Variko (, before 1926: Μόκραινα – ''Mokraina''; Bulgarian/) is a village and a former

community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...

in Florina regional unit, West Macedonia,

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality

Amyntaio Amyntaio (, before 1928: Σόροβιτς – ''Sorovits''; Macedonian: Суровичево, Сорович), is a town and municipality in the Florina regional unit of Macedonia, Greece. The population of Amyntaio proper is 4,348, while that o ...

, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 21.877 km². It is 27 km south-southeast of the city of

Florina Florina (, ''Flórina''; known also by some alternative names) is a town and municipality in the mountainous northwestern Macedonia, Greece. Its motto is, 'Where Greece begins'. The town of Florina is the capital of the Florina regional uni ...

. The village's primary agricultural products are beans, corn, and wheat. There is an annual bean festival on August 15, coinciding with the Dormition of Virgin.

History

The village was first mentioned in an Ottoman defter of 1481, under the name of ''Mokreni'', and was described as having sixty-nine households. In the beginning of 19th century Francois Pouqueville noted ''Mocrena'' as one of the Bulgarian villages in the region. The population of Mocreni was Bulgarian in 19th and early 20th centuries. The population of the village was under the supremacy of the Bulgarian Exarchate since 1891. The village was burned by the Ottomans during the Ilinden Uprising. There was a Bulgarian school in the village in the beginning of the 20th century. After the Treaty of Bucharest in 1913, when the area became part of

, many people emigrated to

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

. The village was renamed Variko in 1926. After the defeat of Greece by Nazi Germany in April 1941 in the village was formed a club of the Bulgaro-Macedonian Central Committee and in 1943 a detachment of the Bulgarian paramilitary organization Ohrana. The village suffered greatly during the

Greek Civil War The Greek Civil War () took place from 1946 to 1949. The conflict, which erupted shortly after the end of World War II, consisted of a Communism, Communist-led uprising against the established government of the Kingdom of Greece. The rebels decl ...

, when many villagers emigrated abroad.

Notable persons

* Nikola Andreev, (''1879 - 1911'') - Bulgarian teacher and voivode * Nikola Milev, (''1881-1925'') - Bulgarian historian

Demographics

According to the 2021 census, the population of Variko was 508 people. Today, the village has a mixed population of

Greeks Greeks or Hellenes (; , ) are an ethnic group and nation native to Greece, Greek Cypriots, Cyprus, Greeks in Albania, southern Albania, Greeks in Turkey#History, Anatolia, parts of Greeks in Italy, Italy and Egyptian Greeks, Egypt, and to a l ...

and Slav Macedonians (around 11,7%).In the 2014 European elections in Greece
82 people from Variko voted for the Rainbow Party, which represents the ethnic Macedonian minority in Greece.

Literature

"Мокрени (моето родно село)"
A book by Anastas Simeonov, the son of the revolutionary Simeon Krstev Siin, about the history of Mokreni (his home village) - In Bulgarian. 1931

Notes

{{Amyntaio div Populated places in Florina (regional unit) Former municipalities in Western Macedonia Amyntaio