Kumanovo, 2 August 2025 (MIA) - Parliament Vice-Speaker Vesna Bendevska addressed on Saturday an event commemorating the 81st anniversary of the first ASNOM Session at the ASNOM Memorial Center in Pelince, paying tribute to the fighters for a free ad independent state, the heroes of the two Ilindens. 

Bendevska said today we are living the dream of the fighters in Ilinden 1903 and ASNOM 1944, the foundation on which the Macedonian state rests. She added that Ilinden 1903 created the first Republic in the Balkans, and 41 years later, those who continued the dream of the Ilinden fighters laid the foundation of an independent Macedonian state, while the third Ilinden - September 8, 1991, completed the aspiration for an independent state.

"The two Ilindens are a pledge that we will not only show deep respect to the self-sacrifice of all the known and unknown heroes who laid down their young lives for the idea of a Macedonian state. It is an obligation to honour their achievement, and we will continue to dream their dream, together and united. Let me take this opportunity to send a message to every citizen - enough with the division, enough with the hatred, enough with the intolerance. We must restore Macedonia, in the true, literal sense, to the Krushevo principles and the ASNOM postulates," said Bendevska. 

On the first ASNOM session, the Parliament Vice-Speaker mentioned revolutionary Panko Brashnarov's appeal that "all citizens of Macedonia, regardless of nationality, gender, age, will stand under the same Macedonian flag and Macedonia will be a free state in which the rights of citizens will be guaranteed". 

"Let me once again call on you to unite around the national platform for Macedonian, national unity, which will define the Macedonian state, the red, the national lines, because our dream for the fourth Ilinden is a free, developed, equal, European Macedonia. And, in order to achieve that, in order to join Europe with our heads held high, with protected national identity, centuries-old history, rich tradition and an extraordinarily important Macedonian language, we must unite and say - yes, we are ready to organize the fourth Ilinden in the name of all the victims, in the name of Krushevo and in the name of ASNOM. Long live Ilinden, long live our Macedonia," Bendevska said. 

Several delegations from the Parliament, a government delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Inter-Community Relations, Ivan Stoiljkovic, a delegation from President's Office, as well as delegations from the Alliance of NOB Fighters and their supporters, the Army, the local self-governments of the municipalities of Kumanovo and Staro Nagorichane, political parties, the diplomatic corps, civic associations and citizens laid flowers at Saturday's event commemorating the 81st anniversary of the first ASNOM Session at the ASNOM Memorial Center in Pelince.

Photo: MIA