Simos Ioannidis


Simos Stogiannou Ioannidis was a Greek chieftain of the Macedonian Struggle known as well by the nom de guerre Armenskiotis.

Biography

Ioannidis was born in the 1880s in Armenskon of Florina, then Ottoman Empire. He started his armed actions by joining the armed group of Kottas as his adjutant and participating in the Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising. He later joined the group of Pavlos Melas, assisting him and other chieftains like Efthymios Kaoudis and Georgios Tsontos who did not know the region well, acting in the region of Pelister. He set up his own armed group in 1906 cooperating with Pavlos Rakovitis, acting in the region of Florina. He participated in both Balkan Wars, and notably in the battle which led to the extermination of Vasil Chekalarov.
In his honor, in 1957, the village of Motesnica in Florina was renamed to Simos Ioannidis.