The applications of the Bulgarian general amnesty of 1904 in the monastery prison and its affiliated prisons

On April 8, 1904, the Ottoman Empire signed an agreement with Bulgaria, which was an autonomous principality under its control at the time. According to the third article of this agreement, the Ottoman Empire agreed to declare a general amnesty for its citizens who participated in the activities of the Bulgarian committees. However, according to the agreement, those who "committed murder by dynamiting ships, trains and bridges" were excluded from the scope of the general amnesty. Shortly after the signing of the agreement, a general amnesty was put into effect as of April 13, 1904. The scope of the amnesty also included the release of committee members who were imprisoned in the provinces of Kosovo, Thessaloniki and Monastir, which were called "Vilâyât-ı Selâse" at the time, in accordance with the provisions of the relevant agreement, because they participated in the activities of the Bulgarian committees. Prison registers were prepared for the prisoners who were released from prisons in different cities of the Ottoman Empire such as Edirne, Istanbul, Diyarbakir, Akka, Sinop and Payas, subject to amnesty. One of these registers is the register containing the records of the prisoners released from Monastir Central and Mulhakat Prisons, which are catalogued in the Ottoman Archives (BOA), Teftişat-ı Rumeli Document Registers of the Presidency of State Archives. Our thesis study is mainly devoted to the evaluation of the prisoners and convicts released from Monastir Prison and Servia, Florina, Prilep, Kičevo, Grevana, Korçë and Kastoria prisons.