Andon Kyoseto

Andon Lazov Yanev (; 1855 – 10 September 1953), nicknamed Kyoseto, was a Bulgarian revolutionary and a member of the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization (IMARO). His persona has been controversial in North Macedonia, where he has been depicted as a mass murderer in the media, while other people have regarded him favorably.

Biography

Early years

Andon Kyoseto was born in 1855 in the village of Golozinci in the Ottoman Empire. Kyoseto did not go to school as there was no school in his village. He worked as a shepherd from an early age. His friends gave him the nickname Kyose. His father Lazo Yanev was a tenant farmer, while his mother Maria Yaneva was from the village Lisice. His father was imprisoned by the Ottomans for three years and the family moved to Veles. His father was released after serving his term and died a week after his release. The burden to provide for the family fell on his mother and uncle. His uncle sent Kyoseto to work as a servant for a family. Kyoseto attacked a Turk in self-defense and fled to Thessaloniki. After hearing about his arrival, Dame Gruev sent a representative to contact Kyoseto. Kyoseto was sworn into the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization (IMARO) and his first assignment was to kill a Greek person, which he did. After a Turk insulted him and others in an establishment, Kyoseto ended up murdering him. He was brought in before Gruev, who scolded him for the murder and advised him not to act on his own. After that incident, he worked with direct instructions from Gruev.

In Thessaloniki, he was the cabman of the president of the Central Committee of IMARO, Hristo Tatarchev, earning an excuse for freedom of movement around the city. At that time, his brother Nikola, who came to Thessaloniki, placed himself in the service of the Ottoman authorities. Kyoseto arranged the killing of his brother at the hands of his associates. He also participated in the killing of the Serbian teacher Peychinovich in Thessaloniki. Kyoseto killed the pro-Greek and pro-Serbian Tsitso from Gevgelija. Kyoseto claimed that he and his men killed 30-40 Turkish and Romani charcoal burners in the vicinity of the village Huma, but the event has not been mentioned in memoirs of contemporaries, reports by authorities and diplomats. Per Vančo Gjorgjiev, Kyoseto made up the event in 1931 to impress the readers of his memoirs. but the bey managed to escape. In November 1899, he and Popeto, along with their friends, killed a Patriarchist priest from Grčište. After the Valandovo affair in December 1899, he was appointed as a regional voivode in Gevgelija as Popeto had to move around as an instructor. His revolutionary band got arrested in Bulgaria in 1902, but they were released. After the First World War, Kyoseto settled in Gorna Dzhumaya (modern Blagoevgrad). On 10 September 1953, he died in Blagoevgrad. For the 65th anniversary of the Ilinden Uprising, in 1968, the fragment about the journey with Gyorche Petrov's detachment from Bulgaria to Prilep was published in Sofia. Another fragment of his memoirs was published in 1981. The complete memoirs were published in Bulgaria in 2003 for the 100th anniversary of the Ilinden Uprising, in the book titled Macedonia in Flames. In 2014, his memoirs were also published in Republic of Macedonia (now North Macedonia). Some Macedonian historians, such as Vančo Gjorgјiev and Nikola Žežov, have criticized the diminishment of his image in the media. VMRO-DPMNE and then Macedonian prime minister Nikola Gruevski attempted to construct his persona as a national symbol through the placement of a monument in the capital, the commissioning of a new wax figure in the Museum of the Macedonian Struggle, and through the filming of a documentary film about him, which was broadcast on the public service during the election silence before the early parliamentary elections in December 2016.

Monuments Strumica monument The first monument honoring him was placed in the city park of Strumica in 1978. It is a part of three piece monument platou, in which the author Boris Krstevski represented the trial of Nazlam (the son of the Bey of Strumica). Gotse Delcev is depicted in a dominant role, who has the final words in the trial and Kyoseto is carefully listening to his words. This monument was part of the manifestation, celebrating 75 years of the Ilinden Uprising.

Skopje monument The Supreme Court in Skopje in 2015. On the left is the monument of Kyoseto, where it was placed Between 6 and 7 September 2014 on the eve of Independence Day on 8 September, a monument honoring him was set up at the Supreme Court in Skopje as part of the Skopje 2014 project, donated by the Association for the Spiritual Unification of Setinci, Popadinci and Krushoradi. Kyoseto was described as a mass murderer in the media. The monument provoked controversies among the Macedonian public, with some people regarding him as a hero and others as a controversial killer. Popovski argued that a monument honoring him does not belong in Skopje as he does not have any deserved rank for the capital. This was one of the first steps in the successive removal of monuments from the project, a decision taken in 2017 by the new government of the country. The local government of the Municipality of Sopište considered requesting the monument for its municipality from the association which donated the monument. The monument was stored in a warehouse.

In April 2023, mayor of Skopje Danela Arsovska announced intentions to reinstate the monument. At the same time, the party The Left made an initiative for the return of his monument in the park in Gorno Lisiče, which was endorsed by the council of the Municipality of Aerodrom. In August 2023, Arsovska submitted an initiative for the return of the monument in a new location. Тhe proposal to return the monument was opposed by the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia, which regards Kyoseto as "one of the biggest murderers of the Macedonian people." In December 2023, the council of the City of Skopje approved the initiative to return the monument. The monument was returned on 28 July 2025 in front of a hotel.