Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Macedonia marks 108. Ilinden Uprising, 67. ASNOM anniversaries

The two historic Ilinden days - 108 years of the Ilinden Uprising and 67 years of the first Anti-Fascist Assembly for the People's Liberation of Macedonia (ASNOM) - will be marked Tuesday at Meckin Kamen in Krusevo and memorial complex in Kumanovo village Pelince.
Parliament Speaker Trajko Veljanoski will attend the main event in Krusevo, Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski will address the gathering at the ASNOM Memorial Center in Pelince, whereas President Gjorge Ivanov will lay flowers at the monument of ASNOM President Metodija Andonov-Cento in Skopje.
Macedonia will not send a delegation to the authentic place of the second Ilinden - monastery "St.Prohor Pcinski", which is under jurisdiction of the Serbian Orthodox Church.Bitola village Trnovo will host the 40. World Macedonian Emigrant Meeting, organized by the Macedonian Emigrant Association and the World Macedonian Congress.
Horsemen, who traditionally depart for the annual Ilinden March from Skopje, are also set to arrive in Krusevo.
Church bells marked the beginning of the Krusevo uprising on the eve of Ilinden in 1903. About 800 rebels liberated the town, whereas the Krusevo Republic was declared two days later by Nikola Karev, who was elected president.The free republic lasted for ten days. Under the command of Bahtijar Pasha, a 18,000-strong Ottoman army attacked Krusevo in order to restore authority. The last gunshots at Meckin Kamen and the killing of voivode Pitu Guli signalled the end of the Krusevo Republic.
Forty-one years later, 115 delegates held the first Anti-Fascist Assembly for the People's Liberation of Macedonia (ASNOM) in monastery St.Prohor Pcinski near Kumanovo, confirming Macedonia's social-legal position as an equal federal unit within Yugoslavia. The oldest delegate and witness of both Ilindens Panko Brasnarov opened the assembly, whereas Metodija Andonov-Cento was elected ASNOM President.
The assembly adopted several statehood documents, including the decision on introducing the Macedonian language as the official language in the country, along with the Declaration on the fundamental rights of the man and citizen of democratic Macedonia.

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