Krushevo, 2 August 2025 (MIA)

Elizabeta MITRESKA

Elena Guli is the direct descendant of revolutionary Pitu Guli, granddaughter of the youngest of the voivode's four children; as is Trajko Karev, one of the four grandsons of the Krushevo Republic president Nikola Karev's oldest brother. In the eighth and ninth decades of their lives, the two live with the stories and with pride of their ancestors.

Elena Guli, the 85-year-old granddaughter of Pitu Guli's youngest son, Sterju, and the only, as she says, direct descendant of the great voivode’s "blood", wanted to tell us her story at the Mechkin Kamen site. Exactly at the place where her celebrated grandfather took his last breath. Although, in reality, the real battle was at least 500 meters further away from today's monument.

As Elena begins recounting the story of her grandfather, Pitu Guli, she notes the fact that there was almost no one to tell her the stories about her grandfather. She lost her father at the age of four, and she heard about her grandfather mostly from the family of her grandmother, Pitu Guli's wife. 

Elena is certain of one thing: her legendary grandfather was a spirited hero, committed to the ideals of a free Macedonia, and all the sacrifices were precisely because of that.

“My first memories of my grandfather, Pitu Guli, are from what I’ve been told, a little bit by my mother, and mostly by my grandmother's family, or more specifically by the family of my grandfather Pitu Guli’s wife. My grandmother came from the Telje family. My grandfather, Pitu Guli, was married there. They told me that there was no greater hero in Macedonia than my grandfather. The family was disappointed that he had left them and died,” says Elena Guli.

Pitu Guli has had a turbulent life. He had spent seven years in a Turkish prison in Anatolia. He suffered the consequences of the shackles on his legs for the rest of his life. No one could notice his injured legs when he was mounted on a horse. 

He was tireless and always on the move. He impelled the people of all of Macedonia, urging them, persuading and calling on them not to tolerate, and rise up against the Turkish oppression. 

“He was a man of great courage. He was not afraid of anything. He travelled across Macedonia, joined every fight, organized groups, young people… He took off his clothes to give them to the poor. He gathered weapons, gathered insurgents. From the Shtip region, from the Veles region, from all sides and villages,” Elena Guli says with pride.

The turning point came after he met with Goce Delchev in the Shtip region, who realized that Pitu Guli was "born to be" a voivode in Krushevo. 

“My grandfather could never tolerate the oppression by the Turks. The only thing that mattered to him was that Macedonia was free. When he returned from prison, he continued his revolutionary movement. He joined insurgent forces in Veles. He went everywhere, he fought, and was not afraid of anything. At that time, he met Goce Delchev several times. In the Shtip region. Goce Delchev had heard about him and called him. He said - if anyone should be a voivode, it is Pitu Guli – in Krushevo,” Elena Guli says.

Elena firmly defends her grandfather's position to spark off the early uprising, instead of waiting until later, which, according to her, was advocated for by Nikola Karev. But once the decision was made that there would be an uprising, the two worked relentlessly on it.

“Frankly, I think Pitu was right about the uprising. If it hadn't been for that, Macedonia wouldn't have had a Republic. There were a lot of Turks. Barracks. A lot of oppression. What choice did they have? To rise up! And that's how the first Republic in the Balkans was founded,” says Elena.  

She admits that her grandfather was a spirited man. “I'm like him, too,” she says with a smile. “Everything he had, he gave to others.” 

“He occasionally saw his wife and children. But he was committed to the revolution. He “gathered” insurgents from villages and families. While touring the villages, he saw that in the village of Sveta there was a Turk who committed atrocities. He had ruled the village. Pitu killed him and took his clothes,” Elena recounts the stories she was told about her grandfather. 

Her favourite story is when Pitu Guli visited the Zerdevci family in Kichevo, where he left three rifles as a legacy for the sons to continue in his footsteps.

Elena Guli says she has been fighting like her grandfather all her life. To get by. Together with the descendants.

“My grandfather knew that he would die for Macedonia. His children, too, did not want to sit at home doing nothing. They fought. My grandfather wholeheartedly believed in the liberation of Macedonia. I am very proud of that. I carry the last drop of Pitu Guli’s blood. Whoever may come, I am the heir of Pitu Guli. And my entire family. I am proud of that. And I ask nothing from no one,” says the only living direct descendant of voivode Pitu Guli, concluding the conversation with a sense of pride.

Elena Guli is gratified with the respect her family has. Her grandfather is in the national anthem. She urges young people to stay in Macedonia.  

“All my children are in Macedonia. All descendants of voivode Pitu Guli seek happiness in their homeland,” says Elena Guli with pride. “That’s how it should be with all others,” she tells us as we stand at the foot of the monument under the blazing sun whose rays have neither missed Krushevo. We head towards the town. Behind us remains the Mechkin Kamen site and the great battle that was fought here. Glory to the heroes!