Skopje, 26 February 2025 (MIA) – North Macedonia observes Wednesday 21 years from the death of President Boris Trajkovski, who was killed in a plane crash in Rotimlje near Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Family members, state, and other delegations will lay flowers at Trajkovski's grave at the Skopje-based Butel cemetery and at the memorial sites in Rotimlje and Strumica.

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.

The government’s aircraft, which was carrying President Trajkovski to an International Investment Conference in Bosnia and Herzegovina, crashed on February 26, 2004, in the Matić Brdo area near the village of Huskovici, close to Mostar. The plane was scheduled to land at Mostar Airport at 8:00 am local time. The wreckage was located 24 hours after the crash.

Two investigations were conducted, and two reports were published regarding the crash and declared that the fatal plane crash was not the result of an assassination but an accident.

The reports into the crash, conducted by Salko Begic and Omer Kulic and Macedonian experts, blamed the crash on pilot errors, technical problems and procedural mistakes.

Born on June 25, 1956, in Strumica, Boris Trajkovski was the second President of the Republic of Macedonia, holding office from December 15, 1999, to February 26, 2004. Trajkovski graduated from the Faculty of Law in Skopje in 1980, specializing in business law and labor law.

On December 21, 1998, Boris Trajkovski served as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs in the government led by Ljupcho Georgievski. He was also chairman of the VMRO-DPMNE Foreign Affairs Commission, a key foreign policy advisor to the party leader, and a member of the Presidency of the Pan-European Movement for the Republic of Macedonia. Additionally, he participated in the international conflict resolution conference in Atlanta, USA. For over 12 years, he was the president of the youth organization of the United Methodist Church in the former Yugoslavia.

He was elected President of the Republic of Macedonia in 1999 and served as head of state until February 26, 2004, when he tragically died in a plane crash near Mostar.

Photo: MIA archive