(,
Greece . As of 2001 there were 17,430 people living within the city and a total of 24,812 people living in the administrative area of the municipality of Kilkis. It is also the capital city of the prefecture (or ''nomos'') of
Kilkis and the capital of one of the two local provinces (or ''eparchia'') of its prefecture.
The city was ruled by the
Ottoman Empire before being taken by
Bulgaria in the
First Balkan War of
1912 . In the
Second Balkan War of
1913 , the Greek army captured the city after a three-day battle between
June 19 -
June 21 . Although costly, with over 5,000 casualties on the Greek side and 7,000 on the Bulgarian, the Greek victory proved a decisive step towards victory in the war. Kilkis was almost completely destroyed during the battle, and its 7,000 Bulgarian residents were transferred to Bulgaria as a result of the
Treaty Of Neuilly , settling, for the most part, in
Sofia . The new town was built closer to the railway to
Thessaloniki , around the Greek church of Saint George, and was settled by Greeks transferred from
Bulgaria and
Asia Minor .
The significance of the
Battle Of Kilkis-Lahanas can be appreciated by the fact that Greece named a battleship after the city. However,
''Kilkis'' was sunk by a German
Junkers Ju 87 (Stuka) dive-bomber on
April 23 1941 , along with its sister-ship, in the third week of the invasion of Greece by
Nazi Germany . The city of Kilkis came under Bulgarian rule in
1943 when the Bulgarian zone of occupation was expanded to include the prefectures of Kilkis and
Halkidiki . The Greeks claim that the Bulgarians pursued a policy of "Bulgarianisation" with considerable brutality and intended to annex the region to Bulgaria, but were forbidden from doing so by their German allies, who feared destabilising Greece if the Bulgarians proceeded. The region became a major centre for partisan resistance activity before being liberated in
1944 .
- Giorgos Floridis , Greek politician, ex minister
- Savvas Tsitouridis , Greek politician, ex minister
- Dimitris Basis , Greek singer
- Pantelis Savvidis , journalist, tv-presenter
- Kiltidis Kostas , Greek politician
- DAF , famous Greek entertainer
- Gotse Delchev , BMARC /SMARO revolutionary (1872-1903)
- Ivan Hadzi Nikolov , Bulgarian Revolutionary (1861-1934)
- Aleksandar Stanishev , Bulgarian physician, scientist and politician (1886-1945)
- Hristo Smirnenski , Bulgarian poet (1898-1923)
- Lazaros Pavlidis , Greek author (1929 - 2004)
- Dimitris Markos , Footballer
