site.btaRepresentatives of Bulgarian Community in North Macedonia Commemorate Revolutionary Gotse Delchev's Birth Anniversary

Diplomats from the Bulgarian Embassy in North Macedonia, the Bulgarian Cultural and Information Centre in Skopje, and representatives of the Bulgarian community in the country marked the 154th anniversary of the birth of Gotse Delchev by laying wreaths and flowers at his sarcophagus in the courtyard of the Church of the Ascension of Jesus in Skopje on Wednesday.

“For another year, we are here to mark a bright date in our shared history and to pay tribute to one of our great revolutionaries - Gotse Delchev. And every time I stand before the sarcophagus of Georgi Delchev, I ask myself why something that should unite us divides us so deeply. And why, in a modern, independent, potentially European neighbouring country such as the Republic of North Macedonia, it is so difficult to acknowledge both the role of the Bulgarian people and of Bulgarians like Delchev in achieving this very freedom and independence,” said Bulgarian Ambassador to North Macedonia Zhelyazko Radukov.

“Recalling Delchev’s words that he understood the world ‘as a field for cultural competition among nations,’ I realize how repulsed he would be by today’s discourse and by hate speech, regardless of its source. He would not agree with such an approach. He would not accept it; he would condemn it - as we all do,” Radukov added.

Gotse Delchev was born on this day in 1872 in Kukush. Through his efforts, the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization (IMARO) attracted brave men to its ranks and expanded its active operations in Macedonia and Adrianople Thrace. Gotse Delchev was killed in battle in 1903 near the village of Banitsa.