Pavlos Kyrou
Pavlos Kyrou (Greek: Παύλος Κύρου) was a Slavophone Greek revolutionary who participated in the Ilinden Uprising with the IMRO and the Greek Struggle for Macedonia.
- Macedonian Struggle †
- Ilinden Uprising
Early life
Kyrou was born in the 1860s in Zelovo (renamed Antartiko in 1927) of Florina.[1][2] He was the grandson of the well known klepht Naoum Kyrou. He was able to speak both Greek and Bulgarian fluently.[2][3] He graduated from the local Greek school of his hometown and began to join armed bands where in 1881, he was involved in the kidnapping of the Turkish prefect of Florina.
Macedonian Struggle
Following a long trip to Athens, Kyrou returned to Macedonia to restart his armed activities along with Kottas, fighting with the Bulgarian Komitadjis against the Ottoman authorities.[2][3] Kyrou had the capability of knowing almost all of Western Macedonia and its paths and had many cooperators and friends from all over it.[3] As a member of the pro-Bulgarian IMRO he participated in the preparation and execution of the Ilinden uprising of 1903. Following the uprising, Kyrou and Kottas discovered the true intentions of the IMRO against the Greek population, causing their defection to the Greek side.[4] In 1903-04 he travelled to Athens with Kottas to recruit volunteers for the struggle.[3] He returned to cooperate with Germanos Karavangelis and Pavlos Melas.
Pavlos Melas wrote in a letter of his on 12 March 1904 about Kyrou:
«You can't imagine what a curious guy Pavlos is. His kindness is unique. Our Cretans worship and tease him. The cigarette does not come out of his mouth and one of his pleasures is telling us without laughing the games he was playing with the Bulgarians. He has a unique pride in everything, but especially in associating with the best, and most appropriate, people in his work. He has good and loyal friends in all villages».[3]
Following the arrest and execution of Kottas, he returned to Athens to organize his own armed group that would function in the Prespa region. He cooperated with other chieftains, such as Dimitrios Dalipis, Kottas, Traianos Liantzakis, Ioannis Karavitis, Nikolaos Pyrzas, and especially Efthymios Kaoudis, who would not make a single move without the approval of Kyrou.[3][2]
He was killed in action along with Dalipis on 19 November 1906, during a battle against the armed groups of Mitre the Vlach and Pando Klyashev.[2][5]
Legacy
He ranks among the heroes of the Macedonian Struggle in Greece.
His son, Lazaros, also became a chieftain and continued the fight following his father's death.
There is a bust and memorial to him in his birth place of Antartiko.
In Bulgaria he is regarded as a turncoat Bulgarian, a renegade from the IMRO.[6]
References
- ^ Stelios Nestor (1962). "Greek Macedonia and the Convention of Neuilly (1919)". Balkan Studies. 3 (1): 178.
many leaders who fought and fell in the field defending the Greek cause, though they did not speak but Bulgarian. Such leaders were: Capetan Kottas from Roulia, Vangelis from Strebeno, Kyrou from Zelovo [...]
- ^ a b c d e John S. Koliopoulos, Αφανείς, Γηγενείς Μακεδονομάχοι, University Studio Press, 2008, p. 163
- ^ a b c d e f Ο ΠΑΥΛΟΣ ΚΥΡΟΥ ΚΑΙ Ο ΔΗΜ. ΝΤΑΛΙΠΗΣ, e-istoria
- ^ Upward, Allen. The East End of Europe: The report of an unofficial mission to the European provinces, London, J. Murray, 1908, pp.323-324.
- ^ Hristo Silyanov. "Освободителните борби на Македония", vol II, Sofia, 1993, p. 221
- ^ Христо Силянов. „Освободителните борби на Македония“, том II, София, 1993, стр.222.
- v
- t
- e
(with nom de guerre)
- Theodoros Adam
- Sarantis-Tellos Agapinos (Agras)
- Michail Anagnostakos (Matapas)
- Charalambos Boufidis (Fourtounas)
- Theodoros Boulasikis
- Ioannis Boubaras
- Antigonos Choleris
- Petros Christou
- Konstantinos Christou (Kottas)
- Nikolaos Dailakis
- Panagiotis Danglis (Parmenion)
- Stergios Daoutis (Perifanos)
- Nikolaos Davelis
- Ioannis Demertzis
- Ioannis Demestichas (Nikiforos)
- Christos Dogiamas (Itsos)
- Dimitrios Dogiamas (Bikas)
- Lazos Dogiamas (Barovitsalis)
- Konstantinos Dogras
- Georgios Doitsinis
- Nikolaos Doumpiotis (Amyntas)
- Periklis Drakos
- Ioannis Evaggelopoulos
- Doukas Gaitatzis (Zervas)
- Konstantinos Garefis
- Dimitrios Golnas
- Nikolaos Gousios
- Stergios Goutas
- Pavlos Gyparis
- Petros Hatzitasis
- Simos Ioannidis (Armenskiotis)
- Georgios Kakoulidis (Dragas)
- Nikostratos Kalomenopoulos (Nidas)
- Pantelis Kandilas
- Efthymios Kaoudis (Old Kaoudis)
- Filippos Kapetanopoulos
- Georgios Karaiskakis
- Ioannis Karavitis
- Georgios Katechakis (Rouvas)
- Dimitrios Kechagias (Dalipis)
- Nikolaos Kollias
- Georgios Kondylis
- Alexandros Kontoulis (Skourtis)
- Stavros Kotsopoulos (Banitsiotis)
- Evangelos Koukoudeas
- Theodoros Koukoulakis
- Georgios Koutles
- Pavlos Kyrou
- Dimitrios Lalas
- Georgios Lepidatos (Arkoudas)
- Traianos Liantzakis (Traikos)
- Nikolaos Manos
- Konstantinos Manos (Michailidis)
- Petros Manos (Vergos)
- Ioannis Martzios
- Apostolis Matopoulos
- Konstantinos Mazarakis-Ainian (Akritas)
- Pavlos Melas (Mikis Zezas)
- Alexandros Merentitis (Doukas)
- Georgios Modis
- Evangelos Natsis (Srebreniotis)
- Pavlos Nikolaidis (Rakovitis)
- Alexandros Othonaios (Palamidis)
- Markos Palamidis
- Pantelis Papaioannou (Nikotsaras)
- Konstantinos Papastavrou (Mavromatis)
- Iraklis Patikas
- Filolaos Pichion (Filotas)
- Nikolaos Pyrzas (Lakis)
- Stavros Rigas (Kavodoros)
- Nikolaos Rokas (Kolios)
- Michail Sapkas
- Dimitrios Sarros
- Georgios Savvas
- Georgios Seridis (Spanos)
- Ioannis Simanikas
- Michael Sionidis
- Konstantinos Sorros (Kallas)
- Georgios Soulios
- Spyros Spyromilios (Bouas)
- Dimitrios Stagas (Mizas)
- Athanasios Stavroudis
- Christos Stogiannidis (Lilis or Iason)
- Markos Theodoridis
- Georgios Thomopoulos (Gogos)
- Georgios Tombras (Roupakias)
- Ioannis Tsangaridis
- Lazaros Tsamis
- Dimitrios Tsapanos
- Nikolaos Tsipouras
- Dimitrios Tsitsimis
- Christos Tsolakopoulos (Rembelos)
- Georgios Tsontos (Vardas)
- Lazaros Varzis (Zarkadas)
- Zisis Verros
- Ioannis Villioglou (Ramnalis)
- Stergios Vlachveis
- Argyrios Vouzas
- Zisis Vrakas
- Georgios Yiotas (Gonos)
- Antonios Zois
undercover agents
- Ion Dragoumis
- Athanasios Exadaktylos (Antoniou)
- Lambros Koromilas
- Spyridon Levidis
- Alexandros Mazarakis-Ainian (Ioannidis)
- Anastasios Pichion
- Ptolemaios Sarigiannis (Kalamidis)
- Museum for the Macedonian Struggle (Thessaloniki)
- Museum of the Macedonian Struggle (Kastoria)
- Museum of the Macedonian Struggle (Chromio)
- Folklore Museum of Giannitsa
- Pavlos Melas Museum
- Captain Kottas Museum