A Virtual Speakers Forum
With:
Dr. Alexandros Kyrou, Director of Program in East European and Russian Studies & Professor- Salem State University
Dr. Alexandros (Alex) K. Kyrou is Director of the Program in East European and Russian Studies and Professor of History at Salem State University, in Salem, Massachusetts, where he teaches on the Balkans, Byzantium, and the Ottoman Empire. The author of Guide to the Greek Pamphlet Collection at the Firestone Library, Princeton University, his multiple book chapters, journal articles, and review essays focus on famine relief in Axis-occupied Greece, Greek American history, Orthodox Christianity and the origins of international humanitarianism, war and peace in Byzantium, and US foreign policy in Southeastern Europe. His academic and policy publications have appeared in Mediterranean Quarterly: A Journal of Global Issues, Political Science Quarterly, The Journal of Modern Greek Studies, Journal of Modern Hellenism, Journal of the Hellenic Diaspora, Journal of Political and Military Sociology, The Review of Faith and International Relations, and Foreign Affairs: Hellenic Edition, among others.
A former Associate Editor of Journal of Modern Hellenism, Dr. Kyrou has written more than eighty essays, commentaries, and book reviews on Greek history, Byzantine civilization, and Ottoman history and Turkish politics, as well as the Armenian and Greek Genocides for cultural, civic, and popular publications, including The Huffington Post and The National Herald. He has guest lectured at Harvard, Princeton, Yale, and Oxford Universities, and has been interviewed and quoted in several major media publications, including The New York Times and Vanity Fair. He has held research fellowships in the Program in Hellenic Studies at Princeton University and at the Kokkalis Program on Southeastern and East-Central Europe at Harvard University. He holds a Ph.D. in East European History from Indiana University and is an alumnus of Indiana University’s Russian and East European Institute.
And
Lieutenant General (R) Ilias Leontaris
Lieutenant General (R) Ilias A Leontaris is Emeritus Commander of the 1st Hellenic ARMY & Former Chief of the Cyprus National Guard. General Ilias Leontaris entered the Hellenic Military Academy in 1977 and graduated in 1981, with the rank of Second Lieutenant of the Infantry. He attended all the Infantry Branch Courses and is a Supreme War College (1996) and National Defense College (2005), graduate. He attended the training at the Greek Army Military Police Officers school, the Joint School of Electronic Warfare and Strategic Intelligence Course in Greece as well as in the U.S. Army Military Police Officers and Train the Trainers schools at Fort McClellan in Alabama, UAS. Additionally, he attended a course on various subjects at the NATO school in Oberammergau, Germany (NATO School Oberammergau (NSO)). As a Junior Officer he served in various Infantry Units, including the Hellenic Force in Cyprus.
As a Senior Officer, he served as Deputy Commander and Commander of the 566 Mechanized Infantry Battalion and served as Staff Officer at the 98th Higher Command, in Lesvos Island, at the Hellenic National Defence General Staff (HNDGS), at NATO Headquarters (HQs AFSOUTH) in Naples, Italy, at the C’ Army Corps/HQs NDC-GR, and as a Defence Attaché at the Greek Embassy in Washington, USA. As Flag Officer, he served in staff positions in the Army General Staff as Director of the Doctrine Directorate and as Chief of Staff at the HQs NRDC-GR (Headquarters NATO Deployable Corps – Greece) and commanded the 31st Mechanized Infantry Brigade (Ferres-Evros), the Hellenic Military Academy, the C’ Army Corps & HQs NRDC Headquarters- GR (twin hatted position), the 1st Hellenic Army and the Hellenic Operational Headquarters of the European Union (EL EU OHQ), Twin hatted position, too. He completed his 43-year military career, with his service as Chief of the National Guard General Staff of Cyprus, from 2017-2020.
General Leontaris from the Commanding and Staff positions was entrusted by the Greek Armed Forces leadership participated in various International Conferences (NATO, EU, etc.), in bilateral contacts with many countries and had the opportunity to deal with and gain experience in issues concerning: Human Resources Management and Evaluation; Military training and Academic education of the Armed Forces Personnel; Leaders Consulting and Leadership Development; Operational Planning and Defense Capabilities Development; Security Threats Assessment Analysis and Assessment; Intelligence Analysis and Geopolitical Developments Assessment; Crisis Management and Civil-Military Cooperation; Weapons Systems and Military Equipment Procurement Procedures; and Defense Diplomacy and Cooperation as well as International Relations.
General Ilias Leontaris has been honored with all the distinctions provided by the Greek State for his rank and service in the Armed Forces, as well as with NATO medals for his services in peace-support operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina (SFOR), the former Yugoslavia (KFOR), and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (Operations ESSENTIAL HARVEST and AMBER FOX).
The General has also been awarded the Medal of the Chief of the Army of the Republic of Cyprus; the Legion of Merit of U.S.A; the Armenian Armed Forces; the Italian Armed Forces; the AHEPA Military Honor; the Knight Officer, the World Organization of Military Sports (CISM); the Lion of St. Mark of the Patriarchate of Alexandria; and Agios Epiphanios of the Metropolis of Constantia and Famagusta, Cyprus.
General Leontaris is married to Mrs. Sonia Chitzou and they have a daughter (Psychologist and Preschool Teacher) and a son (Lawyer of Thessaloniki).
