Voivode Tanyo Stoyanov

Tanyo (Atanas, Stoyan) Stoyanov Kurtev, known as Tanyo the Voivode, was a Bulgarian national revolutionary who led a detachment during the April Uprising of 1876.

Tanyo the Voivode was born on 5 April 1846 in Sliven. He studied in his native town and later became a livestock trader. Drawn to the revolutionary movement, he became one of the founders of the Sliven Local Revolutionary Committee of the Internal Revolutionary Organisation in 1871 and was subsequently appointed an apostle, or revolutionary organiser, in various regions.

In September 1872, Tanyo the Voivode was captured by the Ottoman authorities and sentenced to lifelong exile in Diyarbakır, Kurdistan. In February 1875 he escaped with his brother-in-law and settled in Romania.

In August 1875, Tanyo the Voivode was summoned to Bucharest and designated apostle for the Sliven region. After receiving instructions from Ivanitsa Danchev, he organised a detachment of 26 men. This journey towards Oltenița was coordinated with Hristo Botev's detachment: the first was to support the uprising in eastern Bulgaria and the second in western Bulgaria.

Tanyo's detachment set out from Oltenița on the night of 16–17 May 1876, crossing the Danube. Pursued by the Turkish authorities, it fought three battles, but on 27 May 1876 it was defeated near the village of Araplar, now Aprilovo. Tanyo the Voivode engaged the Turks in hand-to-hand combat, killing six with his yataghan before falling dead. His head was cut off and carried around the surrounding villages to intimidate the Bulgarian population.