Vasil Chekalarov

Vasil Chekalarov

Monument to Vasil Chekalarov in Skopje.

Vasil Hristov Chekalarov (Bulgarian: Васил Христов Чекаларов) or Vasil Tcakalarov (1874, Smardesh, Ottoman Empire, today Krystallopigi, Florina regional unit, Greece - July 9, 1913, Belkamen, today Drosopigi, Florina regional unit) was a Bulgarian^[1][2] revolutionary and one of the leaders of Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organisation in Aegean Macedonia. H. N. Brailsford described Chekalarov as the "cruel but competent general" of the Bulgarian insurgents in Macedonia.^[3] In the Republic of Macedonia he is considered Ethnic Macedonian.

Vasil Chekalarov's memorial plaque on the building where he lived in Sofia.

He was a leading komitaji in the bands of the Bulgarian Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Committees and took part in the battles against the Ottoman authorities as well before the Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising as after it. In 1901-1902 he created a channel for illegal purchase and transfer of firearms from Greece to Southern Macedonia. In 1904 he migrated into Bulgaria and became one of the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization (IMARO) organizers of the military campaign against the Greek Struggle for Macedonia.

As a commander of a Bulgarian guerilla band, Chekalarov supported the Greek army in the First Balkan War 1912-1913.^[4] Later hе fought on the side of the Bulgarian Army on the front in Eastern Thrace in the composition of the Macedonian-Adrianopolitan Volunteer Corps. He was killed by Greek troops during the Second Balkan War.

External links

• Chekalarov, Vasil. Diary 1901-1903, Sofia 2001 (in Bulgarian)
• A folk song about Vasil Chakalarov at YouTube
• Лазар Поптрайков - "Въстанието в Костурско; от 20 юлий до 30 август вкл.", публикувано в "Бюлетин на в. Автономия; Задграничен лист на Вътрешната македоно-одринска организация", брой 44-47, София, 1903 година Report about the Ilinden uprising written by Lazar Poptrajkov, Vasil Chakalarov, Manol Rozov, Pando Klyashev and Mihail Nikolov

References

1. Vacalopoulos, Apostolos. Modern history of Macedonia (1830-1912), Thessaloniki 1988, p. 192
2. Чекаларов, Васил. Дневник 1901-1903, София 2001, с. 91, 122, 140, 188, 197 (Chekalarov, Vasil. Diary 1901-1903, Sofia 2001, p. 91, 122, 140, 188, 197)
3. Brailsford, H. N. Macedonia: Its Races and Their Future, London 1906, p. 145
4. Силянов, Христо. От Витоша до Грамос. Пътят на една чета през Освободителната война 1912, София 1920, Македоно-Одринско опълчение 1912-1913. Личен състав по документите на Дирекция "Централен военен архив", София 2006, с. 794, 892.