The American Hellenic Institute (AHI) is hosting a virtual presentation titled OXI Day: Its Significance for the War in the Mediterranean and Beyond, featuring Dr Alexandros (Aleko) Kyrou, a professor of history at Salem State University in Salem, Massachusetts.

Professor Kyrou teaches courses on the Balkans, Byzantium and the Ottoman Empire. His research and publications cover a wide range of historical and political subjects, including famine relief in Axis-occupied Greece, Greek Americans and Balkan diasporas, Orthodox Christianity and the origins of international humanitarianism, war and peace in Byzantium, and United States foreign policy in southeastern Europe.

His academic and policy-related work has appeared in numerous publications, including 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 80 essays, commentaries and book reviews on Greek history, Byzantine civilisation, Ottoman history and Turkish politics, as well as the Armenian and Greek genocides. His work has appeared in cultural, civic and professional publications, including The Huffington Post and the American Historical Association’s Perspectives on History.

Dr Kyrou has delivered guest lectures at Harvard, Princeton, Yale and Oxford universities. He has also been interviewed and quoted in major media publications, including The New York Times and Vanity Fair.

His academic career has included research fellowships in the Program in Hellenic Studies at Princeton University and the Kokkalis Program on Southeastern and East-Central Europe at Harvard University.

He holds a PhD in East European history from Indiana University and is an alumnus of the university’s Russian and East European Institute.