Ivan Naumov Alyabaka

Ivan Naumov Alyabaka
A photograph of Ivan Naumov Alyabaka
Born	Around 1870 Oraovec, today Republic of Macedonia
Died	August 24, 1907 Belica, today Republic of Macedonia
Organization	IMARO

Ivan Naumov (Bulgarian: Иван Наумов), nicknamed Alyabaka or Alyabako was a Macedono-Adrianopolitan revolutionary and freedom fighter from Bulgarian background, a member of the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization (IMARO).

Ivan Naumov was born in the village of Oraovec, Veles region, in a poor family. Because of the lack of finances, he was not able to study and went to work in Thessaloniki. There he learnt about the ideas of the revolutionary organization IMARO and in 1900 he was invited to join the organization by Mihail Apostolov Popeto. He worked as a grocer in Drama and Kavala.

Stoyan Avramov described Ivan Naumov as follows:

Alyabaka was a tall, broad-shouldered and strong man with a dark face and black hair, that made him appear as a Moor. This was the reason he was nicknamed "Alyabak". His look of an eagle, belligerent spirit, gait, courage, self-denial and faith in the cause, raised him in the eyes of his friends and opponents. During the battles, both with Turks and Serbs, he attacked like a furious lion, carrying his fellow freedom fighters with him. In the regions of Veles, Prilep and Porechie he was the only leader, who frightened the Serbian propaganda, whose agents treated him as invincible and invulnerable.

In 1902 he killed a Turk and escaped to Sofia. The same year, he returned as a freedom fighter in the regions of Odrin and Pashmakli. From the beginning of 1903, he was an organizational leader in the region of Krushevo. During the Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising, he headed one of the sections that participated in the burning of the police station in Krushevo.