Yane Sandanski

Yane Ivanov Sandanski (Bulgarian: Яне Иванов Сандански, Macedonian: Јане Иванов Сандански, romanized: Jane Ivanov Sandanski; Originally spelled in older Bulgarian orthography as Яне Ивановъ Сандански (Yane Ivanov Sandanski); 18 May 1872 – 22 April 1915) was a Macedonian Bulgarian revolutionary and leader of the left-wing of the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organisation (IMARO).

In his youth Sandanski was involved in the anti-Ottoman struggle, joining initially the Supreme Macedonian-Adrianople Committee (SMAC), but later switched to IMARO. As an activist of the Liberal Party (Radoslavists), he became the head of the local prison in Dupnitsa. After the Ilinden uprising, Sandanski became the leader of the Serres revolutionary district. He supported the idea of a Balkan Federation, and Macedonia as an autonomous state within its framework, as an ultimate solution of the national problems in the area. During the Second Constitutional Era he became an Ottoman politician, collaborating with the Young Turks and founding the Bulgarian People's Federative Party. Sandanski took up arms on the side of Bulgaria during the Balkan Wars (1912–13). Afterwards, he became involved in Bulgarian public life again but was assassinated by the rivalling IMARO right-wing faction activists.

He is recognised as a national hero in both Bulgaria and North Macedonia, but his identity is also disputed between both countries. While People's Republic of Bulgaria honoured him, after the fall of communism he has been described by Bulgarian nationalist historians as a betrayer of the Bulgarian national interests and collaborator with the Turks. On the contrary, in North Macedonia, the positive connotation of him, created in the times of Communist Yugoslavia is still alive, and he has been portrayed there as a fighter against the "Bulgarian aspirations in Macedonia" and the "Turkish yoke."