Leonidas Kyrkos has passed away

Just before 6am this morning Leonidas Kyrkos, the historic leader of the Radical Left, passed away. Lately, he had been facing serious health problems and was being treated at the “Aghia Olga” hospital. His funeral will take place at 5pm at Wednesday evening in the 1st Athens Cemetery.

Leonidas Kyrkos was born in 1924 in Heracleion, Crete. He was the son of Michail Kyrkos who, along with Ioannis Pasalidis and other personalities from the Left, created the United Democratic Left (EDA). He studied at the Medical School o the University of Athens but never completed his studies because of repeated political persecution. During the Civil War, he was imprisoned several times: in 1946 for 8 months and again in 1948

In 1949 he was sentenced to death. The decision of the Emergency Military Tribunal was not executed because of international reaction due to the fact that among those convicted was Manolis Glezos. Kyrkos was released in 1953.

For many years he worked at Avgi political newspaper, first as a reporter and later as the editor (1958-1961). He entered politics and was an elected member of the Greek Parliament in 1961, 1963 and 1964 with EDA. With the disintegration of the Communist Party (KKE) he took the side of so-called renewal forces and helped establish the Euro-Communist KKE of the Interior. On April 21, 1967 he was arrested and remained in jail for 5 years.
After the political changeover he was elected to parliament in 1974 and 1977 and as Euro-MP in 1981 and 1985. He was president and general secretary of the KKE (Interior) until April 1987, when he joined the Greek Left (EAR) and  was elected President. Along with Harilaos Florakis, he founded the Coalition of the Left and Progress, of which he was the Secretary until March 1991. From 1989 to 1993 he was a member of the Coalition. He became the target of fierce criticism from the circles of PASOK for participating in the coalition government with Mitsotakis.

In 2000 the Coalition party proposed him for President of the Republic, but the parliament elected the secondary candidate, Constantinos Stephanopoulos.

In 2010 he published a letter stating his support for the new party of the Democratic Left. Lately, due to health problems he had distanced himself from active politics, though he often expressed his opinion in public. He was a widower and has two sons.