The first President of independent Macedonia Kiro Gligorov will be laid to rest on Tuesday at 13:00 hours in the Arbored Walk of the Greats at Butel Cemetery in Skopje.
The Government of Macedonia Monday held session and reached decision to declare Tuesday (Jan. 3) a day of mourning following the death of Kiro Gligorov.
Commemorative sessions will be held in the Macedonian Parliament and SDSM HQ.
President Gjorge Ivanov, PM Nikola Gruevski, Parliament Speaker Trajko Veljanoski and foreign politicians sent condolence letters to family of Kiro Gligorov.
Kiro Gligorov died Sunday evening in Skopje. He was 94. Born on 3 May 1917 in Stip, Gligorov served two presidential terms between 1991 and 1999. On 27 January 1991, he was elected president of the Republic of Macedonia by the Parliament. He secured his second mandate at presidential elections held in 1994. Gligorov was at the helm of the country until 1999.
After retiring, Kiro Gligorov was active as an author. He penned several books - "Macedonia Is All We Have" (2001), "Assassination - Day After" (2002), "Turbulent Times: The Republic of Macedonia a Reality in the Balkans" (2004) and "All Yugoslav (Economic) Reforms" (2006). He also founded the Kiro Gligorov Foundation.
Kiro Gligorov was the oldest Macedonian politician. Upon completing his second presidential term in 1999, he was 82. In 2000, he entered the Guinness Book of Records for being the oldest head of state in the world.
In 1991, he was at the helm of the country as it was gaining independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in which Gligorov held high-ranking posts. On 8 April 1993, Gligorov addressed the United Nations in Macedonian for the first time as the country became the 181st UN member.
On 3 October 1995, Gligorov survived an assassination attempt after a car-bomb exploded in Skopje's downtown. Neither its masterminds nor its perpetrators have been found yet.
He is the first recipient of The Order of the Republic of Macedonia in 2005.
bsanna.news
