site.btaBulgarian Delegation Pays Tribute at Gotse Delchev's Grave in Skopje

A Bulgarian delegation laid wreaths and flowers at the sarcophagus of freedom-fighter Gotse Delchev (1872-1903) in the yard of Skopje's St Spas Church (also known as the Church of the Ascension of Jesus) on Saturday, marking the 121st anniversary of his death. The ceremony was attended by diplomats from the Bulgarian Embassy, led by Ambassador Angel Angelov, representatives of the Bulgarian Culture and Information Centre in Skopje, Gotse Delchev's great-grandnephew Hristo Hristov and his wife, and members of the Bulgarian community in North Macedonia.

Ambassador Angelov said about Delchev: "He may be idolized, idealized, even crucified verbally for his thinking. I believe, however, that we should remember him the way he appears in the memoirs of those who knew him personally."

The diplomat gave quotes from a 1902 memoir by Hristo Silyanov, a member of a rebel group led by Delchev. Silyanov says that joyfulness and seriousness, innocent jokes and biting sarcasm alternated in Delchev naturally and smoothly. He says: "With a single incident, the description of a single scene, be it humorous or touching, he presents a host of different characters and experiences - known to Marko but new to me - from his tour of the Kostur area which he has just completed... [He has] thousands of stories to tell, in which danger and humour intertwine and blend into a magical picture. While still unable to explain it, I am getting a very personal feeling of the charisma with which this man captivates people's hearts."

Ambassador Angelov said: "We have boulevards named after Gotse Delchev both in Sofia and in Skopje. They do not intersect directly, but like two parallel straight lines they will meet each other in time."