Kiro Gligorov

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Kiro Gligorov

1st President of the Republic of Macedonia
In office January 27, 1991 – November 19, 1999
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Boris Trajkovski

Born	May 3, 1917 Štip, Macedonia
Religion	Orthodox

Kiro Gligorov (Киро Глигоров in Macedonian, also known as Kiril Blagoev Gligorov/Кирил Благоев Глигоров) (born May 3, 1917 in Štip) was the first democraticaly elected president of the Republic of Macedonia.

He graduated from the Faculty of Law at the University of Belgrade^[1] and was a participant in the anti-fascist struggle of the Macedonian people from 1941^[1]. He was a participant in the formation of the state of Republic of Macedonia^[2] as a secretary of the Initiative committee^[3] for the organization of the Antifascist Assembly of the National Liberation of Macedonia (ASNOM) and a finance commissioner in the Presidium of ASNOM^[1].

He held various high positions in the political establishment of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia^[1], including a secretary of State for finance in the Federal executive Council^[1], a member of the Yugoslav Presidency^[1] as well as President of the Assembly^[1] of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

In 1991 he became the first president of Republic of Macedonia elected after the democratic changes. He served for two terms, from January 27, 1991 to November 19, 1999. He was re-elected for his second term in office on November 19, 1994. He led his country towards its independence and tried to keep it out of the Yugoslav wars, a task made difficult by disputes with the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Albania, Bulgaria and Greece, all of whom had separate issues with the country.

On October 3, 1995, he was the victim of a car bomb assassination attempt in Skopje. The car he traveled in was damaged by an explosion from another car placed in the vicinity. According to the Croatian newspaper Vjesnik, the exploding car had an implemented land mine, one used by the Yugoslavian army.

In 1995 the Minister of Internal Affairs of Republic of Macedonia Ljubomir Frckovski publicly claimed that "a powerful multinational company from neighboring country" was behind the assassination attempt of Kiro Gligorov on 3 October 1995,^[4] with the Macedonian media pointing at the Bulgarian Multigroup as a suspect.^[4] After a meeting of Multigroup head Iliya Pavlov and Gligorov in Ohrid, Pavlov assured the then-President of the Republic of Macedonia that this was false.^[4] All investigations were futile.^[4]

There is no concrete evidence about the assassination; however, it is speculated that out of the three radical parties involved, the one from an underground former Yugoslavian republic is most likely to have done the assassination attempt. Notably, days before the assassination attempt, Gligorov had a meeting with Slobodan Milošević. At the end the two presidents did not come to a fruitful dialogue, leading to speculation that the Yugoslav leader was involved. Gligorov was incapacitated until November 17, 1995. Gligorov is now permanently blind in one eye as a result. Stojan Andov was acting president during Gligorov's recuperation.

The election for Gligorov's successor took place only a few days before the end of his term, and because of disputed results the winner, Boris Trajkovski, did not take office until the following month.

The 2000 Guinness World Records lists Kiro Gligorov as the oldest ever president of a country, staying in power until he was 82 years old.

When applying for a position as a lawyer in 1942, Kiro Gligorov signed documents declaring Bulgarian ethnicity. Those documents, he obtained from the local authorities in Skopje and Štip, which were under Bulgarian control from 1941 to 1944.

[edit] References

[edit] Quotations

"We are Slavs who came to this area in the sixth century ... we are not descendants of the ancient Macedonians." (Foreign Information Service Daily Report, Eastern Europe, February 26, 1992)

"We are Macedonians but we are Slav Macedonians. That's who we are! We have no connection to Alexander the Greek and his Macedonia. The ancient Macedonians no longer exist, they had disappeared from history long time ago. Our ancestors came here in the 5th and 6th century (AD)." (Toronto Star, March 15, 1992)