Draft:Rista Cvetkovic

Rista Cvetković

Rista Cvetković-Sušički (Serbian Cyrillic: Риста Цветковић-Сушички; c. 1870-1907) was a Serbian Chetnik freedom-fighter in the Macedonian Struggle. Cvetković was a Serbian kmet and voivode from the district of Poreče, who participated in many early battles against Serbian enemies of the time. He was a colleague of Micko Porečki and his assitant Zafir Premčević. He defended valiantly his native Poreče from all invaders, particularly the Bulgarian exarchists.

Biography

Rista Cvetković was born around 1870 in the Poreče district in Vardar Serbia, then  part of the Ottoman Empire, in a small Serbian village of Sušica, hence his nickname "Sušićki". He left for Poreče for Romania. He was employed as a migrant worker (pečelbar) for some time in Bucharest, as a baker (alvadji). There was political incident in which Ottoman citizens from Macedonia were involved or implicated and Rista Cvetković (along with others) was expelled from the country in 1900 following the "Stefan Mihailyanu affair". He returned to Poreče and, together with Zafir Premčević, led cheta armed groups around the region defending Serbian villages and towns from their sworn enemies for three years. They both participated with their chetas in the Ilinden Uprising in the summer of 1903 in Kičevo. After the uprising was quelled, the Poreče Chetas were disbanded and Cvetković retreated to Serbia.

In Belgrade in 1904, during the period when the armed wing of the Serbian Chetnik Organization was activated, Rista Cvetković was sent by the Serbian Chetnik Committee with the rank of voivode to his native Poreče, where he would join Micko Krstić.

Poreče

The presence of Serbian Chetniks in the villages of Poreče and Prilep in the middle of the summer of 1904 made life significantly easier for the local population. Mihailo Ristić prior to relinquishing his post of consul in Bitola to Svetislav Stanojević, he submitted a request in early 1903 that voivode Micko Krstićbe joined by another voivode when Chetnik action is launched in 1904. Consul Ristić named Rista Cvetković in case either one of them is killed, the other can always take over the leadership. That request was sent to Belgrade months in advance knowing the devious strategies that VMRO was planning and preparing to target Micko Krstić.

Rista Cvetković and Micko Krstić were the vojvodes for Poreče. The first success of the two četas came with the conflict against eight combined Bulgarian bands led by Dame Gruev, who sought to violently return the Poreče villages to the Bulgarian Exarchate and thereby strengthen the Bulgarian influence in those villages. The conflict took place near Slatine in Poreče on 5 October 1904. The Bulgarian bands were resting in a ravine following clashes with the Ottoman army at Movnatac, located at the entrance of Poreče. The Serbian Chetniks, numbering 40 fighters, silently surrounded them, and with a sudden raid, destroyed the five-times greater enemy. On that occasion, Bulgarian commander Đurčin and four Bulgarian fighters were killed, a large number were wounded, and the rest fled and scattered. Among the wounded were Dame Gruev, who Micko captured. On the orders of Interior Minister Nikola Pašić, Gruev was freed. He was escorted to the village of Solnje near Skoplje, from where he travelled to Sofia..

At the end of 1904, the old and exhausted Micko Krstić who was targetted by VMRO moved to Kragujevac, leaving Rista Cvetković and Zafir Premčević, his assistant, to head his cheta. (Micko Krstić was assassinated in Ižište, on the Brod–Kičevo road on 29 October 1909 by Bulgarian VMRO agents.)

Epidemic

In mid-1907, while staying in the district of Poreče, Rista Cvetković and Zafir Premčević led their cheta armed groups on patrol missions challenging punitive Turkish and Albanian companies as well as the ever-threatening VMRO terrorists when Rista suddenly fell ill. Cvetković contracted malaria and succumbed to the epidemic on 8 July 1907 in a Belgrade sanatorium while being treated.

At the close of the 20th century, malaria was a widespread and rampant, a lethal human infectious disease that remained endemic in all the regions of the far-flung Ottoman Empire if not the world. Cvetković was just one of many who contracted the virus.

Rista Cvetković was buried in the Belgrade New Cemetery.

Legacy

He is remembered as a Serbian Macedonian hero who fought for the liberation of Old Serbia and North Macedonia against Turks, Albanians and Bulgarians.

References

• Translated and adapted from Bulgarian Wikipedia:https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A5%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%81%D1%82%D0%BE_%D0%A6%D0%B2%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B2_%D0%A1%D1%83%D1%88%D0%B8%D1%87%D0%BA%D0%B8