The Bulgarian people in the Macedonian region were not happy with the decisions from the Berlin treaty so they organized multiple petitions to express their desire to become part of Bulgaria. Since the petitions could not lead to a peaceful resolution, the people revolted.
The first armored protest against the decisions of the Berlin Treaty was the Kresna-Razlog Uprising in 1878-79. Blagoevgrad and Kyustendil were organizational centers. Kostadin Bosilkov came to Blagoevgrad with Arsenii Kostencev in 1872. Both of them worked together on the organization of the Kresna-Razlog Uprising. They had some experience from previously organizing an attempt to join the April Uprising in the same region. This time, they worked together with Mite Markov, who was a local representative. The Kresna-Razlog Uprising was not successful because the three of them were caught but only Markov was publicly hanged for the betrayal of the Ottoman empire.
