Revolutionary Yanaki Yanev

Yanaki (Naki) Yanev, called Lavchancheto and Kichevski, was a Bulgarian revolutionary and Kichevo voivode of the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organisation (IMARO).

He was born in the village of Lavchani in the Kichevo district, then part of the Ottoman Empire. In October 1897 he joined IMARO's first Kichevo detachment under Duko Tasev's leadership. In the summer of 1901 he arrived in Poreche, where he took command of a five-man detachment prepared by the Serbian propaganda movement. After meeting the Bitola leader Nikola Rusinski, who invited them to join the organisation, Yanaki Yanev and the second voivode Arso Mitskov accepted the offer and joined IMARO.

Yanaki Yanev became a voivode in the Debar district, and his fighters included his deputy Maksim Nenov, Pavel Karaasanov and Krastyo Asenov. He actively participated in the Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising, fighting a battle on Mount Dushegubitsa. After the uprising he continued operating as a voivode in the Debar district until 1907.

He then emigrated to Bulgaria and settled in Sofia for treatment. After the Young Turk Revolution he returned to Macedonia and participated in the First and Second Balkan Wars as a volunteer in the Macedonian-Adrianople Volunteer Corps. He received the Cross of Bravery, Fourth Class.

In 1917 he signed the Memorandum of Bulgarians from Macedonia dated 27 December 1917.