Gordana Siljanovska‑Davkova: State faces a historic test, generations must continue the pursuit
On 23 October the president appealed to honour revolutionary generations and to continue their quest for a prosperous Macedonian state.
Gordana Siljanovska‑Davkova marked 23 October by urging remembrance of the generations who laid the foundations of the Macedonian state and by warning that the country faces a "historic test." In a message published for the anniversary, she called on current generations to carry forward predecessors' efforts toward a prosperous Macedonian state.
"We cannot celebrate statehood while forgetting their sacrifice," Siljanovska‑Davkova said.
In her statement the president emphasized the continuity between earlier freedom struggles and the partisans and their descendants, saying that the sacrifice of those who fought for a national state must not be overlooked.
"Partisans and we, their descendants, do not call upon the Ilinden Uprising and the komiti by chance. Moreover, we cannot speak of the liberation of the fatherland while silencing or neglecting the self‑sacrifice of those who, with superhuman effort, tried but failed to realize the dream of a national state. We cannot celebrate statehood while forgetting the selflessness of the generations who struck its foundations and embedded their lives in them," she said, adding that understanding the present is impossible without knowledge of and respect for the ideals and historical steps that shaped Macedonian national consciousness.
Siljanovska‑Davkova recalled the foundation of the Macedonian Revolutionary Organization in 1893 as a turning point. "With the founding of the Macedonian Revolutionary Organization in 1893, the most conscious Macedonian activists poured the age‑long thirst and desire for freedom into organized action, and the aspiration for distinctiveness into a decisive struggle to the death for their own state. In turbulent historical times and difficult circumstances, driven by Macedonian defiance and the vital need for a decent human life, they paved the way of the Macedonian revolutionary struggle," she said.
She argued that commemorating the work of the revolutionaries only has meaning if the values they fought for are preserved and translated into justice, solidarity and devotion to the common good.
Concluding her message, Siljanovska‑Davkova warned that the state once again faces an historic trial and insisted that present generations are obliged to continue the predecessors' striving for a prosperous Macedonian state.
Photo: press material from the event
