Colonel Gjorgi Veljovski
Colonel Gjorgi Veljovski was born on April 11, 1977 in Skopje, where he finished primary and secondary school. He started his military career in 1999 as the first generation of second lieutenants, armor graduate officer, educated at the “General Mihailo Apostolski” Military Academy in Skopje.
His first duty was as a mechanized platoon commander in an armored battalion and lasted only one year. He spent the next twenty years in the Special Forces, where he had various command and staff duties, including: Sabotage Team Commander, Instruction Team Commander, a Counterterrorism Company Commander, Battalion Special Operations Officer, Regimental Operations Officer, Regimental Strategy and Planning Officer, Special Forces Battalion Commander. Since 2020, he was been working in J-7 in the General Staff as Deputy Chief of Section, and since 2024 he has been the Chief of Cabinet of the Army’s General Staff.
He received his master’s degree from the Institute for Sociological, Political and Juridical Research in Skopje in 2007, and his doctorate in national and international security and international relations from the Military Academy “General Mihailo Apostolski” in 2018. In 2010-2011, he graduated from the Command and Staff Academy and the School for Advanced Military Studies in Fort Leavenworth, USA, where he earned a master’s degree in military sciences and skills. Throughout his career, he has professionally upgraded himself at other schools and courses in the country and abroad, the most significant of which are: Special Warfare School in the USA, a mountaineering instructor, a Paratrooper-supervisor of Jumps in Greece and Land-air Operations in the Netherlands.
In 2006, he participated in the “Iraqi Freedom” mission. He actively participated in several exercises in the country and abroad, including: NATO Assessment Level 1 in 2008, NATO Self-Assessment Level 2 in 2009, CJSOTF B-9 “Wise Wolf” on Krivolak in 2012 and the “Allied Spirit VI” exercise in Germany in 2017. He has participated several times as a lecturer in the field of unconventional warfare, counterterrorism and the application of operational skills and operational design at the Military Academy in Skopje, the NATO School in Oberammergau, Germany and the NATO Counter-Terrorism Center in Ankara, Turkey.
For his efforts and the results achieved in the process of combat training, education and building the Army, he has received several decorations and awards from the Minister of Defense, the Chief of the General Staff of the Army and superior commanders. Colonel Veljovski is married, father of two daughters. He speaks English (STANAG 3333) and French (STANAG 2222), actively runs marathons and half marathons and is engaged in model building.