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'''Georgi Nikolov Delchev''' ([[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]]/[[Macedonian language|Macedonian]]: Георги/Ѓорѓи Николов Делчев; 4 February 1872 – 4 May 1903), known as '''Gotse Delchev''' or '''Goce Delčev''' (''Гоце Делчев'', originally spelled in [[Reforms of Bulgarian orthography|older Bulgarian orthography]] as ''Гоце Дѣлчевъ''),<ref>Гоце Дѣлчевъ. Биография. П.К. Яворовъ, 1904.</ref> was an important [[Macedonian Bulgarians|Macedonian Bulgarian]] revolutionary ([[komitadji]]),<ref group="note">Per Julian Allan Brooks' thesis the term ‘Macedo-Bulgarian’ refers to the Exarchist population in Macedonia which is alternatively called ‘Bulgarian’ and ‘Macedonian’ in the documents. For more see: Managing Macedonia: British Statecraft, Intervention and 'Proto-peacekeeping' in Ottoman Macedonia, 1902-1905. Department of History, Simon Fraser University, 2013, p. 18. The designation ‘Macedo-Bulgarian’ is used also by M. Şükrü Hanioğlu and Ryan Gingeras. See: M. Şükrü Hanioğlu, Preparation for a Revolution: The Young Turks, 1902-1908 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), 244; Ryan Gingeras, “A Break in the Storm: Reconsidering Sectarian, Violence in Ottoman Macedonia During the Young Turk Revolution” The MIT Electronic Journal of Middle East Studies 3 (Spring 2003): 1. Gingeras notes he uses the hyphenated term to refer to those who “professed an allegiance to the Bulgarian Exarch.” Mehmet Hacısalihoğlu has used in his study "Yane Sandanski as a political leader in Macedonia in the era of the Young Turks" the terms Bulgarians-Macedonians and Bulgarian Macedonians; (Cahiers balkaniques [En ligne], 40, 2012, Jeunes-Turcs en Macédoine et en Ionie).</ref><ref group = "note">Per [[Loring Danforth]]'s article about the IMRO in [[Encyclopedia Britannica Online]], its leaders, including Delchev, had a dual identity - ''Macedonian regional'' and ''Bulgarian national''. According to [[Paul Robert Magocsi]] in many circumstances this might seem a normal phenomenon, such as by the residents of the pre–World War II Macedonia, who identified as a ''Macedonian and Bulgarian (or "Macedono-Bulgarian")''. Per Bernard Lory there were two different kinds of Bulgarian identity at the early 20th century: the first kind was a vague form that grew up during the 19th century [[Bulgarian National Revival]] and united most of the Macedonian and other Slavs in the Ottoman Empire. The second kind Bulgarian identity was the more concrete and strong and promoted by the authorities in Sofia among the Bulgarian population. Per Julian Allan Brooks' thesis there were some indications to suggest the existence of inchoate Macedonian national identity then, however the evidence is rather fleeting. For more see: Paul Robert Magocsi, Carpathian Rus': Interethnic Coexistence without Violence, p. 453, in Shatterzone of Empires: Coexistence and Violence in the German, Habsburg, Russian, and Ottoman Borderlands with editors, Omer Bartov, Eric D. Weitz, Indiana University Press, 2013, {{ISBN|0253006317}}, pp. 449-462.</ref><ref group = "note">Per [[John Van Antwerp Fine]] until the late 19th century both outside observers and those Macedonian Bulgarians who had an ethnic consciousness believed that their group, which is now two separate nationalities, comprised a single people, the Bulgarians. According to [[Loring M. Danforth]] at the end of the World War I there were very few historians or ethnographers, who claimed that a separate Macedonian nation existed. It seems most likely that at this time many of the Slavs of Macedonia in rural areas, had not yet developed a firm sense of national identity at all. Of those who had developed then some sense of national identity, the majority considered themselves to be Bulgarians... The question as of whether a Macedonian nation actually existed in the 1940s when a Communist Yugoslavia decided to recognize one is difficult to answer. Some observers argue that even at this time it was doubtful whether the Slavs from Macedonia considered themselves to be a nationality separate from the Bulgarians. Per Stefan Troebst Macedonian nation, language, literature, history and church were not available in 1944, but since the creation of the Yugoslav Macedonia they were accomplished in a short time. For more, see: "The Early Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Sixth to the Late Twelfth Century," University of Michigan Press, 1991, {{ISBN|0472081497}}, pp. 36–37; One Macedonia With Three Faces: Domestic Debates and Nation Concepts, in Intermarium; Columbia University; Volume 4, No. 3 (2000–2001), pp. 7-8; The Macedonian conflict: ethnic nationalism in a transnational world, Princeton University Press, 1997, {{ISBN|0-691-04356-6}}, pp. 65-66.</ref><ref group = "note">Today, Delchev's identity is the subject of a dispute between Bulgaria and North Macedonia. According to the Bulgarian historian Stefan Dechev, who often has criticized the official Bulgarian historiography on the [[Macedonian issue]], and this gave him a sympathy in North Macedonia, the Macedonian side wants to emphasize the work of Delchev and especially its importance from today perspective. This stems from the fundamental historical myth built on him in Communist Yugoslavia. It is about the desire to keep the [[nation building]] [[delusion]], that in Delchev's time, there was already formed Macedonian national identity, and to preserve the image of Bulgaria as a [[demonized]] enemy. Nonetheless, there was really a [[Regionalism (politics)|regional]] Macedonian [[political identity]] then, and there is evidence of its opposition to the Bulgarian state sponsored nationalist propaganda. However ethnically, all the leaders and the activists of the IMRO at that time were Bulgarians. On the other side, is the unacceptable position of the Bulgarian historians, who insist that there is no need to determine exactly what complex identity Delchev really had, given that he was ethnically a Bulgarian. For more see: [https://www.marginalia.bg/avtorski-rubriki/stefan-dechev-balgarskata-i-makedonskata-interpretatsii-na-dokumentite-za-gotse-delchev-sa-koristni-i-neprofesionalni/ Стефан Дечев: Българската и македонската интерпретации на документите за Гоце Делчев са користни и непрофесионални, Marginalia, 14.09.2019]; [https://www.mkd.mk/makedonija/politika/bugarskiot-istorichar-dechev-makedonskiot-jazik-ne-mozhe-da-bide-samo-ednostaven Бугарскиот историчар Дечев: Македонскиот јазик не може да биде само едноставен дијалект или регионална форма. Дек. 16, 2019, МКД.мк.]</ref> active in the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]]-ruled [[Region of Macedonia|Macedonia]] and [[Adrianople Thrace|Adrianople]] regions at the turn of the 20th century.<ref>Keith Brown, The Past in Question: Modern Macedonia and the Uncertainties of Nation, Princeton University Press, 2018, {{ISBN|0691188432}}, p. 174; Bernard Lory, The Bulgarian-Macedonian Divergence, An Attempted Elucidation, INALCO, Paris in Developing Cultural Identity in the Balkans: Convergence Vs. Divergence with Raymond Detrez and Pieter Plas as ed., Peter Lang, 2005, {{ISBN|9052012970}}, pp. 165-193.</ref><ref>The Making of a New Europe: R.W. Seton-Watson and the Last Years of Austria-Hungary, Hugh Seton-Watson, Christopher Seton-Watson, Methuen, 1981, {{ISBN|0416747302}}, p. 71.</ref><ref>Dimitar Bechev, Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Macedonia, Scarecrow Press, 2009, {{ISBN|0810862956}}, p. VII.</ref> He was the most prominent leader of what is known today as the [[Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization]] (IMRO), a secret revolutionary society<ref>Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization, written by [[Loring Danforth]], [https://www.britannica.com/topic/Internal-Macedonian-Revolutionary-Organization an article in Encyclopedia Britannica Online.]</ref> that was active in Ottoman territories in the [[Balkans]] at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century.<ref>{{cite book
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