Chief of the General Staff (North Macedonia)

The Chief of the General Staff of the Army of North Macedonia (Macedonian: Началник на Генералштабот на Армијата на Северна Македонија, romanized: Načalnik na Generalštabot na Armijata na Severna Makedonija) is the professional head of the Army of North Macedonia, responsible for the administration and the operational control.

Chief of the General Staff
Началник на Генералштабот
Incumbent Major general Saško Lafčiski since 18 August 2024
Ministry of Defence
Member of	General Staff
Reports to	Minister of Defence
Appointer	President of North Macedonia
Formation	19 March 1992
First holder	Major General Mitre Arsovski [mk]

History

Eleven people served as Chief of the General Staff since the independence of North Macedonia from Yugoslavia. The first Chief was Major general Mitre Arsovski (appointed on 16 March 1992), and the current Chief is Lt. Col. General Vasko Gjurčinovski (appointed on 18 August 2018).

The shortest-serving Chief of the General Staff was General Pande Petrovski (about 3 months), and the longest-serving was Lt. Col. General Miroslav Stojanovski (over 6 years)

List of chiefs of the general staff

Chiefs of the General Staff have been:^[1]

No.	Portrait	Chief of the General Staff	Took office	Left office	Time in office
1		Arsovski, MitreMajor general Mitre Arsovski [mk] (born 1936)	16 March 1992	3 March 1993	352 days
2		Bocinov, DragoljubColonel general Dragoljub Bocinov [mk] (1933–2003)	3 March 1993	22 January 1996	2 years, 325 days
3		Krstevski, TrajčeGeneral Trajče Krstevski [mk] (1938–2017)	22 January 1996	11 February 2000	4 years, 20 days
4		Andrevski, JovanColonel general Jovan Andrevski (born 1938) [a]	11 February 2000	12 June 2001	1 year, 121 days
5		Petrovski, PandeGeneral Pande Petrovski (1943–2006)	12 June 2001	19 September 2001	99 days
6		Stamboliski, MetodiGeneral Metodi Stamboliski (born 1947)	19 September 2001	12 March 2004	2 years, 175 days
7		Bojadžiev, GjorgjiMajor general Gjorgji Bojadžiev (1950–2024)	12 March 2004	6 July 2005	1 year, 116 days
8		Stojanovski, MiroslavLt. Col. General Miroslav Stojanovski (born 1959)	6 July 2005	18 August 2011	6 years, 43 days
9		Koteski, GorančoMajor general Gorančo Koteski (born 1965)	18 August 2011	18 August 2015	4 years
10		Veličkovski, MetodijaLt. Col. General Metodija Veličkovski (born 1966)	18 August 2015	18 August 2018	3 years
11		Gjurčinovski, VaskoLt. Col. General Vasko Gjurčinovski (born 1970)	18 August 2018	18 August 2024	6 years, 0 days
12		Lafčiski, SaškoMajor General Saško Lafčiski (born 1977)	18 August 2024	Incumbent	248 days

See also

• Army of North Macedonia

Notes

1. Resigned during the 2001 insurgency.