Georgi Izmirliev

The April Uprising of 1876 was an organized web of insurrections organized by Bulgarians against the Ottoman Empire. The attempt for an uprising in the Blagoevgrad region failed because of a betrayal. An important figure for Blagoevgrad, however, is Georgi Izmirliev. He was born here in 1851, studied here, and then moved to Tsarigrad to teach. At that time all Bulgarian teachers were inspired by Vasil Levski’s idea for a massive uprising. So he moved to Odessa and enrolled in military school. There, he was visited by one of the most respected BG revolutionaries, Hristo Botev, who convinced him to join one of the committees. There, he was appointed as an assistant to Stefan Stambolov in Gyurgevo. He traveled around villages in what is today the northern Bulgarian region and created revolutionary committees. He was only 25 years old when he was betrayed and imprisoned. He was hanged in Gorna Oryahovica in May 1876 and he remained in history as the forever young apostle. Today you can visit his house in the old neighborhood of Varosha near the center of Blagoevgrad.