Anastas Yankov
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Anastas Yankov Dinkov was a
Bulgarian army The Bulgarian Army (), also called Bulgarian Armed Forces, is the military of Bulgaria. The commander-in-chief is the president of Bulgaria. The Ministry of Defense is responsible for political leadership, while overall military command is in ...
officer and revolutionary, a prominent voivode of the Supreme Macedonian-Adrianople Committee.


Life

Anastas Yankov was born in 1857 in the Kastorian village of Zagorichani, then in the Ottoman Empire, today Vasiliada, Greece. Yankov studied in his native village, and later at the Bulgarian school in Constantinople, which he graduated with honors in 1875. He participated then as a volunteer in the Serbo-Turkish War (1876), in which he was awarded the Serbian Order and promoted to the rank of junior non-commissioned officer. During the
Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878) The Russo-Turkish wars ( ), or the Russo-Ottoman wars (), began in 1568 and continued intermittently until 1918. They consisted of twelve conflicts in total, making them one of the longest series of wars in the history of Europe. All but four of ...
he volunteered for the Bulgarian Opalchenie. He was then promoted again to the rank of non-commissioned officer. He was wounded and received the Russian St. George's Cross for his bravery. After the war he settled in the newly established Principality of Bulgaria, and in 1880 he graduated from the Military School in Sofia. He took part as an officer in the Serbo-Bulgarian War (1885). Yankov was awarded the Order of Courage for his bravery. In 1896 he left his military service and joined the ranks of the Supreme Macedonian-Adrianople Committee. He was touring Macedonia then to gather information on the readiness to revolt there. Yankov rejoined the army and served in the Ministry of War. On February 14, 1901, he was promoted to the rank of colonel. In 1902, on the eve of the Gorna Dzhumaya Uprising, he went on regular leave, and after its expiration he applied for reserve and was discharged from the army. At the beginning of the Uprising, Yankov wrote to Prince Ferdinand that his recent journey through the country had become a triumph for the Bulgarian population. According to him, the people were very excited when saw him in an officer's uniform and the Supreme Macedonian Committee expected help from Bulgaria for the uprising. In June 1902 his detachment went to the Lerin region and his native
Kastoria Kastoria (, ''Kastoriá'' ) is a city in northern Greece in the modern regions of Greece, region of Western Macedonia. It is the capital of Kastoria (regional unit), Kastoria regional unit, in the Geographic regions of Greece, geographic region ...
region. In a manifesto issued during the uprising he referred to
Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon (; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), most commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip ...
, Tsar Samuil, and other historical figures as ''Macedonians''. In order to detach his native Zagorichani from IMRO influence, Yankov promulgated that it was high time that " Macedonians, like all other nations, Greeks, Serbs, Bulgarians and Cretans demand their rights and freedom arm-at-hand". Two years later, Pavlos Melas attested the effectiveness among the local Slavic speakers of Yankov's advocacy of the idea of the existence of a distinct Macedonian nation. Anastas Yankov's campaign created great problems for the rival revolutionary organization
IMARO The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO; ; ), was a secret revolutionary society founded in the Ottoman territories in Europe, that operated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Founded in 1893 in Salonica, it initia ...
, which found it difficult to fend off his attempts to revolt. In 1903 he took part in the
Ilinden Uprising Ilinden ( Bulgarian/ Macedonian: Илинден) or Ilindan ( Serbian Cyrillic: Илиндан), meaning " Saint Elijah's Day", may refer to: Events * Republic Day (North Macedonia) Republic Day () or Ilinden () is a national holiday in North ...
and led a detachment of 400 people, which operated in
Pirin The Pirin Mountains ( ) are a mountain range in southwestern Bulgaria, with the highest peak, Vihren, at an altitude of . The range extends about from the north-west to the south-east and is about wide, spanning a territory of . To the north ...
mountains, entered the headquarters of the uprising in Razlog and commanded the attack on Belitsa. After the uprising he returned to Bulgaria. On March 1, 1905, the Greek consul in Sofia reported in Athens that Yankov was crossing the border into Macedonia. Colonel Yankov died in a battle with Turkish troops on the way back to Bulgaria near the village of Vlahi in April 1906. Colonel Yankov was married to Maria Popgeorgieva, sister of the Bulgarian revolutionary
Rayna Knyaginya Rayna Popgeorgieva Futekova (), better known as Rayna Knyaginya (Райна Княгиня), aka "Queen of the Bulgarians". She was a Bulgarian teacher and revolutionary, famous for sewing the flag of the April Uprising of 1876. Biography S ...
. Their son Kosta Yankov, was a major in the Bulgarian army, but became radicalized after the First World War. Kosta headed the military organization of the Bulgarian Communist Party and in 1925 organized the
St Nedelya Church assault The St Nedelya Church assault was a terrorist attack on St Nedelya Church in Sofia, Bulgaria. It was carried out on 16 April 1925, when a group of the Military Organisation of the Bulgarian Communist Party directed and supplied by the Soviet M ...
.Dimitar Bechev, Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Macedonia, Scarecrow Press, 2009, ISBN 0810862956, p. 109.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yankov, Anastas 1857 births 1906 deaths People from Kastoria Macedonian Bulgarians Bulgarian revolutionaries Bulgarian military personnel People from the Ottoman Empire