{{Short description|Slavophone Greek revolutionary}} '''Pavlos Kyrou''' ({{langx|el|Παύλος Κύρου}}) was a [[Slavic speakers in Ottoman Macedonia|Slavophone]] [[Greeks|Greek]] revolutionary who participated in the [[Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising|Ilinden Uprising]] with the [[Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization|IMRO]] and the [[Macedonian Struggle|Greek Struggle for Macedonia]]. {{Infobox Soldier | name = Pavlos Kyrou | native_name = Παύλος Κύρου<br>Павел Киров | image = File:Pavel-Kirov.jpg | caption = Pavlos Kyrou c. 1904 | birth_date = c. 1860s | death_date = 19 November 1904 | birth_place = Zelovo, [[Monastir Vilayet]], [[Ottoman Empire]] {{small|(now [[Antartiko]], [[Greece]])}} | allegiance = {{flagicon image|Flag of the IMRO.svg}} [[Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization|IMRO]] (until 1903)<br>{{flagicon|Kingdom of Greece|state}} [[Kingdom of Greece]] | branch = {{flagicon image|Seal of the Greek-Macedonian Committee.jpg}} [[Hellenic Macedonian Committee|HMC]] | service_years = 1881-1904 | battles = {{tree list}} *[[Macedonian Struggle]]{{KIA}} **[[Ilinden Uprising]] {{tree list/end}} | relations = Naoum Kyrou (Grandfather) }}
== Early life == Kyrou was born in the 1860s in Zelovo (renamed [[Antartiko]] in 1927) of [[Florina (regional unit)|Florina]].<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Balkan Studies|title=Greek Macedonia and the Convention of Neuilly (1919)|author=Stelios Nestor|volume=3|issue=1|year=1962|page=178|url=https://ojs.lib.uom.gr/index.php/BalkanStudies/article/view/81/90|quote=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 [...]}}</ref><ref name=koliopoulos /> He was the grandson of the well known [[klepht]] Naoum Kyrou. He was able to speak both [[Greek language|Greek]] and [[Greek language|Bulgarian]] fluently.<ref name="koliopoulos" /><ref name="e-istoria">[http://www.e-istoria.com/283.html Ο ΠΑΥΛΟΣ ΚΥΡΟΥ ΚΑΙ Ο ΔΗΜ. ΝΤΑΛΙΠΗΣ], e-istoria</ref> 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 (region)|Macedonia]] to restart his armed activities along with [[Kottas]], fighting with the [[Bulgarians|Bulgarian]] [[Komitadji]]s against the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman authorities]].<ref name="koliopoulos">[[John S. Koliopoulos]], [http://media.ems.gr/ekdoseis/ektos_seiras/ekd_eksi_gigeneis.pdf Αφανείς, Γηγενείς Μακεδονομάχοι], University Studio Press, 2008, p. 163</ref><ref name="e-istoria" /> Kyrou had the capability of knowing almost all of [[Western Macedonia]] and its paths and had many cooperators and friends from all over it.<ref name="e-istoria" /> 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 [[Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization|IMRO]] against the [[Macedonians (Greeks)|Greek]] population, causing their defection to the Greek side.<ref>Upward, Allen. The East End of Europe: The report of an unofficial mission to the European provinces, London, J. Murray, 1908, pp.323-324.</ref> In 1903-04 he travelled to [[Athens]] with Kottas to recruit volunteers for the struggle.<ref name="e-istoria" /> He returned to cooperate with [[Germanos Karavangelis]] and [[Pavlos Melas]].
[[Pavlos Melas]] wrote in a letter of his on 12 March 1904 about Kyrou: {{Quote |text=«''You can't imagine what a curious guy Pavlos is. His kindness is unique. Our [[Crete|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''».<ref name=e-istoria /> }}
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.<ref name=e-istoria /><ref name=koliopoulos />
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.<ref name="koliopoulos" /><ref>[http://www.promacedonia.org/obm2/19.html Hristo Silyanov. "Освободителните борби на Македония"], vol II, [[Sofia]], 1993, p. 221</ref>
== 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]].<ref>Христо Силянов. „Освободителните борби на Македония“, том II, София, 1993, стр.222.</ref><gallery widths="240" heights="240"> File:Pavel Kirov greek revolutionary Zhelevo.JPG|Bust of Pavlos Kyrou in [[Antartiko]]. File:Pavel Kirov greek revolutionary Zhelevo2.JPG|Memorial to Pavlos Kyrou and his brother Spyros in [[Antartiko]]. </gallery>
== References == {{reflist}} {{Macedonian Struggle}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kyrou, Pavlos}} [[Category:Year of birth uncertain]] [[Category:1906 deaths]] [[Category:Slavic speakers of Greek Macedonia]] [[Category:Greek Macedonians]] [[Category:Greek people of the Macedonian Struggle]] [[Category:Greek military personnel killed in action]] [[Category:People from Florina (regional unit)]]