Dedo Iljo Vojvoda fought with his 206 Macedonians!

[Diabolical]

No Diabolical, you wouldn't be hard pressed to find a Macedonian before 1940 on Wikipedia, you would be hard pressed to find an article about a Macedonian that has not been severely distorted by a Greek or Bulgar racist.

True, That's what I meant

Where did you get the 1940 figure my friend?

I thought their claim was that Macedonians only got their ethnic identity after WW2? Before that apparently we were all Bulgarians...

[Soldier of Macedon]

Their opinion changes with every counter-argument we give them. What is your opinion?

[Diabolical]

My opinion??

We were Macedonians from before Alexander the Great, continued to call ourselves so through the times of Kiril i Metodi and Car Samoil. The likes of brakjata Miladinovci and Marko Cepenkov committed their lives to preserving our culture, while Macedonians like Goce Delchev, literally, fought and died for Macedonia, in the name of Macedonia. This is all documented in history of course, and we even see scholars from throughout the ages refer to a Macedonian people.

Indeed, it's saddening to see such malicious actions from our own neighbours... more saddening to know that this isn't a recent political game, but something going on for at least 100+ years.

[Daskalot]

wikipedia is just for laughs, Pop Gorgiev is not Dedo Iljo, they are two persons.

[Pelister]

Is the Dedo Iljo cited in this source the same Dedo Iljo Maleshevski? The below link says that he is also know as Pop Gorgiev.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilyo_Voyvoda

Wikipedia has seriously gone down the drain, now even Dedo Iljo is a 'Bulgar' as Bulgarian lies and historical manipulations are accepted without an argument. Apart from the light reference, Wikipedia is next to useless.

That Wikipedia article is full of factual errors (probably deliberate).

The picture of the Macedonian warlord is the Priest Berovski, from Berovo.

Dedo Ilija "Maleshevets" is a completely different person. Secondly, Dedo Ilija was a Macedonian, not a Bulgarian. He led the Russo-Macedonian brigade in the Serbian wars against the Turks. Any suggestion he identified as a Bulgarian is a lie, and just a modern spin. There were no Bulgarian political units operating in Macedonia at that time.

[makedonin]

Димитрија Поп Георгиев Беровски и Дедо Иљо Малешевски се Браќа

Личноста на Илија Марков Поп-Георгиев или попознат како дедо Иљо Малешевски

http://www.macedonium.org/Macedonium.aspx?jazik=2&kid=8&pid=28&ppid=90&tid=961

[Pelister]

Now I really am confused. Will have to go back to the sources to have another look at this guy.

[Soldier of Macedon]

So did we ever determine if Iljo and Georgiev are the same person?

[Rogi]

Just to clear something up....

Paul, the correct translation of 'Vojvoda' is Duke. It is not Warlord (Gospodar na Vojnata).

[Soldier of Macedon]

Rogi, although I wouldn't have taken the same approach to reaction as Pelister did, the literal translation of VOI (war) VODA (leader) is War-Leader, which is much closer to a Warlord than it is to a Duke, who in actual fact is supposed to be a member of some nobility.

I doubt that Jordan Piperka and Georgi Sugarev came from the nobility, and they are both known Voivodi. I don't know how and when Duke became identified with Voivoda, I take it that it would have happened during the late middle ages.

[VMRO]

The people of VMRO were called 'Komiti' or 'Komitadji', as they were members of the 'Komitet' (Committee). A group of Komiti were called a 'Cheta', and the leader of the group was the Vojvoda, which literally means 'War Leader' but the best equivalent in English is 'Warlord' or also 'Duke' as Magedon stated.

Komitadzi were what Mihajlov's VMRO rebels were called.

[VMRO]

In Iljo Maleshevski's time, they were not referred to as komiti, but as Ajduci, Ajduts.

[Pelister]

Just to clear something up....

Paul, the correct translation of 'Vojvoda' is Duke. It is not Warlord (Gospodar na Vojnata).

War-Lord (Leader) is much closer to the literal translation that "Duke". I just embelished it a little.

But the picture on my avatar. I always thought it was Pop Berovski, but I've been told it is Ilija Maleshev. Can anyone help with that ?

[Soldier of Macedon]

Komitadzi were what Mihajlov's VMRO rebels were called.

Komitadji is simply Komiti with the common Turkish suffix that is sometimes used by Balkan peoples such as Macedonians, Albanians and Greeks. I don't think it specifically relates to the dog Mihailov's men. Take for example Mother Teresa and her surname, Bojaxhiu (Bojadziu).

In Iljo Maleshevski's time, they were not referred to as komiti, but as Ajduci, Ajduts.

True.

[VMRO]

Komitadji is simply Komiti with the common Turkish suffix that is sometimes used by Balkan peoples such as Macedonians, Albanians and Greeks. I don't think it specifically relates to the dog Mihailov's men. Take for example Mother Teresa and her surname, Bojaxhiu (Bojadziu).

True.

Most source's i have read, the komitadji term always popped up when Mihajlov's VMRO was mentioned, even in Andrew Rossos's book "Macedonia and the Macedonians". who knows, you could be right SoM.

Have you realised some say Kumitie, not komitite, like in the song "Ja izlezi Gjurgo".