Skopje, 11 September 2025 (MIA)

Darko Janevski

Andon Lazov – Kjoseto, a close associate of Goce Delchev, passed away on September 10, 1953, in Kjustendil at the age of 98. These are part of his memoirs:

The Turks were after me in Veles. They bribed my older brother, promising him something, and found out that I was in Thessaloniki. But they didn’t know what I looked like. So the Turks brought my brother to Thessaloniki and started searching for me. At that time, there was a teacher named Pejčinović in Thessaloniki, who later became director of the Serbian school. He was also an instrument of the Turks. The Turks introduced him to my brother.

I suggested becoming Dr. Tatarchev’s coachman, while also carrying out the Organization’s assigned terrorist missions. I drove the carriage only when Dr. Tatarchev had to travel. I was instructed to assassinate Pejčinović. They told me to do it, even if the preparation was slow, but to be careful not to be captured or killed. Our men told me: “Be careful not to get hurt. We need you very much…”

We saw Pejčinović walking very quickly toward the school. He walked so fast that we couldn’t catch him, even running. Mite was the fastest among us. He wore a black coat and carried a Karadak gun. As he drew near, Pejčinović turned his head and a bullet struck his forehead. We turned and ran away… That evening I visited Dr. Tatartchev. The following day, the authorities gathered all the doctors in Thessaloniki, and Dr. Tatartchev was among them. He told me to harness the horse and to put on gloves and a top hat—the outfit required of all coachmen in Thessaloniki. The doctor rode in the carriage, and I stopped right in front of the school gate where we had shot Pejčinović. Tatartchev stepped down from the carriage and examined him. At that time, the Turks supported the Serbian school… We returned with Tatartchev. I asked him if my friend would make it. “No,” he told me. “If they wanted him to survive, they wouldn’t have let him be wounded like that.” The doctor said he knew nothing. The Serbs took Pejčinović to bring him to Belgrade, but he died on the way…

Though I had heard of Delchev, I never knew him personally. Only Dame Gruev knew of my place of birth. I once warned him: “If you wish us to remain friends, you must never reveal where I was born. If you do, I will kill you.” Dame just laughed and asked: “Would you really do that to me, Andon?” I said I would. And he kept the secret of my village until his death.

I secretly arrived in the village of Brod, where a man met me to hide me. Then, I received a letter from Goce Delchev, though we had never met. At that time, there was a mudir (an Ottoman district ruler) in Brod. I don’t remember his name. In the letter, Delchev told me to kill him. Others pointed him out to me, but the police were always close by. If I carried out the act, I would have no way to escape. And at night, there was no way to do it. Then a second letter from Delchev arrived. He told me to drop the plan of killing the mudir and to go to old man Ilija Krchovalijata instead. “You’ll meet him,” Goce wrote. “I’ve already told him about you. Together with him, you will enter the village, capture Petar Shishko alive, take his money, and then kill him, because we need the money…”

There was a fountain at the square in the village of Brod, and a soldier standing by the fountain. Dedo Ilija and I decided to settle the matter with Petar Shishkov that evening… When we entered (in the shop) Petar Shishko was standing at the counter holding a glass in his hands and toasting with the others. As we entered, he dropped the glass from his hands. Dedo Ilija grabbed him by the shoulder. “Let’s go, bay Petar”, and they took him outside. I told the rest in the tavern: “Nobody move!”… Dedo Ilija told him: “Don’t be afraid, Petar, we won’t kill you. We want money”. “Money?” asked Shishko – “I’ll give you money”. People overheard that, and there they were, carrying a bundle of money. But at the same time, the police also showed up. Pope took his rifle and killed him on the spot. We were also fired at, but we escaped….

Goce ordered: a guy from the Maleshevija region was convicted, so they would be taking him from Berovo to Skopje. On Goce's orders, I was supposed to hit the guard. We crossed the border near Eleshnica. We caught two soldiers and killed them… Then we returned to Kyustendil, again on Goce's orders, of course, who had told us not to take any action now… After some time, after we joined forces with Popeto, Delchev, who was already in the underground, came to us. Our group was not big – it was a group of five or six people. We decided, and Delchev agreed, that we would capture Nazim bey. But how?… As soon as we got to Vasilevo, we saw the bey coming out of the village riding a horse, with a guard following him. He was the son-in-law of the Pasha of Thessaloniki. We started arguing with Delchev. “No, no,” - I shouted - “that’s how you pay him”. “I didn’t take anything”- Delchev shouted. We argued as we moved towards. And just as the bey was passing us by, Delchev grabbed the reins of the horse and shouted: “Hold him!”… The bey took out his pistol and just as he was about to shoot Delchev in the chest, Popeto grabbed his hand and the bullet hit him in the belt. That’s how Delchev dodged the bullet… Having rested for a day, we started making plans for haggling over the ransom price. We decided that the ransom would be ten thousand lira. Then, after we started the haggle, we reduced the ransom to five thousand lira. Of course, everything was under Delchev’s dictate. The day and place where the money should be brought in two installments of 2,500 lira each were also determined… I left to wait for the money. Goce stayed with two fellow guards in the hut with the bey. At the time, Delchev had stomach pain. The pain overwhelmed him, but as it subsided a little, he fell asleep. Then the bey told one of the guards to light a fire, because it was cold. The guard went to get wood, but forgot his revolver. While he was away, the bey managed to pull out Delchev's dagger to untie the rope and thus free his hands. Then, he also took Delchev's revolver. It was dark and he got up to go out through the door of the hut. On his way out, he shot the guard wounding him in the arm, and fled to the village of Nivichani, where his chiflik [estate] was. Then he headed to Strumica and met the people who were carrying the ransom money. He told them to return because he had escaped and managed to save himself...

Autumn came, followed by winter. We were spending time at Mount Kozhuf. Some 500 people were making charcoal here. This was in Mariovska Gora. There were many huts. The workers worked from Mitrovden to Gjurgjovden and were paid very little. The merchants were two beys. One based in Constantinople, and the other in Thessaloniki. All the charcoal passed through them. When we arrived at the huts in Mariovska Gora, the paymaster had come and gathered all the charcoal makers. As I said already, the charcoal makers numbered 500-600 people. We were still with Popeto. What were we to do? We gathered the charcoal makers and proposed this: "Listen, the bargains you have made until now are done. But, there is a month between today and Gjurgjovden. Plan ahead and cut as much wood and make as much charcoal as can be made from the cut wood. You will not bargain anymore. Whoever does that, I will nail to the beech trees. If they call you to bargain, you will say, 'I cannot bargain, because we are afraid of the komitas.' You will also say our names, Mihail Popeto and Andon Kjoseto."

When the end of the month came, the Thessaloniki bey called them to bargain. The charcoal makers refused to negotiate on the price of the charcoal. Then the bey sent his men and bought 500 axes (which is to say, woodcutters) in Prilep and gave them a down payment of one lira each. I heard workers were coming from Prilep and I waited for them. And one day I got word from Prilep that the charcoal makers had set off for Gevgelija. From Gradsko, they wanted to climb to Mariovska Gora and from there they wanted to set off for the mountains.

I went to Kriva River and set up an ambush at one of the cattle ranches. They entered the ambush and I stopped them. I told them to go back the way they came. “But we took a down payment of one lira,” they replied. I told them, "Go back through the mountain without stopping anywhere. If you stop, I will slice your throats open!”

It didn’t take long for people in Thessaloniki to hear about this. I started receiving letters from many merchants in which they begged me to leave the woods because all of Thessaloniki got their charcoal there. And this was true. But I intended for these woods to be used by the local villagers, and not the two beys. The Balkans with thousands of square meters. We did not respond to the first letter. To the second letter, we wrote that the issue could be resolved “through negotiations.” “Whoever has grown a beard will have to find himself a comb!” “I am the master," I wrote to them, "of the woods!"

The Turks then organized three search parties of 60 people each. They dressed them in yellow komita clothes, put caps on their heads and sent them to chase us. They put soldiers in all the villages, so if they found us, the soldiers would come to help them out. They wandered around, they wandered around and in the next six months they did nothing, they did not find us. After a while, I went to the village of Oshin near Enidzhe, a Vlach village called Livada, set between Enidzhe and Gevgelija…

After a while, the bey wanted to negotiate. He asked to see me in person. From the village of Sermenin near Gevgelija, I was informed that the same bey had come to the village and wanted to meet with me at any cost, even by risking his own life. I refused and said I would kill those who dare to bring the bey to me. A few days passed and I received a letter from the Gegelija-based kaymakam. The letter read: “Captain efendi, set the forest free, set the Balkans free so that charcoal is made. If you need clothes for your friends, I will give you the money, if need be, I will deliver it to you? Why are you condemning the whole of Thessaloniki?”

The letter was written in French. Tushe from the village of Bogdanci was my secretary and spoke French. I did not respond to the first letter. A few days passed and the big plea for an answer came. Then I sent a letter with the following content: “I received your letter, I am writing because you beg for an answer from me. Do not think I am keeping the forest in order to hide in it. The field and the forest are one and the same for me. I have food, as do clothes, but I also have brave friends. Know one thing though, you are the kaymakam in the town of Gevgelija, but I am the king of the forest, the Balkans and the field. I do not sit in the forest to hide in it but because the field will be left without water!”

Ten days passed but I did not get an answer. Later on, I received a letter from Constantinople. The Constantinople bey wrote: “I am sending six silver watches, Caucasian silver, and six watch straps. I am also sending six boxes of silver chibouks, and the same amount of spoons, forks and knives.” It added, “Please, captain efendi, I am sending you this tip but would you please allow for the five axes to do their work, for my sake.”

I responded with the following: “Thank you for the letter. I received the tip and understood your plea. I am proposing only one thing: not five, I will give you fifty axes, but under one condition – you come and do the work!”

And this was the end of the communication. We decided to split the forest between all villages, and we set a price for the charcoal in the following way: a donkey cargo – 15 pennies, a horse cargo – 20 pennies. These were the minimum prices and anyone could bid above it. However, if someone sells at a lower price, he would be punished by death.