The Macedonian Bulgarian and chairman of the Association "Horizons" - Ohrid Lyupcho Kurtelov was honored as Awakener of the Year for 2024, BGNES reportеd.
Kurtelov said that he heard the truth about his Bulgarian roots from his father - about the Macedonian revivalists, about the Bulgarian fighters against the Ottoman rule, about the Battle of Slivnitsa, about the Balkan Wars.
"He kept telling me that we should be proud to be Bulgarians and we have no right to give up what our ancestors were. And these are Dimitar Miladinov - great-grandfather of my grandmother Kate from Struga, Stefan Kurtelov, who was wounded in the battle of Rashanets and committed suicide to avoid falling into the hands of the Turks, Angel Kurtelov, a member of IMRO, who unfortunately became a victim of the fratricidal conflicts in Bulgaria. But a saying of ours says: "It's not the grandfather that is important, it's the work," he said.
The awarding of the prize was realized for the fourth consecutive year on the initiative of the Embassy of Bulgaria in North Macedonia and the Bulgarian Cultural Centre in Skopje.
BGNES reminds that Lyupcho Kurtelov is a descendant of the revivalist Miladinov brothers - Bulgarian educationalists born in the town of Struga near Lake Ohrid. During the Renaissance they protected the rich cultural heritage of the Bulgarian people through the collection "Bulgarian Folk Songs", first published in 1861. Their enlightenment activities and the fight against Hellenization preserved their names - Dimitar, Naum and Konstantin - in golden letters in Bulgarian history. | BGNES
