Even the leader of the Bulgarian national revival in Constantinople, Petko RaÌev Slavejkov, in early January 1871 publicly admitted that he had heard this ideology “as early as some ten years ago from some people in Macedonia”, which had now grown into “a thought that many would like to put into effect”. He confirmed that he had “many times” heard from “the Macedonists that they were not Bulgarians but Macedonians, descendants of ancient Macedonia¼ They are complete Macedonians¼ they are pure Slavs, and the Bulgarians are Tartars and who knows what”. These “Macedonists” boldly declared before him: “We broke
off from the Greeks, should we now fall under others?”

Taken from: ,Makedonskíàt ï và pr osï “, Makedoníò, oe , 3, 18.á.1871, 2.

Page first of Petko Slaveykov's article "The Macedonian question" published 18 January 1871, in which he mentions that some people from Macedonia declare themselves as separate people - Macedonians, different from Bulgarians. Those people he refers to as "Macedonists"