Revolutionary Hristo Sirakov

Hristo Ivanov Sirakov was a well-known Bulgarian military figure and activist in the Supreme Macedonian-Adrianople Committee. He was born in 1872 in the village of Kostel in the Elena district. His family had military traditions: his grandfather was the hajduk voivode Deli Dimo, and his father Kelesh Ivan had fought Turkish regular troops.

Hristo Sirakov began serving as a non-commissioned officer in the Bulgarian army and later joined the Supreme Macedonian-Adrianople Committee. In 1900 he was stationed in Tutrakan, where he became an active member of the local Macedonian society. In Ruse he was assigned to monitor and report on the activities of the town's Macedonian committee.

In 1902, during the Gorna Dzhumaya Uprising, Hristo Sirakov served as deputy voivode of the detachment organised by men from Elena, but by decision of the insurgent staff the detachment was disbanded and its soldiers joined other detachments.

Sirakov participated in various battles during the uprising, including at Zheleznitsa, Sarbinovo, Gradevo, Bistritsa, Chatal Tepe and Fakir Tepe. In the spring of 1903 General Tsonchev sent him to deliver mail to the voivode Todor Saev in the Gorna Dzhumaya district, after which he became secretary of Alekso Poroyliyata's detachment in the Poroy district.

Hristo Sirakov was one of the countless heroes of the Bulgarian people's struggle for freedom in the early twentieth century.