site.bta122nd Anniversary of Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising to Be Marked August 16

The 122nd anniversary of the Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising will be marked on August 16 in the Petrova Niva area in the Strandzha Mountain (Southeastern Bulgaria). The marking is held under the auspices of President Rumen Radev, who will attend the event, his press secretariat said on Friday.

A memorial service will be held at the St Petka chapel-ossuary, followed by a commemorative event at the Petrova Niva memorial site. Radev, who is Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, will review National Guard units and deliver an address. He will pay tribute to those killed in the Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising.

The armed insurrection of Macedonian and Thracian Bulgarians was organized and implemented by the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization against the Ottoman rule in the European vilayets of the Empire in Macedonia and Thrace. Politically, the revolt aimed to achieve autonomy in Macedonia and Eastern Thrace, which after Bulgaria's liberation in 1878 remained within the Ottoman Empire under the Berlin Treaty.

The insurrection broke out on August 2, 1903 (St Elijah's Day or Ilinden in Bulgarian) in Southwestern Macedonia and on August 19 (Transfiguration Day or Preobrazhenie in Bulgarian) in Adrianople (today's Edirne). The uprising lasted around two months, with some 26,000 insurgents fighting 350,000 troops, and was ultimately suppressed by the Ottoman authorities.