Gjorche Petrov

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Gjorche Petrov
Gjorche Petrov

Gjorche Petrov (Bulgarian: Гьорче Петров; Macedonian: Ѓорче Петров), born Georgi Petrov Nikolov (1864/1865 - June 28, 1921) was one of the leaders of the Macedonian-Adrianople revolutionary movement (IMARO, BMARC before 1902).

Born in Prilep, Ottoman empire (present-day Republic of Macedonia), he studied at the secondary school for boys in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Then he worked as a teacher in various towns of Macedonia. He took part in the revolutionary campaign in Macedonia as well as in the Thessaloniki Congress of the Bulgarian Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Committees (BMARC) in 1896[citation needed]. He was among the authors of the organization's new charter and rules, which he co-wrote with Gotse Delchev[citation needed].

Gjorche was the representative of the Foreign Committee of the BMARC/IMARO in Sofia in 1897-1901. He did not approve of the ultimely outbreak of the Uprising on Ilinden, 2nd of August in 1903, but he participated leading a squad [1]. After the unsuccessful uprising Petrov continued his participation in IMARO.

Petrov was again included in the Emigrant representation in Sofia in 1905-1908. After the Young Turks Revolution of 1908, Petrov together with writer Anton Strashimirov edited the "Kulturno Edinstvo" magazine ("Cultural Unity"), published in Thessaloniki (Solun)[citation needed].

He was President of the Regular Regional Committee in Bitola for some time during the First World War, after IMARO had disbanded, and afterwards became mayor of Drama. At the end of the war he was one of the initiators of the formation of a Provisional Government of the United former IMRO, and this government set the task of defending the positions of the Bulgarians in Macedonia at the Paris Peace Conference (1919-1920). He was also Chief of the Refugees Settlement Agency of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs[citation needed].

He kept close ties with Aleksandar Dimitrov and some other prominent Agrarian leaders, thus incurring IMRO leaders' hatred upon himself. He was eventually killed by them in June 1921 in Sofia.

To honor his name a suburb of Skopje was named Gjorče Petrov, or usually shortly refered only as Gjorče. The suburb is one of the ten municipalities of Skopje, the capital of the Republic of Macedonia.

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[edit] Ethnicity

In his his memoirs, Gjorche Petrov calls himself both Macedonian [2] and Bulgarian [3]. The references do not establish clearly which identification is ethnic and which regional. However, the use of both identities may imply that they were not mutually exclusive, but possibly complementary for Gjorche Petrov. As with many other IMARO leaders of the time, he is considered nowadays an ethnic Bulgarian in Bulgaria and an ethnic Macedonian in the Republic of Macedonia.

[edit] Quotes

“ The population of Macedonia consists of Bulgarians, Turks, Albanians, Vlachs, Jews and Gypsies.[4] ”
“ "From the first moments of the negotiations with the government there was a big change in me about the role of Bulgaria in the liberation of Macedonia. In me and wider among my companions a new stands emerged on which the organization was based, basically, on the stand for autonomy, independence in the actions and trust only in ourselves. The 200000 bayonets, which we hoped to get from Bulgaria, were not anymore temptation to us. We understood that whatever we do ourselves, with our own actions, will be done certainly.”[5] ”

[edit] References

  1. ^ Gjorche Petrov's memoirs page 167-8
  2. ^ Gjorche Petrov's memoirs page 6 "Ние, ученицитѣ „македончета”, бѣхме по-гюрултаджии." (We, pupils "the macedonians", were louder.)
  3. ^ Gjorche Petrov's memoirs page 91 "Щомъ разбраха, че съмъ българинъ и пр." (After they found out I was Bulgarian, etc.)
  4. ^ Петров, Гьорче - "Материали по изучаванието на Македония". Sofia, 1896, pp 724-725
  5. ^ Gjorche Petrov's memoirs page 64

[edit] External links