Revolutionary Nikola Egriyski

Nikola (Kole) Egriyski was born in 1853 in Egri, near Bitola, then in the Ottoman Empire and now in North Macedonia. He became a prominent Bulgarian revolutionary and member of the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organisation (IMARO).

In 1902, he joined Todor Zlatkov's IMARO band in the Bitola region. He soon became an independent commander and was known as Dyado Kole or Kolyo.

As leader of a hajduk band, he carried out attacks against Ottoman authorities and their local establishments. In March 1904, he and two of his men were killed fighting Ottoman troops on Mount Petalino near Skochivir.

His sacrifice and commitment to liberating Bulgarian lands from Ottoman rule made him a symbol of the struggle for freedom and independence in the history of Macedonia and Bulgaria.