Pitu Guli

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Voivode

Pitu Guli
Pitu Guli in guerilla attire
Nickname(s)Pitu the Vlach
Bornc. 1865
Kruševo, Ottoman Empire (now North Macedonia)
Died12 August 1903(1903-08-12) (aged 37–38)
Kruševo Republic
Allegiance IMRO
Kruševo Republic
Years of service1885–1903
Battles/wars

Pitu Guli[a] (Cyrillic: Питу Гули;[b] 1865–1903) was an Aromanian revolutionary in Ottoman Macedonia, a local leader of what is commonly referred to as the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO).[1]

Life

He was born to a poor family in Kruševo (Aromanian: Crushuva) in the Ottoman Empire (now North Macedonia). Guli demonstrated an independent and rebellious nature early in life. He left his home in Macedonia at the age of 17 in search of wealth in the Bulgarian capital, Sofia. In 1885, he returned to Macedonia, as part of a rebel squad of the revolutionary movement against the Ottoman Empire, led by Adam Kalmikov. He was captured and exiled to eastern Anatolia for a period of eight years, seven years of which were spent in the prison in Trabzon. In 1895, he again returned to Kruševo and became a member of IMARO. From this time on, he was fully committed to the autonomy of Macedonia from Turkish rule. Between 1897 and 1902 he was again in Sofia, where he also held an eating house.

Pitu Guli and his squad in 1903. Source: Bulgarian Archives State Agency

In March 1903, he began commanding a revolutionary squad, crossing the Bulgarian-Ottoman border heading for

Ilinden Uprising. He died in Kruševo, defending the Kruševo Republic
.

Family

Except for Bulgarian Exarchist Aromanians,[2] as Guli's family, who were Bulgarophiles,[3][4][5] most members of other ethnicities dismissed the IMRO as pro-Bulgarian.[6][7] His sons were:

  • Tashko Gulev (Shula Guli), a soldier of the
    IMRO activists in Vardar Macedonia during the Bulgarian administration in World War II, to fight the communist Yugoslav Partisans. He reportedly shot himself after Bulgaria switched sides and withdrew from Yugoslavia in 1944, upon the arrival of Tito's partisans in Kruševo, in despair over what he saw as a second period of Serbian dominance in Macedonia.[10]

Legacy

Pitu Guli is a national hero in

Mečkin Kamen (Bear's Rock) near Kruševo, where he was killed during the Ilinden Uprising in defense of the Macedonian Kruševo Republic.[1] A Macedonian Partisan Brigade was named after him.[1] The Macedonian partisan Kuzman Josifovski took the alias "Pitu" after him.[11] He is also celebrated in folk songs and poetry throughout the region of Macedonia, being mentioned in the national anthem of North Macedonia ("Denes nad Makedonija", "Today over Macedonia").[12] An Aromanian-language song about him, Cãnticlu al Pitu Guli ("The Song of Pitu Guli"), has also been composed.[13][14]

Notes

  1. ^ Alternative spellings of his name are Pito (Пито) and Gule (Гуле) or Gulev (Гулев).
  2. ^ His name is alternatively spelled in the older Bulgarian orthography as Пито Гулевъ.

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 0-691-09995-2
  2. ISBN 1442241802
    , p. 520.
  3. ^ Коста Църнушанов, Македонизмът и съпротивата на Македония срещу него, Университетско изд. "Св. Климент Охридски", София, 1992, стр. 132.
  4. ISBN 9548709082
    , 1996, стр. 60-70.
  5. ISBN 9737330412
    , p. 123.
  6. ISBN 081794883X
    , p. 105.
  7. ISBN 184908419X
    , p. 21.
  8. ^ Македоно-одринското опълчение 1912-1913 г. Личен състав, Главно управление на архивите, 2006, стр. 190.
  9. ^ Македонска енциклопедија, МАНУ, Скопје, 2009, стр. 415-416.
  10. ISBN 0810862956, p. 91.
  11. ISBN 9004261915
    , p. 536.
  12. ISBN 1317049365
    , p. 188.
  13. ^ Grigore, George V. (6 March 2018). "Imnul de stat al Macedoniei cântă vitejia unui erou român: Pitu Guli, zis și Pitu Vlahul". Ziarul Națiunea (in Romanian).
  14. ^ Stăncioiu, Octavian (11 September 2017). "Pero Tsatsa și Armânamea la Seara makiduneascâ din Dudeștii Noi". Banatul Azi (in Romanian).
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