Revolutionary Atanas Gradoborliyata

Atanas Dimitrov Chopkov was a  Bulgarian revolutionary known by the nicknames Gradoborliyata  and Chopkata. He was involved in IMARO and the Supreme Macedonian-Adrianople Committee. 

He was born in 1860 in the village of Gradobor, then part of the Ottoman Empire and now Pentalofos, Greece. He was one of the veteran hajduks whom Gotse Delchev trusted in the early stages of strengthening IMARO. Chopkata served as a courier, worked as a member of the secret police and carried out terrorist operations for the organisation.

In 1895, he was arrested by the Ottoman authorities and imprisoned in Kanli Kule in Thessaloniki, but managed to escape after six months. From 1898, he served as a detachment member under Mihail Apostolov in the Gevgelija region and later became an independent voivode in his native Thessaloniki region. He participated in various uprisings and armed struggles, including the Gorna Dzhumaya Uprising.

Chopkata met a tragic end in May 1903, when he and his entire detachment, a total of 15 men, were poisoned by Greek supporters near his native village.