Skopje, 26 February 2024 (MIA) – North Macedonia observes Monday 20 years from the death of President Boris Trajkovski, who was killed in a plane crash in Rotimlja near Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

At this year's commemoration at Skopje-based Butel cemetery, starting at 12:00, attendees will include Vilma Trajkovska, the spouse of the late President Boris Trajkovski, accompanied by family members. Also present will be the President Stevo Pendarovski, a delegation of the Parliament led by Speaker Jovan Mitreski, and a government delegation consisting of Slavica Grkovska, Deputy Prime Minister for good governance policies, and Risto Penov, Minister of Local Self-Government. Additionally, representatives from the Army of the Republic of North Macedonia and a delegation from the Union of Fighters of the National Liberation War, led by Naum Bureski, Vice President of the Main Board of the Union, will lay flowers, the government said in a press release.

In Rotimlje, near Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, representatives from the Government delegation, including Minister of Culture Bisera Kostadinovska Stojchevska and Kaja Shukova, Minister of Environment and Physical Planning, along with a representative from the Office of the President of the Republic of North Macedonia, Colonel Biljana Blazheska, adjutant to the President of the Republic of North Macedonia, will lay flowers at the memorial site of the accident.

In Rotimlje, high representatives from Bosnia and Herzegovina will also be in attendance.

The government delegation, led by Jovanka Trenchevska, Deputy Minister for Labour and Social Policy, accompanied by Kiril Partalov, State Secretary in the Ministry of Local Self-Government, will be present to lay flowers at the monument of the late President Boris Trajkovski in Strumica.

Under the auspices of the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia, a commemorative concert will be held in the evening at the National Opera and Ballet to observe the 20th anniversary from the death of President Boris Trajkovski and his associates.

The concert will be conducted by Ivan Eminovikj, directed by Ljupka Jakimovska, and the choir master will be Gjurgjica Dashikj.

The soloists from the National Opera and Ballet who will perform include Sandra Mitrovska, soprano, Marika Popovikj, mezzo-soprano, and Javorka Vitanova, a soloist from the choir accompanied by the choir and orchestra of the National Opera and Ballet. The program will feature pieces by W.A. Mozart, R. Leoncavallo, G. Verdi, and R. Avramovski.

President Trajkovski died in a plane crash on 26 February 2004, when the US-made Beechcraft King Air 200 tried to land at the airport of Mostar, in southern Bosnia, in bad weather.

Trajkovski, President’s Office advisers Dimka Ilkova-Boshkovic, Risto Blazhevski and Anita Krishan-Lozanovska, Mile Krstevski from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, bodyguards Boris Velinov and Ace Bozhinovski, as well as pilots Marko Markovski and Branko Ivanovski were killed in the crash.

Photo: MIA archive