Revolutionary Petar Samardzhiev

Petar (Pesho) Samardzhiev was a Bulgarian revolutionary and Tikvesh voivode of the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organisation.

He was born in 1877 in the small town of Negotino in Tikvesh, or in 1878 in Podles. He received his primary education in Bulgarian schools and continued his studies at the Samokov Metalworking School. There he became an IMARO member and joined the Trayko Kitanchev Secret Revolutionary Circle. In 1901 — 1902 he participated in the attempt to capture the bey of Gorna Dzhumaya for ransom and worked as a maker of bombs and infernal machines.

During the Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising, Samardzhiev was voivode of the Tikvesh detachment within Hristo Chernopeev's force and fought near the village of Vitosha and at Novo Selo in the Kochani district. After the uprising's defeat, he became Tikvesh district voivode and attended IMARO's Prilep Congress in May 1904 as a delegate.

In June 1905 Samardzhiev entered Macedonia again with a detachment, fighting in the Strumitsa and Tikvesh districts. He clashed with Ottoman military units and captured the kaymakam of Tikvesh, the Albanian Ibrahim Agha, whom he hanged. This act brought a bounty of 500 liras on his head.

On 21 June 1906 Samardzhiev fell into an ambush by Ottoman troops and died in the battle. Ivan Hadzhinikolov Stefanov was one of his fighters. A monument to Samardzhiev stands in the town of Demir Kapija in recognition of his contribution to the struggle for Macedonia's freedom.