started organising Greek opposition. While Dragoumis concerned himself with the financial organisation of the efforts, the central figure in the military struggle was the capable Cretan officer Georgios Katechakis. Bishop Germanos Karavangelis animated the Macedonian Greek population against the IMRO and formed committees to promote Greek national interests.