Gotse Delchev

For other uses, see Gotse Delchev (disambiguation).

In this Bulgarian name, the patronymic is Nikolov and the family name is Delchev.

Georgi Nikolov Delchev (Bulgarian: Георги Николов Делчев; Macedonian: Ѓорѓи Николов Делчев; 4 February 1872 – 4 May 1903), known as Gotse Delchev or Goce Delčev (Гоце Делчев),^{[note 1]} was an important Macedonian Bulgarian revolutionary (komitadji),^[2] active in the Ottoman-ruled Macedonia and Adrianople regions at the turn of the 20th century.^[3][4][5] He was the most prominent leader of what is known today as the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO), a secret revolutionary society that was active in Ottoman territories in the Balkans at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century.^[6] Delchev was its representative in Sofia, the capital of the Principality of Bulgaria.^[7] As such, he was also a member of the Supreme Macedonian-Adrianople Committee (SMAC),^[8] participating in the work of its governing body.^[9] He was killed in a skirmish with an Ottoman unit on the eve of the Ilinden-Preobrazhenie uprising.

Voivode Gotse Delchev
Portrait of Gotse Delchev in Sofia c. 1900
Native name	Гоце Делчев
Birth name	Georgi Nikolov Delchev
Born	(1872-02-04)4 February 1872 Kukush,^[1] Ottoman Empire
Died	4 May 1903(1903-05-04) (aged 31) Banitsa, Ottoman Empire
Buried	Banitsa (1903-1913) Xanthi (1913-1919) Plovdiv (1919-1923) Sofia (1923-1946) Church of the Ascension of Jesus, Skopje (since 1946)
Service/branch	Bulgarian army Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization Supreme Macedonian-Adrianople Committee
Alma mater	Bulgarian Men's High School of Thessaloniki Military School of His Princely Highness
Other work	Teacher

Born into a Bulgarian family in Kilkis,^[10][11] then in the Salonika vilayet of the Ottoman Empire, in his youth he was inspired by the ideals of earlier Bulgarian revolutionaries such as Vasil Levski and Hristo Botev, who envisioned the creation of a Bulgarian republic of ethnic and religious equality, as part of an imagined Balkan Federation.^[12] Delchev completed his secondary education in the Bulgarian Men's High School of Thessaloniki and entered the Military School of His Princely Highness in Sofia, but he was dismissed from there, only a month before his graduation, because of his leftist political persuasions. Then he returned to Ottoman Macedonia as a Bulgarian teacher,^[13] and immediately became an activist of the newly-found revolutionary movement in 1894.^[14]

Although considering himself to be an inheritor of the Bulgarian revolutionary traditions,^[15] he opted for Macedonian autonomy.^[16] Also for him, like for many Macedonian Bulgarians, originating from an area with mixed population,^[17] the idea of being ‘Macedonian’ acquired the importance of a certain native loyalty, that constructed a specific spirit of "local patriotism"^[18][19] and "multi-ethnic regionalism".^[20][21] He maintained the slogan promoted by William Ewart Gladstone, "Macedonia for the Macedonians", including all different nationalities inhabiting the area.^[22][23][1] In this way, his outlook included a wide range of such disparate ideas like Bulgarian patriotism, Macedonian regionalism, anti-nationalism, and incipient socialism.^[24][25] As a result, his political agenda became the establishment through revolution of an autonomous Macedono-Adrianople supranational state into the framework of the Ottoman Empire, as a prelude to its incorporation within a future Balkan Federation.^[26] Despite having been educated in the spirit of Bulgarian nationalism, he revised the Organization's statute, where the membership was allowed only for Bulgarians.^[27] In this way he emphasized the importance of cooperation among all ethnic groups in the territories concerned in order to obtain political autonomy.^[14]

Today Gotse Delchev is considered a national hero in Bulgaria and North Macedonia. Because his autonomist ideas have stimulated the subsequent development of Macedonian nationalism,^[28] in the latter it is claimed he was an ethnic Macedonian revolutionary. Thus, Delchev's legacy remains disputed between both countries. Nevertheless, some researchers think, that behind IMRO's idea of autonomy was hidden a reserve plan for eventual incorporation into Bulgaria.^[29][30][31] Per some of his contemporaries and some Bulgarian sources, Delchev supported Macedonia's incorporation into Bulgaria too. However, other researchers find the identity of Delchev and other IMRO figures to be "open to different interpretations",^[32] that are incompatible with the views of modern Balkan nationalisms.^[33]

Biography

 

Delchev (right) and his former classmate from Kilkis, Imov as officer cadets in Sofia.

Early life

He was born to a large family on 4 February 1872 (23 January according to the Julian calendar) in Kılkış (Kukush), then in the Ottoman Empire (today in Greece). By the mid-19th century, Kılkış was populated predominantly with Macedonian Bulgarians^[34][35][36] and became one of the centres of the Bulgarian national revival.^[37][38] During the 1860s and 1870s it was under the jurisdiction of the Bulgarian Uniate Church,^[39][40] but after 1884 most of its population gradually joined the Bulgarian Exarchate.^[41] As a student, Delchev studied first at the Bulgarian Uniate primary school and then at the Bulgarian Exarchate junior high school.^[42] He also read widely in the town's chitalishte (community cultural center), where he was impressed with revolutionary books, and was especially imbued with thoughts of the liberation of Bulgaria.^[43] In 1888 his family sent him to the Bulgarian Men's High School of Thessaloniki, where he organized and led a secret revolutionary brotherhood.^[44] Delchev also distributed revolutionary literature, which he acquired from the school's graduates who studied in Bulgaria. Graduation from high school was faced with few career prospects and Delchev decided to follow the path of his former schoolmate Boris Sarafov, entering the military school in Sofia in 1891. He at first encountered the newly independent Bulgaria full of idealism and dedication, but he later became disappointed with the commercialized life of the society and with the authoritarian politics of the prime minister Stefan Stambolov, accused of being a dictator.^[45]

 

Letter from Delchev, where he declares himself and his compatriots as Bulgarians.^[46]

Delchev spent his leaves in the company of emigrants from Macedonia. Most of them belonged to the Young Macedonian Literary Society. One of his friends was Vasil Glavinov, a leader of the Macedonian-Adrianople faction of the Bulgarian Social Democratic Workers Party. Through Glavinov and his comrades, he came into contact with different people, who offered a new form of social struggle. In June 1892, Delchev and the journalist Kosta Shahov, a chairman of the Young Macedonian Literary Society, met in Sofia with the bookseller from Thessaloniki, Ivan Hadzhinikolov. Hadzhinikolov disclosed at this meeting his plans to create a revolutionary organization in Ottoman Macedonia. They discussed together its basic principles and agreed fully on all scores. Delchev explained, he had no intention of remaining an officer and promised after graduating from the Military School, he would return to Macedonia to join the organization.^[47] In September 1894, only a month before graduation, he was expelled because of his political activity as a member of an illegal socialist circle.^[48] He was given the possibility to enter the Army again by re-applying for a commission, but he refused. Afterwards he returned to European Turkey to work there as a Bulgarian teacher, aiming to get involved in the new liberation movement. At that time, the revolutionary organization commonly known as Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) was in its early stages of development, forming its committees around the Bulgarian Exarchate schools.^[49]

Teacher and revolutionary

 

The diploma of Delchev from his graduation from the Military school in Sofia.^{[note 2]}

 

Diploma from the Bulgarian Exarchate's school in Štip, signed by Delchev as a teacher.

 

Letter from Delchev to the Bulgarian Exarch Yosif, where he resigned as head teacher in Bansko.

 

Excerpt from the statute of BMARC, with corrections made by hand, personally by Gotse Delchev with intention to work out the new statute of the SMARO.

 

Excerpt from the statute of SMARO, whose author was G. Delchev.^{[note 3]}

In Ottoman Thessaloniki, IMRO was founded in 1893, by a small band of anti-Ottoman Macedono-Bulgarian revolutionaries, including Hadzhinikolov. The first name of the organization is disputed, but among its early names were Bulgarian Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Committees (BMARC) and Secret Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization (SMARO).^[50][51] It was decided at a meeting in Resen in August 1894 to preferably recruit teachers from the Bulgarian schools as committee members.^[52] In the autumn of 1894 Delchev became a teacher in an Exarchate school in Štip,^[53] where he met another teacher, Dame Gruev, who was also a leader of the newly established local committee of the IMRO.^[54] As a result of the close friendship between the two, Delchev joined the organization immediately and gradually became one of its main leaders. After this, both he and Gruev worked together in Štip and its environs.^[55] The expansion of the IMRO at the time was considerable, particularly after Gruev settled in Thessaloniki during the years 1895–1897, in the quality of a Bulgarian school inspector. Under his direction, Delchev travelled during the vacations throughout Macedonia and established and organized committees in villages and cities. Delchev also established contacts with some of the leaders of the Supreme Macedonian-Adrianople Committee (SMAC). Its official declaration was a struggle for the autonomy of Macedonia and Thrace.^[56] However, as a rule, most of SMAC's leaders were officers with stronger connections with the governments, waging terrorist struggle against the Ottomans in the hope of provoking a war and thus Bulgarian annexation of both areas. In the late 1895 he arrived illegally in Bulgaria's capital and tried to get support from the SMAC's leadership from the name of the "Bulgarian Central Macedonian-Adrianopolitan Revolutionary Committee".^[57] Delchev had a number of meetings with Danail Nikolaev, Yosif Kovachev, Toma Karayovov, Andrey Lyapchev and others, but he was often frustrated by their views. As a whole, Delchev had a negative attitude towards their activities. After spending the next school year (1895/1896) as a teacher in the town of Bansko, in May 1896 he was arrested by the Ottoman authorities as a person suspected of revolutionary activity and spent about a month in jail. Later Delchev participated in the Thessaloniki Congress of the IMRO in the Summer. Afterwards, Delchev gave his resignation as a teacher and, in the Autumn of 1896, he moved back to Bulgaria, where he, together with Gyorche Petrov, served as foreign representatives of the organization in Sofia.^[58] At that time the organization was largely dependent on the Bulgarian state and army assistance, that was mediated by the foreign representatives.

Revolutionary activity as part of the leadership of the Organization

In the period 1897–1902, he was a representative of the Foreign Committee of the IMRO in Sofia. Again in Sofia, negotiating with suspicious politicians and arms merchants, Delchev saw more of the unpleasant face of the Principality and became even more disillusioned with its political system. In 1897 he, along with Petrov, wrote the new organization's statute, which divided Macedonia and Adrianople areas into seven regions, each with a regional structure and secret police, following the Internal Revolutionary Organization's example. Below the regional committees were districts.^[59][60] The Central Committee was placed in Thessaloniki. In 1898 the Organization decided to create permanent acting armed bands (chetas) in every district, with Delchev as their leader.^[61] Delchev ensured the functioning of the underground border crossings of the organization and the arms depots added to them, alongside the then Bulgarian-Ottoman border.

His correspondence with other IMRO members covers extensive data on supplies, transport and storage of weapons and ammunition in Macedonia. Delchev envisioned independent production of weapons and traveled in 1897 to Odessa, where he met with Armenian revolutionaries Stepan Zorian and Christapor Mikaelian to exchange terrorist skills and especially bomb-making.^[62] That resulted in the establishment of a bomb manufacturing plant in the village of Sabler near Kyustendil in Bulgaria. The bombs were later smuggled across the Ottoman border into Macedonia.^[63] He was the first to organize and lead a band into Macedonia with the purpose of robbing or kidnapping rich Turks. His experiences demonstrate the weaknesses and difficulties which the Organization faced in its early years.^[64] Later he was one of the organizers of the Miss Stone Affair. In the winter of 1900, he resided for a while in Burgas, where Delchev organized another bomb manufacturing plant, which dynamite was used later by the Thessaloniki bombings.^[65] In 1900 he inspected also IMRO's detachments in Eastern Thrace again, aiming for better coordination between Macedonian and Thracian revolutionary committees. After the assassination in July of the Romanian newspaper editor Ștefan Mihăileanu, who had published unflattering remarks about the Macedonian affairs, Bulgaria and Romania were brought to the brink of war. At that time Delchev was preparing to organize a detachment which, in a possible war to support the Bulgarian army by its actions in Northern Dobruja, where a compact Bulgarian population was available.^[66] From the Autumn of 1901 till the early Spring of 1902, he made an important inspection in Macedonia, touring all revolutionary districts there. He also led the congress of the Adrianople revolutionary district held in Plovdiv in April 1902. Afterwards Delchev inspected the IMRO's structures in the Central Rhodopes. The inclusion of the rural areas into the organizational districts contributed to the expansion of the organization and the increase in its membership, while providing the essential prerequisites for the formation of the military power of the organization, at the same time having Delchev as its military advisor (inspector) and chief of all internal revolutionary bands.^{[67][non-primary source needed]}

 

Delchev's mother - Sultana

 

Delchev's father – Nikola

After 1897 there was a rapid growth of secret officers' brotherhoods, whose members by 1900 numbered about a thousand.^[68] Much of the brotherhoods' activists were involved in the revolutionary activity of the IMRO.^[69] He was among the main supporters of their activities.^[70] Delchev aimed also for better coordination between IMRO and the Supreme Macedonian-Adrianople Committee. For a short time in the late 1890s lieutenant Boris Sarafov, who was a former schoolmate of Delchev became its leader. During that period the foreign representatives Delchev and Petrov became by rights members of the leadership of the Supreme Committee and so the IMRO even managed to gain de facto control of the SMAC.^[71] Nevertheless, it soon split into two factions: one loyal to the IMRO and one led by some officers close to the Bulgarian prince. Delchev opposed these officers' insistent attempts to gain control over the activity of the IMRO.^{[citation needed]} Sometimes SMAC even clashed militarily with local SMARO bands as in the autumn of 1902. Then the Supreme Macedonian-Adrianople Committee organized a failed uprising in Pirin Macedonia (Gorna Dzhumaya), which merely served to provoke Ottoman repressions and hampered the work of the underground network of SMARO.

The primary question regarding the timing of the uprising in Macedonia and Thrace implicated an apparent discordance not only among the SMAC and the SMARO, but also among the SMARO's leadership. At the Thessaloniki Congress of January 1903, where Delchev did not participate, an early uprising was debated and it was decided to stage one in the Spring of 1903. This led to fierce debates among the representatives at the Sofia SMARO's Conference in March 1903. By that time two strong tendencies had crystallized within the SMARO. The right-wing majority was convinced that if the Organization would unleash a general uprising, Bulgaria would be provoked to declare war on the Ottomans and after the subsequent intervention of the Great Powers the Empire would collapse.^[72]

 

The American daily New York Times's report from 11 May 1903, about the death of Delchev.

Delchev also launched the establishment of a secret revolutionary network, that would prepare the population for an armed uprising against the Ottoman rule.^[73] Delchev, who was under the influence of the leading Bulgarian anarchists like Mihail Gerdzhikov and Varban Kilifarski personally opposed the IMRO Central Committee's plan for a mass uprising in the summer of 1903, instead supporting terrorist tactics and guerilla tactics such as the Thessaloniki bombings of 1903.^[74][75] Finally, he had no choice but to agree to that course of action, at least managing to delay its start from May to August. Delchev also convinced the SMARO leadership to transform its idea of a mass rising involving the civil population into a rising based on guerrilla warfare. Towards the end of March 1903, Delchev with his detachment destroyed the railway bridge over the Angista river, aiming to test the new guerrilla tactics. Following that he set out for Thessaloniki to meet with Dame Gruev after his release from prison in March 1903. Delchev met with Gruev in late April and they discussed the decision of starting the uprising. After the meeting, he left for Serres, with the intention of holding a regional congress to lay out his plans for the uprising.^[76]

Death and aftermath

 

Telegram by the Ottoman authorities to their Embassy in Sofia informing, Delchev, one of the leaders of the Bulgarian Committees, was killed.^[77][78]

 

The first biographical book about Delchev, issued in 1904 by his friend, the Bulgarian poet and revolutionary Peyo Yavorov.

 

Bulgarian postcard (1904) representing Delchev and an IMARO cheta. The inscription above reads: "The immortal Delchev."

 

Memorial poster of IMARO issued after the Young Turk Revolution. The group presents Delchev and his already dead comrades, whom he personally had invited into the organization: Toma Davidov, Mihail Apostolov, Petar Sokolov and Slavi Merdzhanov.

 

The ruins of Kilkis after the Second Balkan War.

 

The bell tower among ruins of the village of Banitsa, where Delchev was buried until 1913.

On 28 April, members of the Gemidzii circle started terrorist attacks in Thessaloniki. As a consequence martial law was declared in the city and many Turkish soldiers and "bashibozouks" were concentrated in the Salonika vilayet. This increased tension led eventually to the tracking of Delchev's cheta and his subsequent death.^[79][80] He was killed on 4 May 1903, in a skirmish with the Turkish police in the village of Banitsa,^[61] probably after betrayal by local villagers, as rumors asserted, while preparing the Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising.^[81] Thus the liberation movement lost its most important organizer, on the eve of the Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising. After being identified by the local authorities in Serres, the bodies of Delchev and his comrade, Dimitar Gushtanov, were buried in a common grave in Banitsa. Following the skirmish, more than 500 arrests were made in various districts of Serres and 1,700 households petitioned to return to the Patriarchate.^[82] Soon afterwards SMARO, aided by SMAC organized the uprising against the Ottomans, which after initial successes, was crushed with much loss of life.^[83] Two of his brothers, Mitso Delchev and Milan Delchev were also killed fighting against the Ottomans as militants in the SMARO chetas of the Bulgarian voivodas Hristo Chernopeev and Krstjo Asenov in 1901 and 1903, respectively. The Bulgarian government later granted a pension to their father Nikola Delchev, because of the contribution of his sons to the freedom of Macedonia.^[84] During the Second Balkan War of 1913, Kilkis, which had been annexed by Bulgaria in the First Balkan War, was taken by the Greeks. Virtually all of its pre-war 7,000 Bulgarian inhabitants, including Delchev's family, were expelled to Bulgaria by the Greek Army.^[85] During Balkan Wars, when Bulgaria was temporarily in control of the area, Delchev's remains were transferred to Xanthi, then in Bulgaria. After Western Thrace was ceded to Greece in 1919, the relic was brought to Plovdiv and in 1923 to Sofia, where it rested until after World War II.^[86] During World War II, the area was taken by the Bulgarians again and Delchev's grave near Banitsa was restored.^[87] In May 1943, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of his death, a memorial plaque was set in Banitsa, in the presence of his sisters and other public figures.^[88] Until the end of WWII Delchev was considered one of the greatest Bulgarians in the region of Macedonia.^[89]

The first biographical book about Delchev was issued in 1904 by his friend and comrade in arms, the Bulgarian poet Peyo Yavorov.^[90] The most detailed biography of Delchev in English was written by English historian Mercia MacDermott: Freedom or Death: The Life of Gotse Delchev.^[91]

Views

The international, cosmopolitan views of Delchev could be summarized in his proverbial sentence: "I understand the world solely as a field for cultural competition among the peoples".^[92][93] In the late 19th century the anarchists and socialists from Bulgaria linked their struggle closely with the revolutionary movements in Macedonia and Thrace.^[94] Thus, as a young cadet in Sofia Delchev became a member of a left-wing circle, where he was strongly influenced by the modern Marxist and Bakunin's ideas.^[95] His views were formed also under the influence of the ideas of earlier anti-Ottoman fighters as Levski, Botev, and Stoyanov,^[16] who were among the founders of the Bulgarian Internal Revolutionary Organization, the Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee and the Bulgarian Secret Central Revolutionary Committee, respectively. Later he participated in the Internal organization's struggle as a well-educated leader. According to Mercia MacDermott, he was the co-author of BMARC's statute.^[96] Developing his ideas further in 1902 he took the step, together with other left-wing functionaries, of changing its nationalistic character, which determined that members of the organization could be only Bulgarians. The new supra-nationalistic statute renamed it to Secret Macedono-Adrianopolitan Revolutionary Organization (SMARO), which was to be an insurgent organization, open to all Macedonians and Thracians regardless of nationality, who wished to participate in the movement for their autonomy.^[97] This scenario was partially facilitated by the Treaty of Berlin (1878), according to which Macedonia and Adrianople areas were given back from Bulgaria to the Ottomans, but especially by its unrealized 23rd. article, which promised future autonomy for unspecified territories in European Turkey, settled with Christian population.^[98] His main goal, along with the other revolutionaries, was the implementation of Article 23 of the treaty, aimed at acquiring full autonomy of Macedonia and the Adrianople.^[99] Delchev, like other left-wing activists, vaguely determined the bonds in the future common Macedonian-Adrianople autonomous region on the one hand,^[100] and on the other between it, the Principality of Bulgaria, and de facto annexed Eastern Rumelia.^[101][1] Even the possibility that Bulgaria could be absorbed into a future autonomous Macedonia, rather than the reverse, was discussed.^[102] Per some Bulgarian sources and his contemporaries, Delchev supported Macedonia's eventual incorporation into Bulgaria,^[103][104] or its inclusion into a future Balkan Confederative Republic.^[105][106] According to American historian Dennis P. Hupchick, he firmly opposed Macedonia's incorporation into Bulgaria.^[107] Despite his Bulgarian loyalty, he was against any chauvinistic propaganda and nationalism.^[108] For militants such as Delchev and other leftists that participated in the national movement retaining a political outlook, national liberation meant "radical political liberation through shaking off the social shackles".^[109] According to him, no outside force could or would help the Organization and it ought to rely only upon itself and only upon its own will and strength. He thought that any intervention by Bulgaria would provoke intervention by the neighboring states as well, and could result in Macedonia and Thrace being torn apart. That is why the peoples of these two regions had to win their own freedom, within the frontiers of an autonomous Macedonian-Adrianople state.^[110][111]

 

The moving of the remains of Delchev to the seat of the Ilinden Organization in Sofia in 1923. Until then, the bones were kept in the house of the revolutionary Mihail Chakov in Plovdiv, and between 1913 and 1919 in his home in Xanthi (then part of Bulgaria).^[112]

 

The restored grave-place of Delchev among the ruins of Banitsa during World War II Bulgarian annexation of Northern Greece.

 

The moving of the remains of Delchev from Sofia to Skopje in October 1946. This was a failed effort of Stalin to placate Tito, pressuring the Bulgarian communists to allow this,^[113] as part of the campaign of recognizing the Macedonian national identity. The translation of the Bulgarian caption is given in a note.^{[note 4]}

 

Commemorative medal of Delchev issued in 1904 in Bulgaria, designed by the painter Dimitar Diolev.^[114]

Legacy

Cold war period

See also: Historiography in North Macedonia

In 1934 the Comintern gave its support to the idea that the Macedonian Slavs constituted a separate nation.^[115] Prior to World War II, this view on the Macedonian issue had been of little practical importance. However, during the war these ideas were supported by the pro-Yugoslav Macedonian communist partisans, who strengthened their positions in 1943, referring to the ideals of Gotse Delchev.^[116] After the Red Army entered the Balkans in late 1944, new communist regimes came into power in Bulgaria and Yugoslavia. In this way their policy on the Macedonian Question was committed to the Comintern policy of supporting the development of a distinct ethnic Macedonian consciousness.^[115][117] The region of Macedonia was proclaimed as the connecting link for the establishment of a future Balkan Communist Federation. The newly established Yugoslav People's Republic of Macedonia, was characterized as the natural result of Delchev's aspirations for autonomous Macedonia.^[118]

Initially, the Macedonian communists questioned the extent of Delchev's alleged Macedonian national consciousness.^[119] Macedonian communist leader Lazar Koliševski proclaimed him as "...one Bulgarian of no significance for the liberation struggles...".^[120] In 1946, Vasil Ivanovski acknowledged that Delchev did not have a clear view of "a Macedonian national character", but stated that his struggle made the free and autonomous Macedonia a possibility.^[119] On 7 October 1946, under pressure from Moscow,^[121] as part of the policy to foster the development of Macedonian national consciousness, Delchev's remains were transported to Skopje.^[122] On 10 October, the bones were enshrined in a marble sarcophagus in the yard of the church "Sveti Spas", where they have remained since.^[121] Delchev's name became part of the anthem of SR Macedonia - Today over Macedonia.^[123] According to Mishe Karev, a nephew of Nikola Karev, after the Tito–Stalin split in 1948, the Macedonian communist elite discussed the idea of scrapping Delchev's name from the anthem of the country and proclaiming him a Bulgarian, but this idea was declined.^[124]

After realizing that the Balkan collective memory had already accepted the heroes of the Macedonian revolutionary movement as Bulgarians, Macedonian authorities exerted efforts to claim Delchev for the Macedonian national cause.^[125] Aiming to enforce the belief that Delchev was an ethnic Macedonian, all documents written by him in standard Bulgarian were translated into standard Macedonian, and presented as originals.^[126] As a result, Delchev was declared an ethnic Macedonian hero and Macedonian school textbooks began even to hint at Bulgarian complicity in his death.^[127] In the People's Republic of Bulgaria, before 1960, Delchev was given mostly regional recognition in Pirin Macedonia.^[118] Afterwards, orders from the highest political level were given to reincorporate the Macedonian revolutionary movement as part of the Bulgarian historiography and to prove the Bulgarian credentials of its historical leaders. Since 1960, there have been long unproductive debates between the ruling Communist parties in Bulgaria and Yugoslavia about the ethnic affiliation of Delchev. Delchev was described in SR Macedonia not only as an anti-Ottoman freedom fighter, but also as a hero, who had opposed the aggressive aspirations of the pro-Bulgarian factions in the liberation movement.^[128] The claims on Delchev's Bulgarian self-identification, thus were portrayed as a recent Bulgarian chauvinist attitude of long provenance.^[129] Nonetheless, the Bulgarian side made in 1978 for the first time the proposal that some historical personalities (e.g. Gotse Delchev) could be regarded as belonging to the shared historical heritage of the two peoples, but that proposal did not appeal to the Yugoslavs.^[130]

Post-communism

See also: Bulgaria–North Macedonia relations

Delchev is today regarded both in Bulgaria and North Macedonia as an important national hero, and both nations see him as part of their own national history.^{[131][132][133]} His ethnic identity has continued to be disputed in North Macedonia, serving as a point of contention with Bulgaria.^[134][135] Some attempts were made for the joint celebration of Delchev between both countries.^[136][137] Bulgarian diplomats were also attacked when honoring Delchev by Macedonian nationalists.^[138] However, on 2 August 2017, the Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and his Macedonian colleague Zoran Zaev placed wreaths at the grave of Gotse Delchev on the occasion of the 114th anniversary of the Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising.^[139] The Macedonian side has recently been interested to negotiate about Delchev.^[140] A joint commission on historical issues was also formed in 2018 to resolve controversial historical readings, including the dispute about Delchev's ethnic identity, which remains unresolved.^{[141][142][143]} The Association of Historians in North Macedonia came out against the calls for a joint celebration of Delchev, seeing them as a threat to Macedonian national identity.^[144] Macedonian historians insist that the myth of Delchev there is so significant that it is more important than all of the historical research and documents,^[145] and therefore his Bulgarian self-identification should not be discussed.^[146]

His memory is honored especially in the Bulgarian part of Macedonia and among the descendants of Bulgarian refugees from other parts of the region, where he is regarded as the most important revolutionary from the second generation of freedom fighters.^[147] His name appears also in the national anthem of North Macedonia: "Denes nad Makedonija" (Today over Macedonia). There are two towns named in his honor: Gotse Delchev in Bulgaria and Delčevo in North Macedonia.^[61] There are also two peaks named after Delchev: Gotsev Vrah, the summit of Slavyanka Mountain, and Delchev Vrah or Delchev Peak on Livingston Island, South Shetland Islands in Antarctica, which was named after him by the scientists from the Bulgarian Antarctic Expedition. The Goce Delčev University of Štip in North Macedonia carries his name too.^[148] Today many artifacts related to Delchev's activity are stored in different museums across Bulgaria and North Macedonia.

During the time of SFR Yugoslavia, a street in Belgrade was named after Delchev. In 2015, Serbian nationalists covered the signs with the street's name and affixed new ones with the name of the Chetniks' activist Kosta Pećanac. They claimed that Delchev was a Bulgarian and his name has no place there.^[149] Though in 2016 the street's name was changed officially by the municipal authorities to "Maršal Tolbuhin". Their motivation was that Delchev was not an ethnic Macedonian revolutionary, but an activist of an anti-Serbian organization with a pro-Bulgarian orientation.^[150][151]

In Greece the official appeals from the Bulgarian side to the authorities to install a memorial plaque on his place of death are not answered. The memorial plaques set periodically by Bulgarians afterwards are removed. Bulgarian tourists are restrained occasionally to visit the place.^{[152][153][154]}

On February 4, 2023, on the 151st anniversary of the birth of the revolutionary, both the Macedonian and Bulgarian side paid their respects at the St. Spas Church in Skopje separately, while the delegation of North Macedonia declined the offer to jointly lay wreaths proposed by the Bulgarian delegation.^[155] Many Bulgarian citizens who wanted to attend the event were held for hours at the border due to the malfunction of the border system.^[156][157] However, problems with the admission of the Bulgarians continued even after the processing of their documents.^[158] As a result, some Bulgarian citizens and journalists were prevented from crossing. Three citizens were detained, fined and banned from entering the country for 3 years, due to attempting to physically assault policemen.^[159][160] According to their lawyer, two of them were apparently beaten.^[161][162] Bulgaria officially reacted sharply to these events.^[163]

Memorials

•  

  Monument in Gotse Delchev, Bulgaria.

•  

  Monument in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria.

•  

  Bust in Sofia, Bulgaria.

•  

  Statues of Gotse Delchev and Dame Gruev in Skopje, North Macedonia.

•  

  The tomb of Gotse Delchev in the church Sv. Spas in Skopje.

Notes

1. Originally spelled in older Bulgarian orthography as Гоце Дѣлчевъ. - Гоце Дѣлчевъ. Биография. П.К. Яворовъ, 1904.
2. Below is a statement that the cadet was expelled from the school on the basis of a memorandum of an officer, because of manifest poor behavior, but the school allows him to re-apply to a Commission for recovery of his status.
3. "During Gotsé's lifetime, the Organization had three Statutes: the first was drawn up by Damé Gruev in 1894, the second by Gyorché Petrov, with some help from Gotsé, after the Salonika Congress in 1896, and the third by Gotsé in 1902 (this was an amended version of the second). Two of these Statutes have come down to us: one entitled 'The Statute of the Bulgarian Macedonian-Adrianople Committees' (BMARC) and the other - 'The Statute of the Secret Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization' (SMARO). Neither, however, is dated, and it was long assumed that the Statute of the Secret Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization was the one adopted after the Salonika Congress of 1896." For more see: Mercia MacDermott, Freedom or Death: The Life of Gotsé Delchev, p. 157.
4. "Last week the remains of the great Macedonian revolutionary Gotse Delchev were sent from Sofia to Macedonia, and from now on they will rest in Skopje, the capital of the country for which he gave his life."

References

1. Anastasia Karakasidou, Fields of Wheat, Hills of Blood: Passages to Nationhood in Greek Macedonia, 1870-1990, University of Chicago Press, 2009, ISBN 0226424995, p. 282.
2. • Danforth, Loring. "Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization". Encyclopædia Britannica. from the original on 1 November 2020. Retrieved 2 October 2020. IMRO was founded in 1893 in Thessaloníki; its early leaders included Damyan Gruev, Gotsé Delchev, and Yane Sandanski, men who had a Macedonian regional identity and a Bulgarian national identity.
   • Danforth, Loring M. (1997). The Macedonian conflict: ethnic nationalism in a transnational world. Princeton University Press. p. 64. ISBN 0691043566. The political and military leaders of the Slavs of Macedonia at the turn of the century seem not to have heard Misirkov's call for a separate Macedonian national identity; they continued to identify themselves in a national sense as Bulgarian rather than Macedonians. (...) In spite of these political differences, both groups, including those who advocated an independent Macedonian state and opposed the idea of a greater Bulgaria, never seem to have doubted "the predominantly Bulgarian character of the population of Macedonia". (...) Even Gotse Delchev, the famous Macedonian revolutionary leader, whose nom de guerre was Ahil (Achilles), refers to "the Slavs of Macedonia as 'Bulgarians' in an offhanded manner without seeming to indicate that such a designation was a point of contention" (Perry 1988:23). In his correspondence Gotse Delchev often states clearly and simply, "We are Bulgarians" (Mac Dermott 1978:273).
   • Perry, Duncan M. (1988). The Politics of Terror: The Macedonian Liberation Movements, 1893-1903. Durham, NC and London: Duke University Press. p. 23. ISBN 9780822308133.
   • Victor Roudometof (2002). Collective Memory, National Identity, and Ethnic Conflict: Greece, Bulgaria, and the Macedonian Question. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 79. ISBN 0275976483. Retrieved 20 November 2011.
3. Keith Brown, The Past in Question: Modern Macedonia and the Uncertainties of Nation, Princeton University Press, 2018, ISBN 0691188432, p. 174; Bernard Lory, The Bulgarian-Macedonian Divergence, An Attempted Elucidation, INALCO, Paris in Developing Cultural Identity in the Balkans: Convergence Vs. Divergence with Raymond Detrez and Pieter Plas as ed., Peter Lang, 2005, ISBN 9052012970, pp. 165-193.
4. The Making of a New Europe: R.W. Seton-Watson and the Last Years of Austria-Hungary, Hugh Seton-Watson, Christopher Seton-Watson, Methuen, 1981, ISBN 0416747302, p. 71.
5. Dimitar Bechev, Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Macedonia, Scarecrow Press, 2009, ISBN 0810862956, p. VII.
6. Bechev, Dimitar (2009). Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Macedonia. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-6295-1., pp. 55-56.
7. Angelos Chotzidis, Anna Panagiōtopoulou, Vasilis Gounaris, The events of 1903 in Macedonia as presented in European diplomatic correspondence. Volume 3 of Museum of the Macedonian Struggle, 1993; ISBN 9608530334, p. 60.
8. From 1899 to 1901, the supreme committee provided subsidies to IMRO's central committee, allowances for Delchev and Petrov in Sofia, and weapons for bands sent to the interior. Delchev and Petrov were elected full members of the supreme committee. For more see: Laura Beth Sherman, Fires on the Mountain: The Macedonian Revolutionary Movement and the Kidnapping of Ellen Stone, East European monographs, 1980, ISBN 0914710559, p. 18.
9. Duncan M. Perry, The Politics of Terror: The Macedonian Liberation Movements, 1893-1903; Duke University Press, 1988, ISBN 0822308134, pp. 82-83.
10. Susan K. Kinnell, People in World History, Volume 1; An Index to Biographies in History Journals and Dissertations Covering All Countries of the World Except Canada and the U.S, ISBN 0874365503, ABC-CLIO, 1989; p. 157.
11. Delchev was born into a family of Bulgarian Uniates, who later switched to Bulgarian Еxarchists. For more see: Светозар Елдъров, Униатството в съдбата на България: очерци из историята на българската католическа църква от източен обред, Абагар, 1994, ISBN 9548614014, стр. 15.
12. Jelavich, Charles. The Establishment of the Balkan National States, 1804-1920, University of Washington Press, 1986, ISBN 0295803606, pp. 137-138.
13. Julian Brooks, The Education Race for Macedonia, 1878—1903 in The Journal of Modern Hellenism, Vol 31 (2015) pp. 23-58.
14. Raymond Detrez, The A to Z of Bulgaria, Scarecrow Press, 2010, ISBN 0810872021, p. 135.
15. Duncan M. Perry, The Politics of Terror: The Macedonian Liberation Movements, 1893-1903, Duke University Press, 1988, ISBN 0822308134, pp. 39-40.
16. Todorova, Maria N. Bones of Contention: The Living Archive of Vasil Levski and the Making of Bulgaria's National Hero, Central European University Press, 2009, ISBN 9639776246, pp. 76-77.
17. "The French referred to 'Macedoine' as an area of mixed races — and named a salad after it. One doubts that Gotse Delchev approved of this descriptive, but trivial approach." Johnson, Wes. Balkan inferno: betrayal, war and intervention, 1990-2005, Enigma Books, 2007, ISBN 1929631634, p. 80.
18. "The Bulgarian historians, such as Veselin Angelov, Nikola Achkov and Kosta Tzarnushanov continue to publish their research backed with many primary sources to prove that the term 'Macedonian' when applied to Slavs has always meant only a regional identity of the Bulgarians." Contested Ethnic Identity: The Case of Macedonian Immigrants in Toronto, 1900-1996, Chris Kostov, Peter Lang, 2010, ISBN 3034301960, p. 112.
19. "Gotse Delchev, may, as Macedonian historians claim, have 'objectively' served the cause of Macedonian independence, but in his letters he called himself a Bulgarian. In other words it is not clear that the sense of Slavic Macedonian identity at the time of Delchev was in general developed." Moulakis, Athanasios. "The Controversial Ethnogenesis of Macedonia", European Political Science (2010) 9, ISSN 1680-4333. p. 497.
20. "Slavic Macedonian intellectuals felt loyalty to Macedonia as a region or territory without claiming any specifically Macedonian ethnicity. The primary aim of this Macedonian regionalism was a multi-ethnic alliance against the Ottoman rule." Ethnologia Balkanica, vol. 10–11, Association for Balkan Anthropology, Bŭlgarska akademiia na naukite, Universität München, Lit Verlag, Alexander Maxwell, 2006, p. 133.
21. "The Bulgarian loyalties of IMRO's leadership, however, coexisted with the desire for multi-ethnic Macedonia to enjoy administrative autonomy. When Delchev was elected to IMRO's Central Committee in 1896, he opened membership in IMRO to all inhabitants of European Turkey since the goal was to assemble all dissatisfied elements in Macedonia and Adrianople regions regardless of ethnicity or religion in order to win through revolution full autonomy for both regions." Region, Regional Identity and Regionalism in Southeastern Europe, Klaus Roth, Ulf Brunnbauer, LIT Verlag Münster, 2009, ISBN 3825813878, p. 136.
22. Lieberman, Benjamin (2013). Terrible Fate: Ethnic Cleansing in the Making of Modern Europe. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-4422-3038-5., p. 56
23. Tchavdar Marinov, We, the Macedonians, The Paths of Macedonian Supra-Nationalism (1878–1912) in: Mishkova Diana ed., 2009, We, the People: Politics of National Peculiarity in Southeastern Europe, Central European University Press, ISBN 9639776289, pp. 117-120. 17 November 2022 at the Wayback Machine
24. Peter Vasiliadis (1989). Whose are you? identity and ethnicity among the Toronto Macedonians. AMS Press. p. 77. ISBN 0404194680. Retrieved 5 July 2013.
25. The earliest document which talks about the autonomy of Macedonia and Thrace into the Ottoman Empire is the resolution of the First congress of the Supreme Macedonian Committee held in Sofia in 1895. От София до Костур -освободителните борби на българите от Македония в спомени на дейци от Върховния македоно-одрински комитет, Ива Бурилкова, Цочо Билярски - съставители, ISBN 9549983234, Синева, 2003, стр. 6.
26. Opfer, Björn (2005). Im Schatten des Krieges: Besatzung oder Anschluss - Befreiung oder Unterdrückung? ; eine komparative Untersuchung über die bulgarische Herrschaft in Vardar-Makedonien 1915-1918 und 1941-1944. LIT Verlag Münster. ISBN 978-3-8258-7997-6., pp. 27-28
27. Laura Beth Sherman, Fires on the mountain: the Macedonian revolutionary movement and the kidnapping of Ellen Stone, Volume 62, East European Monographs, 1980, ISBN 0914710559, p. 10.
28. Roumen Dontchev Daskalov, Tchavdar Marinov. Histories of the Balkans: Volume One: National Ideologies and Language Policies. Balkan Studies Library, BRILL, 2013, ISBN 900425076X. pp. 300-303.
29. Anastasia Karakasidou, Fields of Wheat, Hills of Blood: Passages to Nationhood in Greek Macedonia, 1870-1990, University of Chicago Press, 2009, ISBN 0226424995, p. 100.
30. İpek Yosmaoğlu, Blood Ties: Religion, Violence and the Politics of Nationhood in Ottoman Macedonia, 1878–1908, Cornell University Press, 2013, ISBN 0801469791, p. 16.
31. Dimitris Livanios, The Macedonian Question: Britain and the Southern Balkans 1939-1949, Oxford Historical Monographs, OUP Oxford, 2008, ISBN 0191528722, p. 17.
32. Alexis Heraclides (2021). The Macedonian Question and The Macedonians. Taylor & Francis. p. 39. As Keith Brown points out, 'for leaders like Goce Delčev, Pitu Guli, Damjan Gruev, and Jane Sandanski - the four national heroes named in the anthem of the modern Republic of Macedonia - the written record of what they believed about their own identity is open to different interpretations. The views and self-perceptions of their followers and allies were even less conclusive.'
33. Keith Brown uses terms like “Bulgar,” “Arnaut,” “Mijak” and “Exarchist” seeking in this way to remind the very different world of the late 19th century. For more see: The importance of ‘unlearning’ the past: Interview with Balkans expert Keith Brown. Global Voices, 28 October 2020. 24 January 2023 at the Wayback Machine
34. Robert D. Kaplan, Balkan ghosts: a journey through history, Vintage books, 1994, ISBN 0-679-74981-0, p. 58.
35. Vacalopoulos, Apostolos. Modern history of Macedonia (1830-1912), From the birth of the Greek state until the Liberation. Thessaloniki: Barbounakis, 1989, pp. 61-62
36. An 1873 Ottoman study, published in 1878 as "Ethnographie des Vilayets d'Andrinople, de Monastir et de Salonique", concluded that the population of Kilkis consisted of 1,170 households, of which there were 5,235 Bulgarian inhabitants, 155 Muslims and 40 Romani people. "Македония и Одринско. Статистика на населението от 1873 г." Macedonian Scientific Institute, Sofia, 1995, pp.160-161.
37. Aarbakke, Vemund. Ethnic rivalry and the quest for Macedonia, 1870-1913. East European Monographs, 2003, ISBN 0-88033-527-0, p. 132.
38. Khristov, Khristo Dechkov. The Bulgarian Nation During the National Revival Period. Institut za istoria, Izd-vo na Bŭlgarskata akademia na naukite, 1980, str. 293.
39. R. J. Crampton (2007). Bulgaria. Oxford History of Modern Europe. Oxford University Press. pp. 74–77. ISBN 978-0198205142. Retrieved 20 November 2011.
40. In one five-year period, there were 57 Catholic villages in the area, whilst the Bulgarian uniate schools in the Vilayet of Thessaloniki reached 64. Gounaris, Basil C. National Claims, Conflicts and Developments in Macedonia, 1870–1912, p. 186.
41. Светозар Елдъров, Униатството в съдбата на България: очерци из историята на българската католическа църква от източен обред, Абагар, 1994, ISBN 9548614014, стр. 68-69.
42. Гоце Делчев, Писма и други материали, издирил и подготвил за печат Дино Кьосев, отговорен редактор Воин Божинов (Изд. на Българската академия на науките, Институт за история, София 1967) стр. 15.
43. Susan K. Kinnell, People in World History: A-M, ABC-CLIO, 1989, ISBN 0874365503, p. 157.
44. Brooks, Julian Allan. December 2005. "'Shoot the Teacher!' Education and the Roots of the Macedonian Struggle". Thesis (M.A.) – Department of History – Simon Fraser University, pp. 133–134.
45. Duncan M. Perry, Stefan Stambolov and the Emergence of Modern Bulgaria, 1870-1895, Duke University Press, 1993, ISBN 0822313138, p. 120.
46. In a letter to Nikola Maleshevski dated 5 January 1899, written on the occasion of certain disagreements among members of the organization Delchev wrote: Kolyo, I have received all your letters hitherto sent by you and through you. May the splits and splinterings not frighten us. It is really a pity, but what can we do, since we are Bulgarians and all suffer from one common disease! If this disease did not exist in our ancestors, from whom it is also an inheritance in us, they would not have fallen under the ugly scepter of the Turkish sultans. Our duty, of course, is not to give in to that disease, but can we make others do the same?" Chakalova, N. (ed.) The Unity of the Bulgarian language in the past and today, Publishing House of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 1980, p. 53.; For more see: Гоце Делчев, Писма и други материали, издирил и подготвил за печат Дино Кьосев, отговорен редактор Воин Божинов; Изд. на Българската академия на науките, Институт за история, София 1967, стр. 183-186. 21 May 2018 at the Wayback Machine
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48. MacDermott, Mercia. For freedom and perfection: the Life of Yané Sandansky. Journeyman, London, 1988. p. 44. 6 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine
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53. "Балканските държави и Македонския въпрос, Антони Гиза, превод от полски – Димитър Димитров, Македонски Научен Институт София, 2001; in English: Giza, Anthoni: The Balkan states and the Macedonian question. Macedonian Scientific Institute, Sofia. 2001, translation from Polish: Dimitar Dimitrov". from the original on 1 October 2012. Retrieved 15 September 2009.
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88. On the plate was this inscription: "In memory of fallen chetniks in the village of Banica on 4 May 1903 for the unification of Macedonia to the mother-country Bulgaria and to the eternal memory of the generations: Gotse Delchev from Kilkis, apostle and leader, Dimitar Gushtanov from Krushovo, Stefan Duhov from the village of Tarlis, Stoyan Zahariev from the village of Banica, Dimitar Palyankov from the village of Gorno Brodi. Their covenant was Freedom or Death." For more: Васил Станчев (2003) Четвъртата версия за убийството на Гоце Делчев, Дружество "Гоце Делчев", Стара Загора, стр. 9.
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94. Tusovka team (18 September 1903). "Georgi Khadzhiev, National liberation and libertarian federalism, Sofia 1992, pp. 99–148". Savanne.ch. from the original on 18 September 2012. Retrieved 20 November 2011.
95. Marks, Steven Gary; Marks, Steven G. (21 October 2002). How Russia shaped the modern world: from art to anti-semitism, ballet to Bolshevism, Steven Gary Marks, Princeton University Press, 2002, p. 29. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0691096848. Retrieved 20 November 2011.
96. "As a result of the (Salonica) Congress in 1896 a new Statute and Rules, providing for a very centralized form of organization were drawn up by Gyorché Petrov and Gotsé Delchev. The Statute and Rules were probably largely Gyorche's work, based on guidelines agreed by the Congress. He attempted to draw members of the Supreme Macedonian Committee into the task of drafting the Statute by approaching (Andrey) Lyapchev and (Dimitar) Rizov. When, however, Lyapchev produced a first article which would have made the Organization a branch of the Supreme Committee, Gyorché gave up in despair and wrote the Statute himself, with Gotsé's assistance." For more see: Mercia MacDermott, Freedom or Death: The Life of Gotsé Delchev, p. 144.
97. Ivo Banac. (1984). The National Question in Yugoslavia: Origins, History, Politics. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press. p. 315. ISBN 978-0801494932. Retrieved 20 November 2011.
98. Edward J. Erickson (2003). Defeat in detail: the Ottoman Army in the Balkans, 1912–1913. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 39–43. ISBN 0275978885. Retrieved 20 November 2011.
99. Dmitar Tasić (2020). Paramilitarism in the Balkans: Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, and Albania, 1917-1924. Oxford University Press. p. 163. ISBN 9780198858324.
100. Vassil Karloukovski. "Българите в най-източната част на Балканския полуостров – Източна Тракия. Димитър Г. Bойников, "Коралов и сие", 2009 г. (Bulgarian) In English: The Bulgarians in the easternmost area of the Balkans – Eastern Thrace, Dimitar G. Voynikov, Publishing house "Koralov and co.", Sofia, 2009". Коралов и сие. from the original on 4 July 2010. Retrieved 20 November 2011.
101. Anastasia N. Karakasidou (1997). Fields of wheat, hills of blood: passages to nationhood in Greek Macedonia, 1870–1990. University of Chicago Press. p. 282. ISBN 0226424944. Retrieved 20 November 2011.
102. R. J. Crampton (2007). Bulgaria, Oxford history of modern Europe. Oxford University Press. p. 164. ISBN 978-0198205142. Retrieved 20 November 2011.
103. Yordan Badev recalls in his memoirs that Gotse Delchev, Boris Sarafov, Efrem Chuchkov, and Boris Drangov had organized a group of Bulgarians born in Macedonia to propagate for the future unification of Macedonia and Bulgaria among the cadets of the military school in Sofia. For more see: Katrin Bozeva-Abazi, The Shaping of Bulgarian and Serbian National Identities, 1800s-1900s, thesis, McGill University Department of History, 2003, p. 189; Kosta Tsipushev recalls how, when he and some friends asked Gotsé why they were fighting for the autonomy of Macedonia and Thrace instead of their liberation and reunification with the motherland, he replied: Comrades, can't you see that we are now the slaves not of the Turkish state, which is in the process of disintegration, but of the Great Powers in Europe, before whom Turkey signed her total capitulation in Berlin. That is why we have to struggle for the autonomy of Macedonia and Thrace, in order to preserve them in their entirety, as a stage towards their reunification with our common Bulgarian fatherland... For more see: (MacDermott 1978:322); Pavlos Kyrou (Pavel Kirov) from Zhelevo claims in his memoirs that once, when Delchev came from Bulgaria, he met him in Konomladi. Delchev insisted there that Greek priests and schoolmasters are obstacles. He maintained also that all the local Slavophones are Bulgarians and they must work for Bulgarian cause, because its army will come and help them to throw off the Turkish yoke. For more see: Allen Upward, The East End of Europe, 1908: The Report of an Unofficial Mission to the European Provinces of Turkey on the Eve of the Revolution (Classic Reprint), BiblioBazaar, 2015, ISBN 1340987104, p. 326; In the memories of Andon Kyoseto, it is alleged that Delchev explained him that SMARO cannot win full freedom for Macedonia, but it will fight at least for autonomy. The ultimate goal of the Organization, according to Delchev, is a secrecy, but one day, sooner or later, Macedonia will unite itself with Bulgaria, and Greece and Serbia should not doubt in that. For more see: Б. Мирчев, Из спомените на Андон Лазов - Кьосето, сп. Родина, г. VІ, бр. 1, октомври 1931, стр. 12-14.; On 12 January 1903 his fellow Peyo Yavorov recorded one of Delchev's last messages in his shorthand notes, when they crossеd the misty border of Bulgaria to the Ottoman Empire entering Macedonia, namely: "I pointed out the misty area on Delchev, who was close to me and I said: Look, Macedonia welcomes us mourning!" But he answered: “We will tear away this veil and the sun of freedom will arise, but it will be a Bulgarian sun”. For more see: Милкана Бошнакова, Личните бележници на П. К. Яворов, Издателство: Захарий Стоянов, ISBN 9789540901374, 2008.
104. Идеята за автономия като тактика в програмите на национално-освободителното движение в Македония и Одринско (1893–1941), Димитър Гоцев, 1983, Изд. на Българска Академия на Науките, София, 1983, c. 17.; in English: The idea for autonomy as a tactics in the programs of the National Liberation movements in Macedonia and Adrianople regions 1893–1941", Sofia, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Dimitar v, 1983, p. 17. (55. ЦПА, ф. 226); срв. К. Ципушев. 19 години в сръбските затвори, СУ Св. Климент Охридски, 2004, ISBN 954-91083-5-X стр. 31–32. in English: Kosta Tsipushev, 19 years in Serbian prisons, Sofia University publishing house, 2004, ISBN 954-91083-5-X, p. 31-32.
105. Гоце Делчев. Писма и други материали, Дино Кьосев, Биографичен очерк, стр. 33.
106. "Review of Chairs of History at Law and History Faculty of South-West University -Blagoevgrad, vol. 2/2005, Културното единство на българския народ в контекста на фирософията на Гоце Делчев, автор Румяна Модева, стр. 2" (PDF). (PDF) from the original on 25 April 2012. Retrieved 2 September 2009.
107. Dennis P. Hupchick (1995). Conflict and Chaos in Eastern Europe. Macmillan. p. 131. ISBN 9780312121167.
108. Klaus Roth; Ulf Brunnbauer (2009). Region, Regional Identity and Regionalism in Southeastern Europe, Ethnologia Balkanica. Münster: LIT Verlag. pp. 135–136. ISBN 978-3825813871. Retrieved 20 November 2011.
109. . Okde.org. 25 October 2002. Archived from the original on 29 October 2019. Retrieved 20 November 2011.
110. In a conversation in 1900, with Lozengrad comrades, he was asked whether, in the event of a rising, the Organization should count on help from the Bulgarian Principality, and whether it would not be wiser at the outset to proclaim the union of Macedonia and Thrace with the Principality. Gotse replied: "We have to work courageously, organizing and arming ourselves well enough to take the burden of the struggle upon our own shoulders, without counting on outside help. External intervention is not desirable from the point of view of our cause. Our aim, our ideal is autonomy for Macedonia and the Adrianople region, and we must also bring into the struggle the other peoples who live in these two provinces as well... We, the Bulgarians of Macedonia and Adrianople, must not lose sight of the fact that there are other nationalities and states who are vitally interested in the solution of this questions". Приноси към историята на въстаническото движение в Одринско (1895–1903), т. IV, Бургас – 1941.
111. Mercia MacDermott (1978). Freedom or Death: The Life of Gotsé Delchev. Journeyman Press. p. 232. ISBN 9780904526325.
112. Кощунство от любов: Костите на Гоце Делчев 40 години стоят непогребани. Между редовете, май 03, 2017. 16 January 2021 at the Wayback Machine
113. "In a failed effort to placate Tito, Josef Stalin pressured Bulgarian Communists in 1946 to relinquish Delchev's bones and allow him to be reburied in the courtyard of the Orthodox Church of Sveti Spas in Skopje, Macedonia (Kaplan 1993, 59)." For more see: P. H. Liotta, Dismembering the State: The Death of Yugoslavia and why it Matters. G - Reference, Lexington Books, 2001, ISBN 0739102125, p. 292.
114. Македония в българската фалеристика, Автор Тодор Петров, Издател: Военно издателство "Св. Георги Победоносец", 2004 г., ISBN 9545092831, стр. 9–10.
115. Dawisha, Karen; Parrott, Bruce (13 June 1997). Politics, power, and the struggle for democracy in South-East Europe, Volume 2 of Authoritarianism and Democratization and authoritarianism in postcommunist societies, Karen Dawisha, Bruce Parrott, Cambridge University Press, 1997, pp. 229–230. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521597331. Retrieved 20 November 2011.
116. Roumen Dontchev Daskalov; Tchavdar Marinov (2013). Entangled Histories of the Balkans - Volume One: National Ideologies and Language Policies. BRILL. p. 328. ISBN 9789004250765.
117. Bernard Anthony Cook (21 April 2009). Europe since 1945. Encyclopedia. Taylor & Francis. p. 808. ISBN 978-0815340584. Retrieved 20 November 2011.
118. Lampe, John; Mazower, Mark (January 2004). Ideologies and national identities: the case of twentieth-century Southeastern Europe, John R. Lampe, Mark Mazower, Central European University Press, 2004. Central European University Press. pp. 112–115. ISBN 9639241822. Retrieved 20 November 2011.
119. Alexis Heraclides (2021). The Macedonian Question and the Macedonians: A History. Routledge. pp. 170–171. ISBN 9780429266362.
120. Мичев. Д. Македонският въпрос и българо-югославските отношения – 9 септември 1944–1949, Издателство: СУ Св. Кл. Охридски, 1992, стр. 91.
121. P. H. Liotta (2001). Dismembering the state: the death of Yugoslavia and why it matters. Lexington Books. p. 292. ISBN 0739102125. Retrieved 20 November 2011.
122. Loring M. Danforth (1997). The Macedonian conflict: ethnic nationalism in a transnational world. Princeton University Press. p. 68. ISBN 0691043566. Retrieved 20 November 2011.
123. Pål Kolstø (2016). Strategies of Symbolic Nation-building in South Eastern Europe. Routledge. p. 187. ISBN 9781317049364.
124. Последното интервју на Мише Карев: Колишевски и Страхил Гигов сакале да ги прогласат Гоце, Даме и Никола за Бугари! Денешен весник, 01.07.2019 30 July 2019 at the Wayback Machine.
125. Livanios, Dimitris. The Macedonian Question: Britain and the Southern Balkans 1939–1949. Oxford Historical Monographs, Oxford University Press US, 2008, ISBN 0199237689, p. 202.
126. Chris Kostov; Peter Lang (2010). "Ethnic Identity: The Case of Macedonian Immigrants in Toronto, 1900–1996". Nationalisms Across the Globe. Peter Lang. p. 95. ISBN 978-3034301961. Retrieved 20 November 2011.
127. Hugh Poulton (2000). Who are the Macedonians?. C. Hurst & Co. p. 117. ISBN 1850655340. Retrieved 20 November 2011.
128. From recognition to repudiation: Bulgarian attitudes on the Macedonian question, articles, speeches, documents. Vanǵa Čašule, Kultura, 1972, p. 96.
129. The historiography of Yugoslavia, 1965-1976, Savez društava istoričara Jugoslavije, Dragoslav Janković, The Association of Yugoslav Historical Societies, 1976, pp. 307–310.
130. Yugoslav — Bulgarian Relations from 1955 to 1980 by Evangelos Kofos from J. Koliopoulos and J. Hassiotis (editors), Modern and Contemporary Macedonia: History, Economy, Society, Culture, vol. 2, (Athens-Thessaloniki, 1992), pp. 277–280.
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132. "One of IMRO's leaders, Gotsé Delchev, whose nom de guerre was Ahil (Achilles), is regarded by both Macedonians and Bulgarians as a national hero. He seems to have identified himself as a Bulgarian and to have regarded the Slavs of Macedonia as Bulgarians." Encyclopædia Britannica online, article North Macedonia, section: History, subsection: The independence movement. 3 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine
133. "A more modern national hero is Gotse Delchev, leader of the turn-of-the-century Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO), which was actually a largely pro-Bulgarian organization but is claimed as the founding Macedonian national movement." Kaufman, Stuart J. Modern Hatreds: The Symbolic Politics of Ethnic War. Cornell University Press, 2001, ISBN 0801487366, p. 193.
134. Martin Dimitrov and Sinisa Jakov Marusic Long-Dead Hero's Memory Tests Bulgarian-North Macedonian Reconciliation. BIRN 25 June 2019. 27 June 2019 at the Wayback Machine
135. Sinisa Jakov Marusic, Bulgaria Sets Tough Terms for North Macedonia's EU Progress Skopje. BIRN; 10 October 2019. 11 December 2019 at the Wayback Machine
136. Македонски историци не искали да празнуваме заедно Илинден, съобщава А1. 6 юни 2006, Vesti.bg. 11 February 2023 at the Wayback Machine
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142. Член на историческата комисия от Северна Македония: Единственото сигурно е че ще се умре, но не и дали ще се намери решение за Гоце Делчев до октомври. Август 2019, Агенция "Фокус". 2 August 2019 at the Wayback Machine
143. Borissov warns North Macedonia against stealing Bulgarian history, by Georgi Gotev. EURACTIV.com. 20.06.2019. 17 November 2020 at the Wayback Machine
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145. Ѓоргиев: Гоце Делчев гине за Македонија и од тој аспект не може да го одвоите од македонскиот народ Локално, 30/04/2020. 28 May 2020 at the Wayback Machine
146. Бугарско – македонскиот договор за добрососедство и неговите ефекти врз европското проширување. October 30, 2020, Civilmedia.mk. 31 January 2022 at the Wayback Machine
147. Maria N. Todorova (2008). Bones of Contention: The Living Archive of Vasil Levski and the Making of Bulgaria's National Hero. Central European University Press. pp. 76–77. ISBN 978-9639776241. Retrieved 20 November 2011.
148. Raţă, Georgeta, ed. (2009). Language Education Today: Between Theory and Practice. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 224. ISBN 9781443817974.
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154. Георги Брандийски Гръцките власти задържали наш журналист край лобното място на Гоце Делчев. Dir.bg, 7 май 2018. 1 August 2020 at the Wayback Machine
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Sources

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External links

•   Works by or about Gotse Delchev at Wikisource
•   Quotations related to Gotse Delchev at Wikiquote
•   Media related to Gotse Delchev at Wikimedia Commons
• Archive documents by Bulgarian State Archives (in Bulgarian)