Goce Delčev (Гоце Делчев, also transliterated Gotze Delchev and Gotse Delchev; 1872-1903) was a Bulgarian revolutionary, leader of the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organisation (IMARO), the predecessor to the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) (which came to being after WWI).

Born on January 23, 1872 in Kukush (now Kilkis, Aegean Macedonia, now nothern Greece), Delcev finished the local junior high school and the Bulgarian gymnasium "St Cyril and Methodius" in Solun Thessaloniki. He entered the Military academy in Sofia in 1891 but was expelled because he was a member of a socialist circle. Delchev became a teacher in Bulgarian in Stip in 1894.

In 1895 Delcev collaborated to the foundation of IMARO in Thessaloniki. Delcev was a champion of Macedonian autonomy. He accepted and preached the principle "Macedonia for the Macedonians" opposing the attempts of Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece to annex Macedonian land.

The goal of IMARO while led by Delcev was to bring freedom to all Bulgarian, Greek, Serb, Turkish, Vlach, Albanian or Jewish (Ladino) - by means of an internal insurrection in Macedonia.

Delcev died on May 4, 1903 in a skirmish with the Turkish police near the village of Banitza, Serres region while preparing the Ilinden uprising in Macedonia.

Text of Delcev's letter to Nikola Maleshevski

(2nd, 3rd and 4th sentence)

"Sofia, 01.05.1899, Kolyo, ... May the dissents and cleavages not frighten you. It is really a pity, but what can we possibly do when we ourselves are Bulgarians and all suffer from the same disease! If this disease had not existed in our forefathers who passed it on to us, we wouldn't have fallen under the ugly sceptre of the Turkish sultans..."

Text of the IMARO statute

"...Statute of Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organisation (amended at the general congress in 1906)

Chapter I. - Goal

Art. 1. - The goal of the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization is to unite any and all dissatisfied elements in Macedonia and the Adrianople Vilyaet without regard to their nationality so that political autonomy can be gained for these two regions..."

Quotes

• "I understand the world as a field for cutural competition among nations."