Variko ( el, Βαρικό,

Bulgarian Bulgarian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria * Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group * Bulgarian language, a Slavic language * Bulgarian alphabet * A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria * Bul ...

/ mk, Мокрени) is a village and a former

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, tow ...

in Florina regional unit, West Macedonia,

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality

Amyntaio Amyntaio ( el, Αμύνταιο, before 1928: Σόροβιτς - ''Sorovits''; Bulgarian/ Macedonian: Суровичево, Сорович), is a town and municipality in the Florina regional unit of Macedonia, Greece. The population of Amyntaio p ...

, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 21.877 km². It is 27 km south-southeast of the city of Florina. The population in 2011 was 638. The village's primary agricultural products are beans, corn, and wheat. There is an annual bean festival on August 15, coinciding with the Dormition of Virgin.

History

The village was first mentioned in an Ottoman

defter A ''defter'' (plural: ''defterler'') was a type of tax register and land cadastre in the Ottoman Empire. Description The information collected could vary, but ''tahrir defterleri'' typically included details of villages, dwellings, household ...

of 1481, under the name of ''Mokreni'', and was described as having sixty-nine households. In the beginning of 19th century Francois Pouqueville noted ''Mocrena'' as one of the Bulgarian villages in the region. The population of Mocreni was

in 19th and early 20th centuries. The population of the village was under the supremacy of the

Bulgarian Exarchate The Bulgarian Exarchate ( bg, Българска екзархия, Balgarska ekzarhiya; tr, Bulgar Eksarhlığı) was the official name of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church before its autocephaly was recognized by the Ecumenical See in 1945 and th ...

since 1891. The village was burned by the Turks during the Ilinden Uprising. There was a Bulgarian school in the village in the beginning of the 20th century. After the Treaty of Bucharest in 1913, when the area became part of

, many people emigrated to

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

. The village was renamed Variko in 1926. After the defeat of Greece by Nazi Germany in April 1941 in the village was formed a club of the Bulgaro-Macedonian Central Committee and in 1943 a detachment of the Bulgarian paramilitary organization

Ohrana Ohrana ( bg, Охрана, "Protection"; ) were armed collaborationist detachments organized by the former Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) structures, composed of Bulgarians in Nazi-occupied Greek Macedonia during World War I ...

. The village suffered greatly during the

Greek Civil War The Greek Civil War ( el, ο Eμφύλιος �όλεμος ''o Emfýlios'' 'Pólemos'' "the Civil War") took place from 1946 to 1949. It was mainly fought against the established Kingdom of Greece, which was supported by the United Kingdom ...

, when many villagers emigrated abroad.

Notable persons

* Nikola Andreev, (''1879 - 1911'') - Bulgarian teacher and voivode * Nikola Milev, (''1881-1925'') - Bulgarian historian

Demographics

According to the 2011 census, the population of Variko was 638 people. Today, the village has a mixed population of

Greeks The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, oth ...

and Slav Macedonians (around 11,7%).In the 2014 European elections in Greece
82 people from Variko voted for the Rainbow Party, which represents the

ethnic Macedonian Macedonians ( mk, Македонци, Makedonci) are a nation and a South Slavic ethnic group native to the region of Macedonia in Southeast Europe. They speak Macedonian, a South Slavic language. The large majority of Macedonians identif ...

minority in Greece.

Literature

"Мокрени (моето родно село)"
A book by Anastas Simeonov, the son of the revolutionary Simeon Krstev Siin, about the history of Mokreni (his home village) - In Bulgarian. 1931

Notes

{{Amyntaio div Populated places in Florina (regional unit) Former municipalities in Western Macedonia Amyntaio