Jovan Ćirković ( sr-cyr, Јован Ћирковић; 1871 – 1928), known as Čifa (Чифа) or Ćirko-paša (Ћирко-паша), was a Serbian teacher, revolutionary (Chetnik) during the

Macedonian Struggle The Macedonian Struggle was a series of social, political, cultural and military conflicts that were mainly fought between Greek and Bulgarian subjects who lived in Ottoman Macedonia between 1893 and 1912. From 1904 to 1908 the conflict was p ...

, and politician.

Life

Ćirković was born in

Pljevlja Pljevlja (, ) is a town located in the Northern Montenegro, Northern Region of Montenegro, situated along Ćehotina, Ćehotina river. The town lies at an altitude of . In the Middle Ages, Pljevlja had been a crossroad of the important commercial ...

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

(now

Montenegro , image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg , coa_size = 80 , national_motto = , national_anthem = () , image_map = Europe-Mont ...

), into a Serbian Orthodox family. He finished primary school in his hometown. He graduated from the Teacher's College of the Society of Saint Sava in 1891, and worked as a teacher in the surroundings of Pljevlja, in

Kumanovo Kumanovo ( ; , sq-definite, Kumanova; also known by other #Etymology, alternative names) is the second-largest city in North Macedonia after the capital Skopje and the seat of Kumanovo Municipality, the List of municipalities in the Republic ...

Tetovo Tetovo (, ; , sq-definite, Tetova) is a city in the northwestern part of North Macedonia, built on the foothills of Šar Mountain and divided by the Pena (river), Pena River. The municipality of Tetovo covers an area of at above sea level, wit ...

Skoplje Skopje ( , ; ; , sq-definite, Shkupi) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It lies in the northern part of the country, in the Skopje Valley along the Vardar River, and is the political, economic, and cultural center of t ...

, Veles and

Prilep Prilep ( ) is the List of cities in North Macedonia, fourth-largest city in North Macedonia. According to 2021 census, it had a population of 63,308. Name The name of Prilep appeared first as ''Πρίλαπος'' in Greek (''Prilapos'') in 1 ...

. He was also a superintendent and inspector of Serbian schools in the

Manastir Vilayet The Vilayet of Manastir () was a first-level administrative division (vilayet) of the Ottoman Empire, created in 1874, dissolved in 1877 and re-established in 1879. The vilayet was occupied during the First Balkan War in 1912 and divided between t ...

(

Bitola Bitola (; ) is a city in the southwestern part of North Macedonia. It is located in the southern part of the Pelagonia valley, surrounded by the Baba, Nidže, and Kajmakčalan mountain ranges, north of the Medžitlija-Níki border crossing ...

). Since 1901 he was secretary of the Patriarchatic Veles-Debar bishop Polikarp. In 1903, he and Aleksa Jovanović-Kodža established the Bitola Board of the

Serbian Chetnik Organization The Serbian Revolutionary Organization () or Serbian Chetnik Organization (Српска четничка организација / Srpska četnička organizacija) was a paramilitary revolutionary organization with the aim of liberation of Old Se ...

, in which he would have the task of forming, supplying, managing and coordination of Serb bands (''četa'') in the Bitola Vilayet. After the

Young Turk Revolution The Young Turk Revolution (July 1908; ) was a constitutionalist revolution in the Ottoman Empire. Revolutionaries belonging to the Internal Committee of Union and Progress, an organization of the Young Turks movement, forced Sultan Abdul Hamid II ...

(1908), he became the president of the

Serb National Board The Serb National Board () was a political organization of Serbs of Vojvodina that had formed the short-lived provinces of Serbian Vojvodina in 1848 and Banat, Bačka and Baranja Banat, Bačka and Baranya ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Bana ...

of the Manastir Vilayet, a post he held until 1910 when he was appointed head of the Serbian National Office in Istanbul. After the

Balkan Wars The Balkan Wars were two conflicts that took place in the Balkans, Balkan states in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan states of Kingdom of Greece (Glücksburg), Greece, Kingdom of Serbia, Serbia, Kingdom of Montenegro, M ...

, he became the head of the Ohrid Oblast (region), and after the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, the head of the Oblast of Bitola (1918). He was an MP from 1920 to 1927 in the Bitola Okrug.

References

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ćirković, Jovan 1871 births 1928 deaths 19th-century Serbian people 20th-century Serbian people Serbian rebels Serbian educators Serbian politicians Serbian military leaders Serbs of North Macedonia