Nikola Dechev was a Bulgarian revolutionary, a member of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization, leader of several detachments active in the region of the town of Veles, Macedonia. [1]
Nikola Dechev was born in 1880 in Stara Zagora, then part of Eastern Rumelia. From 1895 to 1898 Dechev studied in the town of Samokov, where under the influence of Gotse Delchev he became a member of the IMRO. In 1900 he became a secretary in the detachment of Andon Kyoseto, and in 1901 Dechev was assistant voivode (military leader) of Hristo Chernopeev in the Gorna Dzhumaya region. In 1901, together with Hristo Chernopeev and Yane Sandanski, he took part in the abduction of Ellen Maria Stone. In 1902 Dechev was appointed voivode of Veles, where his detachment entered in April and set up committee networks. [2] He opposed the actions of the local pro-Serbian guerrillas in the region and took part in battles with them. After the decision to raise the Ilinden Uprising in January 1903, Nikola Dechev arrived in Bulgaria. In Sofia he met with Hristo Tatarchev and Hristo Matov, then foreign representatives of the IMRO. He also returned to Stara Zagora, where he met the leader of the IMRO Ivan Garvanov. In March 1903 he went to Kyustendil, where a second Veles detachment was formed under his command. He entered Macedonia, where in April there was a major battle with a regular Turkish army. After the heavy losses suffered by Nikola Dechev's detachment, he withdrew back to Bulgaria. [3] In the summer of the same year, he took part in the Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising, trying to enter the interior of Macedonia with a new detachment in September. On September 25, they were surrounded and fought a heavy battle against several thousand Turkish troops near the village of Lukovo (Kratovo). More than 30 partisans were killed, including Dechev, and the rest withdrew at night to the border of the Principality of Bulgaria. [4]
The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization, was a secret revolutionary society founded in the Ottoman territories in Europe, that operated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Hristo Tatarchev was a Macedonian Bulgarian doctor, revolutionary and one of the founders of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO). Tatarchev authored several political journalistic works between the First and Second World War.
Gyorche Petrov Nikolov, born Georgi Petrov Nikolov, was a Bulgarian teacher and revolutionary, one of the leaders of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO). He was its representative in Sofia, the capital of Principality of Bulgaria. As such he was also a member of the Supreme Macedonian-Adrianople Committee (SMAC), participating in the work of its governing body. During the Balkan Wars, Petrov was a Bulgarian army volunteer, and during the First World War, he was involved in the activity of the Bulgarian occupation authorities in Serbia and Greece. Subsequently, he participated in Bulgarian politics, but was eventually killed by the rivaling IMRO right-wing faction.
Kalochori, is a small rural village, part of the municipal unit of Kastoria, Kastoria regional unit, Greece. Kalochori is also located 14 kilometers away from the city of Kastoria and 14 kilometers away from the village of Nestorio. It was a part of the former municipal unit of Mesopotamia. The village has an elevation of 721 meters above sea level.
Hristo Chernopeev was a Bulgarian Army officer and member of the revolutionary movement in Macedonia. He was among the leaders of the Bulgarian People's Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization.
The Supreme Macedonian-Adrianople Committee (SMAC),, also known as the Supreme Macedonian Committee was a Bulgarian paramilitary and political organization, active in Bulgaria as well as in Macedonia and Thrace regions of the Ottoman Empire. It was based in Bulgaria from 1895 to 1905. Macedonian Bulgarian and Thracian Bulgarian emigrants in Bulgaria, led by Trayko Kitanchev, formed in 1895 the Macedonian-Adrianople Organization, at the head of which was the Supreme Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Committee. Its official aim was achieving autonomy for the Macedonia and Adrianople regions. At the same time, being impatient for the liberty to come sooner, and strongly convinced that it would come only with the help of the Bulgarian Army. Later they directed their efforts in activities for involving the country into war with the Ottoman Empire as for example during the Supreme Macedonian Committee chetas' action in 1895, and the Gorna Dzhumaya Uprising in 1902. As a rule its leaders were members of the Bulgarian Officers' Brotherhoods and had strong connections with the governments. At the end their main idea was, waging struggle for a direct unification with Bulgaria.
Hristo Dimitrov Uzunov was a Macedonian Bulgarian teacher and revolutionary, head of the Ohrid branch of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization and its ideological leader in the Ohrid region.
Marko Lerinski was the nickname of Georgi Ivanov Gyurov, also known as Georgi Geroyski, a Bulgarian military expert and revolutionary. A prominent member of the Internal Macedonian–Adrianople Revolutionary Organization (IMARO), Lerinski was the first person to propose a common anti-Ottoman uprising in Macedonia and Thrace.
Yordan Piperkov, widely known as Yordan Piperkata, was a Macedonian Bulgarian revolutionary from the early 20th century, member of the Supreme Macedonian-Adrianople Committee and later of the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization (IMARO).
Eftim Angelov, known as Timo Angelov, was a Bulgarian revolutionary, a member of the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization (IMARO).
Ivan Naumov, nicknamed Alyabaka or Alyabako was a Bulgarian revolutionary, a member of the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization (IMARO).
Andon Lazov Yanev, nicknamed Kyoseto, was a Bulgarian revolutionary and a freedom fighter of the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization (IMARO). Although he identified as Bulgarian, according to the historiography in North Macedonia, he was an ethnic Macedonian.
Petar Atsev was a Macedonian Bulgarian revolutionary, and a voyvoda of the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization (IMARO) for the region of Prilep. He worked as a Bulgarian teacher.
Georgi Kostov Sugarev was a Bulgarian teacher and revolutionary, vojvoda of the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization. In North Macedonia, Sugarev is part of the country's historical heritage as an ethnic Macedonian.
Petar (Pere) Naumov Toshev was a Bulgarian teacher and an activist of the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization. In the historiography in North Macedonia he is considered an ethnic Macedonian revolutionary.
Nikola Kirov was a Bulgarian teacher, revolutionary and public figure, a member of IMRO.
The flags of Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization were sewn in the period of existence of the IMARO between 1893 - 1915. Some of them are preserved until today, others are lost or destroyed.
Alekso Martulkov, born as Aleksandar Onchev Martulkov, was a publicist and one of the first socialist revolutionaries from the region of Macedonia. He was a member of the Bulgarian Workers' Social Democratic Party and later the People's Federative Party and the Bulgarian Communist Party. Simultaneously, he was a member of the IMRO and subsequently the IMRO (United). He advocated for the independence of Macedonia. Martulkov was also a member of the Bulgarian Parliament, as well as the Presidium of ASNOM and the parliament of SR Macedonia. He is considered a Macedonian in the Macedonian historiography and a Bulgarian in the Bulgarian historiography.
Doncho Lazarov (Bulgarian and Macedonian: Дончо Лазаров, was a Macedonian Bulgarian revolutionary, voivode of Tikvesh and a member of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization. Later he became an insurgent leader for the Tikvesh Uprising.
Antinogen Dimitrov Hadzhov was a Bulgarian teacher and revolutionary from the region of Macedonia. Hadzhov was a participant in the Macedonian Struggle, member of the Internal Macedonian Adrianople Revolutionary Organization, participant in the Ilinden Uprising and one of the members of the Forest Headquarters of the Krusevo Rebel District.