THE CREATION OF IMRO, THE INTERNAL MACEDONIAN REVOLUTIONARY ORGANIZATION AND I - Part 02

In May 1911, in order to intimidate the population of Banitsa, a group ofandartesunderCaptain Stavro’scommand murdered the mayor of Banitsa, State Jovan Tashev. Banitsa-born Tashev had long served the revolutionary cause and was a delegate to the Macedonian Orthodox Church in Lerin. He had the honorific of “Archimandrite” (priest who leads a monastery) as a teacher of Old Church Slavonic. He was active on many advisory boards to IMRO and was a member of both the local revolutionary committee in Banitsa and the Regional Revolutionary Committee of Bitola Province. The andartes understood him to be a major organizer of the IMRO movement in both Banitsa and the Lerin region, and in this they were correct. He had organized and led many activities against the andartes; the latter accused him of participating in the destruction and burning of Greek religious and other books in Banitsa on 24 July 1907. They also accused him of the murders of Gele Nichov, Kire Kochev and Trajko Kurtov, all from Banitsa, who were charged with treason by the komiti and shot. During this time, the andartes also killed the long-serving revolutionaries and Ilinden veterans Filip Shusharev and Kole Nedelkov.14

Because of the increasing activity of the andartes, in the summer of 1911, the local population and village council sought special protection of the Turkish authorities. Izet Pasha sent a battalion of Turkish troops, who patrolled the fields, protecting the villagers who then harvested their wheat and immediately took it home to protect it from being set on fire by the andartes.

Thatsameyeartheandartesbegan slandering respected figuresand Ilinden veterans, telling the Turkish government that these men were dissatisfied with the Ottoman Empire and that they were plotting an uprising against Turkish rule. The Turks sent army troops, blockaded the village, and arrested Mitse Hrisafov, Petso Hrisafov-Vragov, Leko Boglev, Tine Dajkov, Risto Perov, Kole Janin, Petko Dzugomanov and Pero Popov.

14According to Paul Kiriakou, Kole Nedelkov was not killed by the andartes but found his way to the USA.

They were thrown into the Bitola dungeons, taken to court and sentenced to long prison terms. Their freedom eventually came with the arrival of Serbian troops into Bitola in November 1912. In Banitsa another old Ilinden veteran was murdered—Gjorgi (Giche) Dzorlev, father of the cheta leader Leko Dzorlev. After allegations were made by the andartes, killed him in an act of revenge, thinking that the younger Dzorlev had killed Dine’s father. Although there were eyewitnesses who knew who the real killer was, no one wanted to say anything to the Turkish investigators for fear of reprisals.

The terrorism in Banitsa continued. The chetas disintegrated and could not render assistance to the populace. Many families were pressured into aligning themselves with the Greek Church and sending their children to the Greek school, which had opened in the fall of 1912. The schools teaching Old Church Slavonic were closed and the andartes burned the books.The chetasmoved into areascontrolled by the Serbian army. There were fewer and fewer units as many fighters fell under the influence of the Bulgarian supremacists and joined their ranks. They were immediately sent to Bulgaria to be re-educated and undergo special training, and then were sent back into Macedonia armed. These fighters were convinced that without Bulgaria’s help, Macedonia would not be able to free itself, and that all the chetas should join the regular Bulgarian army which would help in the liberation of Macedonia.

In the summer of 1912, 35,000 Turkish troops under the command of Dzavid Pasha set off from Bitola for Sorovich. At this time, there was a Balkan alliance between Greece, Serbia, and Bulgaria to fight against the Turks and the disintegrating Ottoman Empire.

At the Banitsa-Tserovo gorge the Turkish army was met by the Fifth Greek Division and by the Serbian army from the north. A bloody battle ensued, which the Turkish army lost. The population of Banitsa had been evacuated in various directions. After the victory of the allied forces in this battle, they returned home, but their village had been destroyed and burned. About 600 families were left without a roof over their heads.

Military action resumed a month later following the re-grouping of Turkish troops and the arrival of reinforcements from the territories in the north after an attack from by Serbian forces. The inhabitants had to evacuate and abandon the village several times, and this continued until November 1912, when the Turks finally left for good and the people were freed from Turkish rule. The Turks signed a treaty and withdrew from the Balkans. The villagers returned home, and in a show of solidarity, immediately began working together to reconstruct the village. Every damaged house was rebuilt collectively.

In the period when inter-military activities unfolded between the allied army and the Turkish army in the second half of 1912, the Greek andartes displayed a great deal of activity, while the remaining komiti withdrew into Serbia-held territory.

Unfavourable conditions led the Banitsa chetas of Ilo Kotorkin and Mitse Janev-Miskarot to withdraw to Voshtareni, where there were Serbian troops, and later to Zhivojno. On the orders of IMRO (and likely with the involvement of Bulgarian supremacists), the chetas were dissolved and the komiti could go wherever they wanted, home or to Serbia or Bulgaria. Most of them hung on in Voshtareni or Zhivojno for a while and then returned to Banitsa. The vojvoda Ilo Kotorkin and komiti Dine Nedelkov, Mitse Ziskov and Ilo Dajkov left for Bitola, where they remained. The commander Mitse Janev-Miskarot and his band left for Bulgaria. That was the end of the chetas of Banitsa.

Ilo Dajkov returned to Banitsa from Bitola in 1920 to resume his activities. He was persecuted and imprisoned for a time during Greek rule. He participated in NOF (National Liberation Front) from 1941 to 1944 and, аt the head of the column, led his villagers in a grand celebration of the liberation of the city of Lerin in 1944. In 1945 he moved with his family to Bitola, where he lived to a ripe old age and died in 1955. He was buried with full military honours as a veteran of Ilinden.

The vojvoda Ilo Kotorkin remained in Bitola until 1926, when one night, with a villager from Ajtos, Lerin region by the name of Geroski,

he crossed over the border into Lerin. There they threw a bomb into the hotel Dietnis where Greek military and other functionaries were residing. It caused a great deal of damage and there were also fatalities. That same night they returned to Bitola and from there fled to Sofia, Bulgaria. Kotorkin died at a great old age in Bulgaria.

The komiti Dine Nedelkov and Mitse Ziskov uprooted their families from Banitsa to Bitola and lived there and died in old age, having benefitted from the secured pensions given in thanks to Ilinden veterans by the Socialist Republic of Macedonia.

In December 1912, immediately after the liberation from the Turks, Captain Stavro arrived with a group of andartes. He beat up the village teacher, Papakonstantinos, who was born in Ostrovo, Voden region, and banned classes at the Old Church Slavonic school. A Greek school was opened and all children were ordered to attend. Stefo Dafo Kochev of Banitsa, who had finished theological studies at Sveta Gora, was chosen as the teacher.

The priest Stamboliev, born in Skopje, received an order to leave the village, but that same night the andartes executed him, by hanging, in his own home and proclaimed it was suicide.

In 1913, the local vojvoda Chakalarov of Kostur district, with a band of 60, joined up with vojvoda Risto Popov of Lozivishta and his 12 komiti and together with another eight leaders and komiti, they crossed over from the region under command of the Serbian army into the area controlled by the Greek army and the andartes. Their purpose was to raise the morale of the people of Lerin and Kostur regions and at the same time to protect them from attacks from the andartes. These detachments consisted of brave and experienced fighters, and were well armed.

They were successful in many battles against the andartes, who were led by a lieutenant of the regular Greek army, Konstantinos Varfis. This fratricidal war continued because many Macedonians had joined the andarte bands. These included Bogle Kolerov, Mitse Robev, Vasil Robev and Ilo Risto Popov, all of Banitsa. Bogle Kolerov, leader of one

of the andarte groups, was wounded in a skirmish and succumbed to his injuries, the fatal bullets having been shot by the komita Ilo of Dolno Vrbeni. The andarte Gone (Bogle) Kolerov was especially praised by the Greek authorities. He succumbed to his injuries on 7 July 1913.

Nothing is known of the fate of Risto Popov and his cheta. It is assumed that they disbanded and that the men fled to Serbia or Bulgaria. In another version of events, Risto Popov and his band and others, after daily battles with the andartes, headed to Radush mountain and, near Kisiliak mountain in the area of Ekshiso, fell into battle with another group ofandartesand perished there.The place where they died iscalled Popov’s grave and this version of events is considered more reliable.

Either before or at the same time, the vojvoda Chakalarov met a violent end. He had set off with his men to the designated meeting place of Sinak to rendezvous with the leader Risto Popov. They stayed there for a while but a shepherd who spotted them descended to the village of Vrtalom and alerted the Greek andartes who were stationed in that village.

A great chase ensued and they reached them on Kisiliak Mountain above the village of Ekshiso. There they had camped to rest after their strenuous battles and long, intense march. They were taken by surprise by a large numberofandartesand regularGreek army troops.They were surrounded, overwhelmed and killed. Only a small number of komiti survived and they were captured or gravely wounded. The famous and legendary leader Chakalarov was also lost in this battle. With his loyal komiti, he laid down his life for the freedom of the Macedonian people and for an independent Macedonia. The wounded komiti were shot by the andartes who had also suffered huge losses and casualties. AccordingtotheaccountsofsomeIlindenveterans, therewereover 300 andartes and soldiers killed and over 200 wounded. The battle was fierce, spanningtwodays anddescendingintoface-to-face, man-to-man combat. In this tiny space there were over 500 dead bodies, with a river of blood flowing down the mountain slopes.

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