THE CREATION OF IMRO, THE INTERNAL MACEDONIAN REVOLUTIONARY ORGANIZATION AND I - Part 01

THE CREATION OF IMRO, THE INTERNAL MACEDONIAN REVOLUTIONARY ORGANIZATION AND ITS ACTIVITIES IN BANITSA

IMRO Starts in Banitsa

Banitsa, as the largest village in Bitola District and a major administrative centre, was often in the forefront of political activity.

The people of Banitsa had been fostering progressive ideas and organizing movements for change ever since 1886: that year the church administration of Banitsa’s kaza petitioned the Patriarch of the Orthodox Church in Istanbul and the Turkish government for the resumption of independence and autocephaly for the Ohrid Patriarchate. The leader of this movement was Tipe Boglev, also known as Sulo. Under pressure from the Greek Patriarchate and the Bulgarian Exarchate, however, consent to form an independent and autocephalic (free-standing) Ohrid Patriarchy was denied.

During the spring of 1896, the commander of IMRO, Markov of Bitola, was in Banitsa laying the foundations and uniting all the movements in the Banitsa kaza, forming a local and district leadership structure.

According to later research, the man operating under the pseudonym Markov was none other than Gjorche Petrov, who lived in Bitola at the time and was the first organizer of the IMRO movement in

Bitola District. Gjorche Petrov established the IMRO movement in Banitsa and in the rest of Lerin District. Under his leadership, the first komitski cheti (bands of fighters) were formed. These bands were irregular military formations, and included the hajduk troop led by Natse Katin under the pseudonym Natse Babunski, who was in charge of the Banitsa region. The hajduk group had been active since 1892, but from 1896, operated as a band for IMRO in the Banitsa region, Voshtareni and later on in P’p’zhani. Dzole Gjergev was the leader of the second band of komiti (fighters), formed in 1897, and Leko Dzorlev the leader of the third troop, formed in 1898.7

The commander of the regional commission of IMRO was Tipe Boglev-Sulo, and the other members were Mitse Hrisafov, Mitse Kochev, Tole Dafov, Krste Malinov and the three vojvodi (leaders of revolutionary squads) from the village of Banitsa—Natse Katin, Dzole Gjergev and Leko Dzorlev. These commissioners were the organizers of the movement in the region as a whole, while the vojvodi and their troops were greatly feared by the Turkish army and administration.

Tipe Boglev-Sulo was a respected and popular man and, possessing a broad perspective and an excellent knowledge of the movements in the fight against Turkish oppression in the Balkans. He rejected all outside influences in organizing the movement. He engaged his sons, Tego Boglev, a young intellectual who worked as a teacher in the village Voshtarani, and Mitse Boglev, who helped him with internal administrative matters. They all contributed greatly to the expansion of the movement and the dissemination of its ideas for organized action by the Macedonian people for liberation from Turkish oppression.

Besides Gjorche Petrov-Markov, Dine Abdormanov and Kitse Matsin, both of Banitsa, also appeared later in the village as instructors for IMRO. Helping them and acting as couriers were Kole Pavlev and Done Pavlev, also from the same village.

7According to the editor’s father, Evan Mallin, Leko Dzorlev had been a “pojlek”, a herdsman. He got into a brawl with Dzole Gjergev before he (DG) was a vojvoda. Dzole accused him of cowardice, of hiding under his wife’s skirt. He took Leko’s rifle and joined IMRO.

Great respect and recognition are due to Gjorgi Kujchev for his work in organizing and expanding the movement and as well protecting the Macedonian Church and the Old Church Slavonic language in Banitsa, the surrounding villages and Lerin District, from the influence of the Bulgarian Exarchate and the Greek Patriarchate. In the period from 1898 until 1913, he led an open struggle against all external influences to preserve and keep the Macedonian language as the language of instruction. He was a priest as well as a teacher of the Old Church Slavonic and Macedonian languages. He was mysteriously murdered by the Greek andartes during their great campaign of 1913.

The Appearance of Bandits, Burglars and Murderers

With the appearance of Turkish and other bandits and murderers in the Lerin area of Bitola Province, the populace became distressed and started organizing a defence against these villains. They organized village watchmen to look out for intruders and to alert the population quickly.

In 1892, the vojvoda Natse Katin, under the pseudonym Natse Babunski, along with his hajduk group, represented the first organized defensive force of the village. Later on, his band along with those of Dzole Gjergev and Leko Dzorlev from Banitsa were under the umbrella of IMRO.

These vojvodas together with their bands of fighters were the first organizers of the uprisings against Turkish oppression and aggression against the innocent Macedonian people. The population of Banitsa accepted the IMRO movement as a whole. They all joined the organization and everyone had their own role in its development. Unable to tolerate the violence and ruthless oppression, the difficult living conditions, the humiliation and suffering, people left their homes to join the hajduk troops of Natse Katin, Dzole Gjergev and Leko Dzorlev, who were hiding in the mountains. These troops not only fought against the Turkish army but also organized attacks and robbed

Turkish properties and wealthy tradesmen, and gave to the poor common people. Let us mention some specifics about these outlaws.

My grandfather, Natse Dzole Katin, who later took the pseudonym Natse Babunski, was born in Banitsa, the second of Dzole Katin’s four sons, the eldest being Leko, then Natse, Kole and Mitse. This middle-class agricultural family mostly bred livestock. Natse married the famous beauty Mara Alushova. A year later they had a son and named him Stojche. Like the rest of his family, Natse also worked as a breeder and trader of livestock. The high taxes that the Turks had in place at the time gradually impoverished the family, and, in the spring of 1889, Natse decided to go to Istanbul in order to earn more money. There he foundworkas awaiter inarestaurant owedbyaMacedonianfromLerin named Gele.

In Istanbul he acquainted himself with activists of the Macedonian intelligentsia and joined the movement to free Macedonia. He longed to return to his birthplace to be close to his family. Natse Katin was a big, tall man with broad shoulders, big eyes, a sharp look with thick eyebrows and a coarse black beard. He was a brave, restless spirit, a determined and hard-working man, but with a good heart and very hospitable nature. He had no problem in making friends and keeping them. He possessed good organizational skills. He also spoke Turkish and Albanian.

The Greek historian Stergiu Trijandafilidi wrote: “The vojvoda Natse Katin was a blood-thirsty man who murdered many Greeks. He was a revolutionary, a military leader, organizer, and a serious and fearless commander. He stood out from other vojvodas.” On his way home from Istanbul, Natse stayed in Sofia for a period of time. There he met with other Macedonians involved in the movement such as Tane Kanchev from Gorgilievo who later on became a vojvoda under the pseudonym Tane Grozniot (meaning “fearsome”). There Natse Katin pledged himself to return to Banitsa and continue the fight for liberation of Macedonia from the Ottoman empire.

In 1890, before the holiday of St. Dimitrius or Mitrovden, celebrated on 8 November, in the early morning hours, a group of zapiti (policemen) did a search of Natse’s house and arrested him with a warrant issued from the Central Istanbul Police Station. He was under arrest in connection with a brawl which had taken place in the Istanbul restaurant, during which Natse had managed to free two Macedonians on their way to prison. He was interrogated for a long time and many methods were used on Natse, but he did not confess to anything. He was detained for more than a year in jail in Bitola and endured the cruellest torture at the hands of the Turkish police. His elderly father was determined to get him out. Knowing the Turkish soldiers and their superiors’ way of thinking and their penchant for corruption, he decided to free his son in that manner. After pulling strings and bribing many Turkish middlemen, he got to the prison guards who were taking Natse to the hearing at the District Court which was 300 metres from the jail. The prison guards received a considerable bribe to allow the escape of Natse Katin.

During his time in jail, Natse had become acquainted with many other activists arrested for their revolutionary work against the Turkish regime. It had served him well to keep up to date with the situation in Macedonia, the activities of the movement as well as the resistance against the Turkish regime and Turkey’s collaborators, Greece and Bulgaria.

After his escape, Natse became a leader and formed a hajduk troop of poor, honest Macedonians cast out by the Turkish regime for various offences or unfulfilled obligations to the authorities. Natse became a vojvoda under the name of Natse Babunski, and along with his group, patrolled the mountains of Banitsa: Radosh, Golem Kamen, Vicho and Pelister. He had become a member of the District Revolutionary Committee of IMRO in Bitola. The District Committee, led by Gjorgi Sugare, gave the vojvoda Natse Katin command of the region of Banitsa.

In 1899 Gjorgi Sugarov gave him a new assignment—to be the district vojvoda of the villages where the most infamous Turks lived: P’p’zhani, Opshorino, Vrbeni, Negorichani, Bitusha, St. Petka, Klabuchishta, Dolno and Gorno Kalenik.

Natse Katin was a brave, driven, and strict military leader, greatly feared by the Turkish Army, Greek andartes, Bulgarian komiti troops and other enemies of the IMRO movement. His cheta (group of irregulars) roamed over all of Bitola Province. He went wherever his help and action was needed. He always won his battles, leaving many casualties and much material damage to the other parties while his own group suffered minimal or no casualties at all.

According to Dine Nedelkov, in the spring of 1903 all the foreign consular representatives called on the members of the Revolutionary District Committee of Bitola to appear at the French Consulate where they could present the plans and objectives of IMRO to the Austrian, French, Russian and German consuls. All the members came incognito, dressed as priests, teachers or as Muslim women, covered in veils and scarves (‘feredze’), that is, all but Natse Katin, who was accompanied by his bodyguards Risto from Orizari, Dine Nedelkov and Ilo Dajkov. They arrived on horseback but did not dismount until the French Consul came out to greet them, whereupon they all entered the building.

The Austrian Consul, on greeting the vojvoda Natse Katin, gave himan Austrian medalaswellasa letterofguarantee in case the Turkish patrol met him on the way back; the Russian Consul gave him a Russian cross. The vojvoda then put the medallion on his musket and the cross on his hat, on which was written the motto ‘Smrt ili Sloboda za Makedonia’ (‘Death or Freedom for Macedonia’).

He met with other members of the regional committee there, who also brought forward their ideas and goals for the Macedonian struggle for independence and autonomy. They asked the consuls to inform their countries’ governments of IMRO’s goals and asked for material and other aid in order to win independence and achieve recognition of a free Macedonia. When this significant and historic event had concluded, all

the members of the Regional Revolutionary Committee of Bitola left in the same manner as they had come. Natse Katin, whose bodyguards werewaitingoutside,departedBitolaproudlyandreturnedtothevillage of Poeshevo, where the headquarters of his band of fighters was based.

The Turkish administration had previously been informed by the Consuls about the meeting with the members of IMRO and had been asked to absentthemselves;however,they could nothave expected such a high-profile appearance as that of Natse Katindespite their knowledge of his bravado. The Turks did not get in his way and acknowledged his courage.

After the failure of the Illinden Uprising and the increased activity of the Bulgarian supremacist bands or vrhovisti,8 the Greek andartes also appeared in the Lerin region. These andartes collaborated with the Turkish government and army, and together fought against the komiti. After 1905 their activities increased as the revolutionary movement and the action of the chetas grew weaker. The andartes attacked the komiti troops with the aid of the Turkish аrmy and especially targeted families whohadmembersinthechetasand people who helped themin any way. The andartes would follow the chetas and wait until they were too far away to be able to come to the aid of the Macedonian villagers; the andartes would then enter the villages, killing any members of the revolutionary committees and any accomplices in the Ilinden Uprising, and burning down their houses as well. These andarte groups appeared in the villages of Negovan, Vrtalom and Petersko in Lerin District. The first two villages are on the border of the Banitsa region, while Petersko is around seven kilometres from Banitsa near the village of Ekshiso-Gorno Vrbeni (Ekshi-Su). In the spring of 1905 the vojvoda Natse Katin, along with his troops, attacked the village of Negovan, killing all the andartes and their accomplices (‘jatatsi’), and burning down their houses.

8People who believed in Bulgarian supremacy and thought freedom could only come by unity with Bulgaria.

Katin sent the andartes a message, warning them not to endanger the innocent Macedonian population and that if they wanted to fight, they should fight with the komiti. He sent a special message to the andartes in the village of Petersko warning them that should anything happen to the Macedonian population of the village of Sorovich, that the village of Petersko would be burned to the ground and all of the Greek-collaborating villagers beaten up. That was how the activities of the andartes of this village were subdued.

Because of the many atrocities committed by the Turkish population of the village of Vrtalom, as well as the help they gave the Greek andartes, in 1907 the vojvoda Natse Katin with his group, along with ten more vojvodas with 300 men, surrounded the village and burned it down, killing all the andartes in the village. At the beginning of June 1907, the vojvodas Natse Katin and Dzole Gjergev took action to close down all Greek schools and take over the Greek churches, in other words, to set fire to all Greek churches and Greek church books in Lerin District. The Turkish administration in Lerin was informed of this by Trifun Mitse Kolerov and Jane Ruse Kochev of Banitsa, who had organized the construction of a Greek church in the village where previously there had only been Macedonian churches. The Turks sent in their army and the vojvodas withdrew in order to prevent bloodshed. However, on 24 July 1907, the District vojvodas Natse Katin-Babunski and Dzole Gjergevcame into the village again to investigatethebetrayal to the Turkish authorities. When they confirmed that Trifun Kolerov, Jane Kochev and the priest Ioan Dajkov were involved, the perpetrators were tried in front of the local revolutionary court where they confessed to their deeds and begged for mercy and forgiveness. There they were sentenced to death, and the vojvoda Kire Kachorov carried out the death sentence for the first two who were in the village. He took them outside the village and killed them. The vojvoda Natse Katin Babunski asked the priest Ioan Dajkov to go to the village of Rosen to attend a funeral; there he was arrested and executed by the komita (soldier) Dine Pendzov according to the verdict previously reached.

That same day, 24 July 1907, the Greek church was demolished and the books were publicly burned in the centre of the village of Banitsa.

The vojvoda Natse Katin-Babunski and his cheta took part in many actions against the oppressors and enemies of Macedonians in the following villages: Dolno Vrbeni, Boreshnitsa, Plishevitsa, Kleshtina, Armenoro, P’p’zhani, Buf, Kotori, Gornichevo, Banitsa, Vrtolom, Petersko, Neveska and others.

Oneofthemajor victories of thevojvodaNatseKatin-Babunskiwas the Battle of Banitsa in June 1903. While holding a meeting in Banitsa, the members of the Bitola Revolutionary Committee were betrayed and attacked by the Turkish army. All of the members of the district council were gathered there: Natse Katin, Dzole Gjergev, Gjorgi Popаnchev, Pando Kalashev, Tane Gornichevski Grozniot and Chakalarov, along with 200 fighters brought to the meeting for security. In the morning hours of the second day of the meeting, the patrol noticed that a Turkish army group of around 2,000 soldiers was approaching the village, blocking it from all sides.

The members of the District Committee, after hearing the news of the army’s approaching, reached a quick decision that all of their soldiers would withdraw down the riverbed towards the fields to the place called ‘Tumbata’ where the Turkish army would not expect them to go. Babunski cut through the barricade on the north side and surrounded the enemy on the west side, thus giving the others troops a chance to escape. In the battle, which lasted more than four hours, the vojvoda Gjorgi Popanchev was killed along with nine other komiti. Natse Katin, Dzole Gjergev, Ilo Kotorkin and Mitse Janev-Miskarot were wounded. The Turks suffered many more casualties.

The barricade of the village lasted until the next day. In the morning hours, when the Turkish Army entered the village, there was an order given for all the villagers to come outside their houses. The soldiers searched the houses and found not a single komita or weapon; the Army leader, in a fit of anger, then ordered the village to be burned down and the people killed. However, Izet Pasha and Sinan-Bey, who were in Lerin at the time, were informed of the Battle of Banitsa and the plight of the

people, many of whom were their labourers. Knowing what would happen to the people and the village, they went at once to intervene, and the village and the people were saved. The Turkish Army, unhappy with the intervention by these respected men, took nine people as hostages, warning the villagers not to welcome komiti troops in the future. The villagers taken were: Tsile Janin, Krste Boglev, Kitse Popdinev, Pero Popov, State Tashev, Kire Alushev, Minde Dajkov, Delo Hrisafov, and Dine Malinov. They were sent to Dijarbekir, Anatolija, in exile (‘surgun’). They stayed there until the Young Turk revolution in July 1908, when they were set free and returned to the village.9

The vojvodas Natse Katin, Dzole Gjergev and Leko Dzorlev discovered that the snitches were members of IMRO who had fallen under the influence of the Greek andartes. At a hearing, these individuals admitted their deeds and asked for mercy. A Revolutionary Court pronounced the death sentence for Vangel (Gele) Kiro Nichev, then head of the local committee of IMRO, Kire K. Kochev and Trajko Kurtov, members of the local committee, while the charges against the suspect Dine Malinov were dropped.10 The vojvoda Leko Dzorlev carried out the executions by shooting them near the village of Gornichevo on the slopes of Kajmakchalan only three days before the Ilinden Uprising.

The vojvoda Natse Katin-Babunski, as a member of the regional committee of IMRO, participated in the Smilevo Congress and was against the decision to proceed with the Ilinden Uprising. Nevertheless, he and hischetajoinedtheIlindenUprisinginthebattles for theliberation of the town of Neveska. For a few days the red flag of Macedonia was raised there before the town was re-taken by Turkish Army.

At the beginning of January 1908 in the village Buf, Lerin District, the Revolutionary Committee of the District of Bitola held a meeting with all the vojvodas of the district and the neighbouring districts. Members of the Central Committee of IMRO were there.

9According to Evan Mallin, his grandfather Dine Malinov never went into exile. 10According to Evan Mallin, a vojvoda spoke on his behalf.

Fiery Flame of the Balkans

Fiery flame of the Balkans There, commanders fight a battle Commanders and vojvodas The first vojvoda was Natse Katin Natse Katin, fearsome vojvoda All of the Balkans feared him All of Lerin trembled before him Natse Katin of Banitsa Following him Tane Kalandzov of Gornichevo Following him Leko Dzorlev of Banitsa Raising his voice Natse Katin Natse Katin fearsome vojvoda Figure 3: Vojvoda Natse Katin Hooray, hooray our brothers Our fight is for Macedonia Natse Katin on his horse mounted Riding, holding the flag and carrying it atop the hill Golden letters written on the flag Golden letters saying “Freedom or Death” Freedom or Death for Macedonia (Folk Song)

This song was dedicated to the regional commander Natse Dzole Katin, also called Natse Babunski, who was born in 1872 in Banitsa, Lerin District, and who was killed on 7 March 1908 in P’p’zhani, Lerin District. It was sung throughout Bitola Province. After Natse Katin’s death, however, Dzole Gjergev banned it. The song was recorded in 1984 by Atanas Katinovski, the grandson of the vojvoda Natse Katin, in Toronto, as recited by the elderly Olga Katina who was the wife of one of Natse Katin’s nephews, and who lived and reached old age in Toronto.

At the meeting an analysis was made of the war and the political situation of each vojvoda and his cheta. Each vojvoda gave a report of his accomplishments as well as the weaknesses in the battle against outside enemies and internal interference. A heated discussion ensued about the reports of the vojvodas; the main complaints were directed at the reports of the vojvoda Dzole Gjergev from Lerin.

In the end, they set in motion the plans given by IMRO in the battle againstthe Greek andartesand the ‘vrhovists’troops. Newreplacements were received as well. The regional commander, Natse Katin Babunski, who up until then had been in the region around P’p’zhani, was named regional vojvoda of the area around Banitsa. Other vojvodas were deployed to different areas as well.

ThevojvodaDzoleGjergevwasreplaced.Forpersonalreasonsand because his pride was wounded, he decided to eliminate the vojvoda Natse Katin Babunski so that he could reclaim his position. He accused Babunski of being an accomplice to the andartes and claimed that there was a letter to prove it. He presented this slanderous accusation to the local committee of Banitsa, which consisted of Risto Popjachev as president and members Kole Janin, Dine Malinov, State Tashev and Tipe Dajkov. When they asked for the letter, he told them that he had sent it to Tipe Boglev as proof to the Central Committee in Sofia, in order to reach a quick decision about the betrayal.

Having a close relationship with him, the members of the Local Committee believed him and came to a verdict: the vojvoda Natse

Katin-Babunski was a traitor and should be sentenced to death. The penalty was to be enacted immediately.

ThevojvodaDzoleGjergevwasnotoneforwaitinglong. Hecalled his personal bodyguards, the soldiers Ilo Kotorkin and Mitse Sariev, both of Banitsa, to carry out the directive, i.e., to kill Babunski. The komita Sariev asked for an explanation and Gjergev told the same story, but when he asked to see the letter as proof, the vojvoda said that it would be given to him after the execution of the order.

In the morning hours of 7 March 1908, Ilo Kotorkin and Mitse Sariev came to the village of P’p’zhani where Babunski was staying. They immediately got in touch with Kire Kachorov, who was one of Babunski’s bodyguards, andafter beinginformedof thepurposeof their visit, Kachorov took them to Babunski, who welcomed them sincerely and invited them to dine with him. On the way out the door, the komita Ilo Kotorkin shot Natse Katin in the back of his head, causing him to fall down dead at the feet of Mitse Sariev. Kotorkin and Sariev immediately fled the scene before the security team could do anything because Kire Kachorov went with them.

Gjergev later killed Babunski’s executioners because he could not trust them. Only Ilo Kotorkin, in whom he had full trust, was spared. The komita Ilo Kotorkin was not to be blamed for this event. The sole responsibility lay with Dzole Gjergev. Natse Katin’s bodyguards spoke the truth about the murder, the murder of their favourite vojvoda and activist who had fought for 16 years to see Macedonia a free and independent country. When he died, my grandfather, vojvoda Natse Katin, left his wife Mara and their three sons, Stojche, Lazo and Slave, all under age. Stojche died in 1910 in Solun. While working on the Bitola-Solun railway he had injured his leg, developed gangrene and soon succumbed. He was married but did not have any children.

Theotherson,LazoKatin, was sent toworkinFrancebyhis uncles in 1918, in order to protect him from the Greek andartes who were after him. On his return to Banitsa in 1920 he married Marija Malinova. Lazo was drafted to serve in the Greek army, but returned to the village

after eight months since he was the provider for the family. He got a job as a village guard, along with Trende Malinov. He had two boys, Bogle and Natse (Atanas), and one daughter, Hrisanda. Lazo left for Canada in 1928, and in 1947 brought over his wife and daughter as well as his daughter-in-law, wife of his older son, Bogle Katin. Bogle was interned by the monarch-fascist government, but after being freed he also departed for Canada, in 1951. Lazo’s younger son Natse was a participant and organizer in the People’s Liberation Struggle from 1941 and moved to Yugoslavia along with the partisan units who were the First Aegean Macedonian People’s Liberation Brigade, and after their absorption into Yugoslavian National Army, he remained in Macedonia.

Slave, the youngest son of the vojvoda Natse Katin, was only six months old when his father, was killed. Because of the great terror by the Greek government, his brother Lazo brought him to Canada in 1948. In 1950 all of the family moved to Canada. Slave was killed in mysterious circumstances in a car accident in Toronto.

The remains of Natse Katin and Mara Katin, who died in 1942, were transferred with new ceremonial honours from the cemetery in the village of P’p’zhani to the cemetery in Banitsa by their sons in the USA in 1947.

Dzole Stojche Gjergev was born in Banitsa in 1872. He was from a poor labourer’s family. He finished primary Orthodox school in Banitsa under the teacher Dimitar Markov from Bitola. When he grew up, he became a village guard. With the arrival of the instructor of IMRO, the vojvoda Markov (Gjorche Petrov) in 1896, Dzole was among the first to join the movement. Dzole Gjergev started his own cheta in 1897 and become a vojvoda of the Banitsa region and the neighbouring villages. In 1905 he was elected as vojvoda of the Lerin-Kajlari region, and was accepted as a member of the Bitola District Revolutionary Committee. All the troops in this region were under his command. Dzole Gjergev was nicknamed Atesh Pasha (“Fire Lord”), and was feared by the Turks, the Greeks, the Bulgarians and their accomplices and collaborators in Lerin District.

The actions of all the vojvodas in Bitola Province and further afield were well organized and most of them done collaboratively. Gjergev’s closest collaborator and friend was Natse Katin. It is without a doubt that in all the actions and battles that Natse Katin organized, Dzole Gjergev also took part.

Gjergev was killed in Lerin, in Petre Dramno’s restaurant (meana). Petre was also a member of IMRO. Gjergev was shot by Pande Gele Nichov of Banitsa, in revenge for his father Gele Nichov, who had been sentenced to death by IMRO for treason. In this action Pande had the help of a Turkish mercenary, Satarntin, who was a labourer from the village of Voshtarani, Lerin District. Both of them shot one bullet through the window.11 The assassination had been planned by the General Office of the Greek andartes in Athens. The news of this cunning assassination reached everyone in Lerin District including Gjergev’s wifeand histwo sons,Tane and Slave,who were in Banitsa.12 The people who killed him were left unpunished.

The remains of the vojvoda Dzole Gjergev were buried at the Church of St. Gjorgija with full honours. He was a fighter for social and economic justice and for a free and independent Macedonia. He had made only one mistake—executing Katin-Babunski.

Vojvoda Leko Giche Dzorlev was born in 1870 in Banitsa, Lerin District, to a farming family.

Leko Dzorlev, as a member of IMRO in 1898, gathered his own band of followers from Banitsa and became a vojvoda. His assigned region included Bosharchani, Krushoradi, Setina and Miokazi. He collaborated with other vojvodas from the Lerin region and from Bitola District, especially Natse Katin and Dzole Gjergev. They often worked

11According to Evan Mallin, his grandfather, Dzole Gjergev was shot by Satarntin only. Nichov paid the mercenary. After the Young Turk revolution, Gjergev had been hired as a policeman in Lerin by the Turks. 12He also had a daughter, Kitsa, Evan Mallin’s mother.

together in the actions and battles against the Turkish administration, the Greek andartes and the Bulgarian supremacist (vrhovist) rebel units.

In the spring of 1903, Leko was captured by the Turkish army in the village ofDolno Vrbeniand sentenced to life in prison in Diyarbakir,Asia Minor. After the victory of the Young Turk Revolution, he was released inthesummer of 1908. Whenhereturnedtothevillage, hewas welcomed with full military honours at the railway station by Dzole Gjergev, Tane Kanchev and all the other vojvodas, along with their troops.

In Diyarbakir, Leko Dzorlev had probably met with some ‘vrhovists’ and came under their influence, which is why he started espousing collaboration with Bulgaria. According to the research of the old revolutionary,State BoglevofBanitsa,Leko started to work in favour of the vrhovists. He left Banitsa, never to return. He was found strangled in mysterious circumstances in his apartment in Sofia, Bulgaria.13

IMRO Development in the Period of 1900–1903

In 1900 there was broad acceptance of IMRO in the village, with all the men involved. The Banitsa leaders, especially the highly-regarded Leko Dzorlev, had the largest territory within Bitola Province as their responsibility. They were among the top organizers in IMRO and among the first bands within Bitola Province to be armed.

In the village of Banitsa, the Local Revolutionary Committee of IMRO consisted of the president, Vangel Nichov (Gele), with members Kire K. Kochev, Trajko Kurtov, Dine Malinov and Kole Janin, the security chief. These individuals carried authority and respect, and completed the duties assigned them by the organization with conscientiousness and passion. They helped to extend IMRO’s reach to the local villages, forming IMRO organizations and armed chetas. In Gornichevo there was a cheta formed under the leadership of Tane

13According to Evan Mallin, only about 20 people left the village to go to Bulgaria in those times.

Kanchev-Grozniot, who provoked fear and trembling in the Turks and other enemies of the Macedonian people.

In 1903 the local cheta commander Natse Katin participated in the Smilevo Congress. On his return from Smilevo, Katin held a meeting to inform the local committee of the decisions of the Congress regarding the plans for an uprising.

On 20 July (2 August in the old calendar), Ilinden, (St. Elijah’s Day), the Ilinden Uprising erupted. Every band within the Lerin region and Bitola Province participated. All the Turkish villages and the army depots in these villages were totally demolished. All the chetas headed to the town of Neveska where, after several days of battle, the Turkish army surrendered the town.

ThevojvodaPando KlashovwasactivearoundBanitsaatthistime. According to the descriptions of the late Ilinden veteran, Ilo Dajkov, and the old revolutionary, State Boglev, Klashov’s cheta guarded the crossroads of Lerin-Kozhani, Lerin-Solun and Banitsa-Tserevo against the Turks coming from the north, from Bitola.

The cheta of Tane Kandzov-Grozniot took position on Bigla (mountain) near Gornichevo to block the arrival of the Turks coming from Solun. Despite these chetas playing an important role in securing these major military strategic routes, these units are thought to have had no active participation in the Ilinden uprising. They were accused of not leading the local populace and not activating the reserves of IMRO.

The Situation in the IMRO Ranks after the Ilinden Uprising

After the suppression of the Ilinden Uprising, there were difficult times for both the villagers and the komiti bands. There was a period of consolidation within the ranks of IMRO. Political will and psychologicalmorale had to be restored.Burned villagesand homeshad to be re-built. Moreover, there had to be an accounting in the IMRO organization. The will to fight had to be re-kindled to continue the

struggle, to be ready to take action to prevent the enemy’s victory, to hit them harder and inflict more losses of men and materiel in the enemy ranks. Revolutionary activity had to continue until the final victory to free the Macedonian people from the Turkish yoke and to create an independent Macedonian nation.

The village of Banitsa was not destroyed by the fighting, and new electionswere held forthe localIMROcommittee.Besidesthe old staff, Kole Janin and Dine Malinov, Risto Popjovchev was elected president, and State Stojan Tashev and Dine Dajkov were elected members. They immediately returned to their revolutionary activities and the fight for freedom.

The Campaign against the Greek Andartes and the Role of Bulgarian Supremacist Bands

Even more difficult times were in store for the Macedonians. The Bulgarians dispatched their own armed bands into Macedonia to raise the morale of the locals and to lead the struggle against the Greek andartes (irregulars) who by this time had launched political and military actions in the Lerin region.

The Macedonian chetas were waging a successful battle on all fronts, against the Turkish army, the Greek andartes (or Evzoni) and against Bulgarian chetas. In the period between the Ilinden Uprising (1903) and the Young Turk revolution (1908), the Banitsa chetas were quite active. The blockade of the villages of Vrtalom and Negovan was attributed to the chetas of Natse Katin and Dzole Gjergev together with other leaders and about 300 komiti. They set fire to houses and killed any andartes they came across in those villages, threatened to burn the village of Petersko if the andartes continued their activities, and threatened the villagers with death if they helped the andartes.

During this period these chetas also led battles against Turkish army units in the villages of Dolno Vrbeni, Boreshnitsa, Plishejtsa,

Kleshtina, Armenoro, P’p’zhani, Buf, Kotori, Gornichevo, Banitsa, Tserevo and other places.

At the beginning of spring, 1907, the activity of the andartes and the influence of the Patriarchate and the Greek Church increased. The andartes drew recruits from Macedonian households in every village, but IMRO and the chetas punished the traitors with death.

In 1903, in Banitsa, Vangel Nichov, Kire Kochev and Trajko Kurtov were killed because of traitorous activities. Stavre Dafo Kochev wasalsoundersuspicionfortreason.Hewaspartofthechurchinitiative to build the church of St. Petka. To escape the consequences, he left for America in 1905. It was established that he had cooperated with the Greek andartes. A court martial brought in a verdict ordering his liquidation, and executioners were sent to the United States, but they could not find him; they only confirmed that he was working for the andarte movement abroad as well.

In this time period, both the Greek Patriarchate and the Bulgarian Exarchate carried out other activities. They strove to win over the teachers and clerics of the villages to Hellenismor to Bulgarian identity. Even though Banitsa had many teachers and clergy, during the period of 1907 none was moved by this influence, according to the recollections of teachers Dine Dzogov of Banitsa, Dimitar Markov of Bitola and others. Similar recollections from clergy included those of Dine Popdinev, Father Petre Perov, Father Filip Gonev, Father Ioan Dajkov, and, from Skopje, Father Dine Stanboliev and others.

Dine Dzogov, a teacher, was recruited by the Patriarchate in 1907 to open a school in the Greek language where he met with eight to ten students. Father Stamboliev was recruited by the Exarchate in 1908 and opened a school in the Bulgarian language to 20 or 30 students. At this time there were three parallel schools operating but the largest was the one offering instruction in Old Church Slavonic. The Greek school was shut down and the Greek books were publicly burned on 24 June 1907. It was re-opened in 1909 with permission of the Turkish government.

With the aim of terrorizing the Macedonians, the Greek andartes set the village of Lubetina-Sorovichko ablaze in December 1907. That village was one of the most supportive of the revolutionary movement with the whole village organized and enrolled as members of IMRO. Many women and children were lost in the fire, but the men mounted an armed resistance, thus enabling most of the villagers to escape the encirclement with their lives. According to the testimony of eyewitnesses, the traitor Gone Kolerov participated in this action.

As for the village of Banitsa and the Banicheni (the Banitsa people), the andartes could do nothing as here there were three komita bands with the illustrious leaders Katin, Gjergev and Dzorlev. Nevertheless, the andartes worked by other methods, and increasingly followed the movement of the Banitsa chetas and passed the information on to the Turkish army. The army once responded by sending soldiers to blockade the village, and conducted a house-to-house search for komiti. But because they did not find any, they harassed the villagers and committed many atrocities.

In September of 1907 the cheta of Dzole Gjergev attacked the Turkish army near Banitsa at a place called Nerezite. Natse Kurtov, an Ilinden veteran and member of Banitsa’s Revolutionary Committee, was captured and killed in the fight.

In the spring of 1908, the andartes set fire to the village of Leskovets, Lerin District. The inhabitants put up an armed resistance but the enemy was more powerful and succeeded in burning down the village.

Regrettably, one must say that the andarte movement could extend its long arm even among emigrants, and some of our people fell under their influence and returned home to join them. One of them was Leko Kolerov, who returned from America in April 1908. He was the son of Trifun Kolerov, whom the komiti had executed for treason in 1907. Leko joined the ranks of the andartes as a volunteer in order to take revenge. With him he brought his nephew Stefo Kochev (his sister’s son), a young intellectual. However, Leko Kolerov died in mysterious

circumstances in a Solun hotel: it was thought that he has been poisoned by a member of IMRO or some komita who had happened to be on the same ship. According to others, he died of an illness contracted at sea. Stefo Kochev returned to the village, studied Greek and in 1920 was ordained as a priest.

In May 1908, the Greek andartes attacked the village of Ekshiso-Gorno Vrbeni. The villagers put up an armed resistance and did not allow them to enter the village. Turkish army troops stationed nearby were notified as soon as possible. At that time, the Turks were fighting against the andartes, protecting the villages. They entered into the action, attacking the Greek andartes and forced them to retreat and flee to Radoshka Mountain.

The Young Turk Movement

July of 1908 the saw the start of the Young Turk Revolution, which calmed down all the warring factions in the Ottoman Empire. In Bitola Province an armistice agreement was reached by the Turkish pasha and the Regional Revolutionary Committee. A large military parade was held in Bitola in which, in addition to the regular Turkish military, all the revolutionary chetas of the entire region, led by their vojvodas, marched. The pasha of Bitola prepared a large reception and banquet for all those present, which lasted into the evening hours.

This apparent truce did not last long. The Turkish government, with the cooperation of the staff of the Greek andartes, renewed its fight againstthe leadersand fightersofIMROintheMacedoniansettlements. The Turks, aware that the Ottoman Empire was falling apart, wanted to keep the local vojvodas and their chetas in submission. The Greek andartes, with their megalomaniacal goal of a greater Greece, hoped to destroy the Macedonian movement,and in thisthe Turksand the Greeks found common cause. Bulgarian propaganda activity weakened in this period.

At this time the regional cheta leaders Dzole Gjergev and Tane Kanchev-Grozniot petitioned the Turkish authorities for the arrest of andarte Captain Stavro Kochev of Banitsa for crimes against the Macedonian people, such as the beating up of unarmed citizens, especially women and children. In August 1908 the Turkish authorities issued an arrest warrant and took Kochev into custody. Although Kochev was Macedonian, he was working for the Greeks and in their interest. Following an enquiry, the Turkish court martial sentenced the perpetrator to life in prison. After several days, Kochev was freed from prison under mysterious circumstances. There were rumours that the guards were bribed and that he fled to the USA.

After the death of some Banitsa cheta leaders, a re-organization took place. Ilo Kotorkin, an experienced komita and veteran of Ilinden, was selected as leader to replace Dzole Gjergev (who had been assassinated in a Lerin tavern). Natse Katin’s cheta was taken over by Risto Pejo Jovchev.

With a new influx of komiti, Mitse Janin-Miskarot formed and led a third cheta. It was said that this unit had been led previously by Risto Jovchev who had been convicted of murder and imprisoned.

All of the bands comprised Banicheni and they were active in the Lerin area against the Turks and the andartes.

On 1 June 1910, Risto Jovchev led a big battle against the enemy. With him were the komiti Dine Nichev and Dzole Lumanov. Surrounded by these more-powerful enemies, they fought a bitter conflict until Risto Jovchev was fatally shot. The two fighters, Dine Nichov and Dzole Lumanov, were captured by the Greek andartes, interrogated and tortured for hours so they would reveal the names of their comrades, but they did not reveal them. They were shot while shouting Smrt ili Sloboda!’—Death or Freedom!

With the loss of commander Risto Jovchev, the rest of the band was divided between the chetas of Ilo Kotorkin and Mitse Janin-Miskarot.