Andon Dimitrov (Bulgarian and Macedonian: Андон Димитров; January 1867 – 13 March 1933) was a Macedonian Bulgarian[1] revolutionary. He was among the founders of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO).[2]

Andon Dimitrov
BornJanuary 1867
Died13 March 1933 (1933-03-14) (aged 66)
NationalityOttoman/Bulgarian
Signature

Biography

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Dimitrov was born to a rich Bulgarian family in the village of Ayvatovo (now a part of the municipality of Mygdonia, at the time in the Ottoman Empire). He graduated from the Bulgarian Men's High School of Thessaloniki in 1889 and then he studied law in Istanbul. He wasn't able to complete his studies due to a disease. He returned to Thessaloniki and taught Turkish in his old high school from 1892 to 1897. He also taught Bulgarian in the local Turkish gymnasium.

On 23 October 1893 Dimitrov, together with Hristo Tatarchev, Dame Gruev, Ivan Hadzhinikolov, Petar Poparsov and Hristo Batandzhiev founded what is commonly known as the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization.[3] Andon Dimitrov was a member of the organization's central committee from its very beginning; he was re-elected in 1896.

After 1897 Dimitrov got a teaching position in Bitola in 1897. In 1899 he continued his law education in University of Liège and graduated in 1901. He returned to Bitola in November 1901 and started a career as a lawyer, while at the same time continuing his participation in the leadership of IMRO. In November 1903, Andonov was appointed a principal of all Bulgarian schools in Prilep. Andonov continued his career in law in 1904, when he was voted a judge in the Bitola appellate court. After the Young Turk Revolution he participated in the creation of the Bulgarian Constitutional Clubs political party, being chosen as its leader in its inauguration congress.

Andon Dimitrov moved to Bulgaria in 1913 and started to work in Ministry of Justice, and later in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Religious Denominations. Later, he taught Turkish at the Bulgarian Commerce school in Istanbul. Dimitrov, suffering from a serious illness, died by suicide on March 13, 1933, in Sofia.[4]

References

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  1. ^ Д-р Христо Татарчев: Македонския въпрос, България, Балканите и Общността на Народите; Съставители - Цочо Билярски, Валентин Радев (Унив. Изд. „Св. Климент Охридски", 1996), Предговор 5-10 стр. (in Bulgarian)
    In English: Doctor Hristo Tatarchev: The Macedonian question, the Balkans and the Community of Nations by Tsocho Bilyarski and Valentin Radev (SU "Sv Kliment Ohridski, 1996), Preface p. 5-10.
  2. ^ People in World History, ISBN 9780874365504, Susan K. Kinnell, ABC-CLIO, 1989, p. 164.
  3. ^ Blood Ties: Religion, Violence and the Politics of Nationhood in Ottoman Macedonia, 1878–1908, ISBN 9780801469794, İpek Yosmaoğlu, Cornell University Press, 2013, pp. 31–32.
  4. ^ Пелтеков, Александър Г. Революционни дейци от Македония и Одринско. Второ допълнено издание. София, Орбел, 2014. ISBN 9789544961022, с. 134.