Veles, North Macedonia

Veles ( mk, Велес ) is a city in the central part of North Macedonia on the Vardar river. The city of Veles is the seat of Veles Municipality. Veles is the sixth largest Macedonian city with a total population of 43,716 (census 2002). The largest cities in the proximity of Veles are: Skopje - the capital and the largest city of North Macedonia - 54 km in the northwest direction, Štip 43 km to the east, Sveti Nikole 34 km to the northeast, Prilep 79 km in the southwest direction, and Kavadarci and Negotino 43 km and 40 km respectively to the southeast. Veles is on the crossroad of important international road and rail lines. For all these reasons, Veles is considered to have a good geolocation within North Macedonia.

Names

Throughout the history Veles had many names, out of which three are most important. Vilazora was initially the Paeonian city Bylazora from the period of early Classical Antiquity. The city's name was Βελισσός ''Velissos'' in Ancient Greek. Later in the history, as part of the Ottoman Empire it became a township (''kaza'') called Köprülü in the Üsküp ''sanjak'' (one of the administrative divisions of the Ottoman Empire). After the Ottoman rule, from 1929 to 1941, Veles was part of the Vardar Banovina of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. After World War II, the city was known as Titov Veles after Yugoslavian president Josip Broz Tito, but the 'Titov' was removed in 1996.

In Albanian it is known as ''Qyprill'', for the same reason as the Turkish variant. In Aromanian, the city is known as .

History

The area of present-day Veles has been inhabited for over a millennium. In antiquity, it was a Paionian city called Bylazora, and contained a substantial population of Thracians and possibly Illyrians. It was then part of the Byzantine Empire, and at times the First and Second Bulgarian Empire. It became part of the Kingdom of Serbia at the end of the 13th century, while during the Serbian Empire (1345–71) it was an estate of Jovan Oliver and subsequently the Mrnjavčević family until Ottoman annexation after the Battle of Rovine (1395). Before the Balkan Wars, it was a township (kaza) with the name ''Köprülü'', part of the Sanjak of Üsküp.Rahmi Tekin, Osmanli Atlasi, Istanbul 2003

During the Great Eastern Crisis, the local Bulgarian movement of the day was defeated when armed Bulgarian groups were repelled by the League of Prizren, an Albanian organisation opposing Bulgarian geopolitical aims in areas like Köprülü that contained an Albanian population.

Some identify Veles with the Velitza of which Saint Clement of Ohrid was bishop.

The ''Annuario Pontificio'' identifies Veles instead with the Diocese of Bela, a suffragan of the Metropolitan Latin Archdiocese of Achrida (Ohrid) in Bulgaria, and lists it, as no longer a residential diocese, among the Latin titular bishoprics. It is probably in Bosnia and Hercegovina (modern Velika?).

Veles made international news in 2016 when it was revealed that a group of teenagers in the city were controlling over 100 websites producing fake news articles in support of U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump, which were heavily publicised on the social media site Facebook.

Economy

Throughout North Macedonia Veles is known as an industrial center and recently, as a leader in the implementing of IT in the local administration in North Macedonia.

Geography

Veles is a municipality of 55,000 residents.veles.gov.mk

The geographic location of the city of Veles makes it suitable for hiking and camping, especially at the west side of the city. One such location is the tranquil village Bogomila. Nearby there is the man made lake Mladost, which is known as the city's recreational centre.

Climate

Media

Two TV stations operate in Veles - Channel 21 & Zdravkin - and many radio stations.

Sports

Veles has many sports teams, the most popular of which are :
* FK Borec, football
* FK Gemidžii, football
* FK Prevalec, football
* RK Borec, handball
* BK Borec, wrestling
*KK Unibasket, basketball

International relations

Twin towns – sister cities

Veles (city) is twinned with three other Balkanic towns :
* Samobor (Croatia)
* Slobozia (Romania)
* Užice (Serbia)
* Sombor (Serbia)
* Niš (Serbia)
* Nowogard (Poland)
* Ráckeve (Hungary)

Other forms of partnership :
* Pula (Croatia) (Document of friendship and cultural cooperation in 2002)

Notable locals

;History, royalty and politics
* Gheorghe Ghica, Prince of Moldavia
* Metodi Aleksiev, revolutionary
* Jovan Babunski, Chetnik vojvoda
* Panko Brashnarov, revolutionary
* Ilija Dimovski, former member of the Assembly of North Macedonia
* Igor Janusev, general secretary of VMRO-DPMNE, member of the Assembly of North Macedonia
* Vasil Glavinov, revolutionary
* Ivan Naumov, revolutionary
* Kole Nedelkovski

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