Variko (, before 1926: Μόκραινα – Mokraina;
History
The village was first mentioned in an Ottoman
defter of 1481, under the name of
Mokreni, and was described as having sixty-nine households.
In the beginning of 19th century Francois Pouqueville noted
Mocrena as one of the Bulgarian villages in the region.
[ Pouqueville, F.C.H.L. Travels in Epirus, Albania, Macedonia, and Thessaly, London 1820, p.88] The population of Mocreni was Bulgarian in 19th and early 20th centuries. The population of the village was under the supremacy of the Bulgarian Exarchate since 1891.
[Шопов, Атанас. Из живота и положението на българите във вилаетите, Пловдив, Търговска печатница, 1893, стр. 232 - 233.]
The village was burned by the Ottomans during the Ilinden Uprising.[ Brailsford, Henri N. Macedonia: Its races and their future, London, 1906. p. 216, Rappoport Alfred. Au pays des martyrs. Notes et souvenirs d'un ancien Consul Général d'Autriche-Hongrie en Macédoine (1904-1909), Paris 1927; in Bulgarian - Рапопорт, Алфред. В страната на мъчениците, София 2002] There was a Bulgarian school in the village in the beginning of the 20th century.[ D.M. Brancoff. La Macedoine et sa Population Chretienne. Paris, 1905, pp. 180-181.] After the Treaty of Bucharest in 1913, when the area became part of Greece, many people emigrated to Bulgaria. The village was renamed Variko in 1926.
After the defeat of Greece by Nazi Germany in April 1941 in the village was formed a club of the Bulgaro-Macedonian Central Committee and in 1943 a detachment of the Bulgarian paramilitary organization Ohrana.[ Добрин Мичев. Българското национално дело в Югозападна Македония (1941 – 1944 г.)] The village suffered greatly during the Greek Civil War, when many villagers emigrated abroad.
Notable persons
-
Nikola Andreev, ( 1879 - 1911) - Bulgarian teacher and voivode
[Николов, Борис Й. Вътрешна Македоно-Одринска революционна организация. Войводи и ръководители. биографично-библиографски справочник. София 2001, с. 9 (Nikolov, Boris. Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Organization. Voivodes and Leaders. Biographical and Bibliographical Reference Book. Sofia 2001, p. 9).]
-
Nikola Milev, ( 1881-1925) - Bulgarian historian
[Чолов, Петър. Български историци. Биографично-библиографски справочник. София 1999, с. 182 (Cholov, Petar. Bulgarian Historians, Biographical and Bibliographical Reference Book. Sofia 1999, p. 182); Марков, Георги. Покушения, насилие и политика в България 1878-1947. София 2003, c. 216-218 (Markov, Georgi. Attempts, Violence and Politics in Bulgaria 1878-1947. Sofia 2003, pp. 216-218).]
Demographics
According to the 2021 census, the population of Variko was 508 people.
[ Today, the village has a mixed population of Greeks and Slav Macedonians (around 11,7%).][ In the 2014 European elections in Greece, 82 people from Variko voted for the Rainbow Party, which represents the ethnic Macedonian minority in Greece.]
Literature
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"Мокрени (моето родно село)" A book by Anastas Simeonov, the son of the revolutionary Simeon Krstev Siin, about the history of Mokreni (his home village) - In Bulgarian. 1931
Notes
