Occupation Diplomat, Merchant Role Diplomat | Name Peter Ichko | |
 | ||
Born circa 1755 Katranitsa (Pyrgoi), Eordaia, Macedonia, Ottoman Empire, now Greece Died May 5, 1808, Belgrade, Serbia | ||
Peter Ichko (Serbian Cyrillic: Petar Ichko/Petar Icko, 1755–1808), was an Ottoman and later Serbian diplomat, a merchant by profession from Aegean Macedonia.
Ichko was born in the Aegean Macedonian village of Katranitsa, then in the Ottoman Empire (today Pyrgi, Greece), a place with developed merchant traditions. He was of Aromanian, Greek or Bulgarian origin.
He resettled to the North, managing his own commercial business. He worked as a Dragoman in an Ottoman diplomatic mission in Berlin and probably in Vienna. Peter Ichko settled in Ottoman Belgrade where towards the end of the 18th century he was a notable merchant. He closely collaborated with vizier of Belgrade Pashaluk Hadzi Mustafa Pasha and according to some sources both of them were members of one masonic lodge. After the return to power of the Jannisaries, he was forced in 1802 to move to Zemun, at that time a Habsburg frontier town.
After the outbreak of the First Serbian Uprising (1804) he began supporting the insurgents. He rendered them some valuable advice thanks to his diplomatic and trade skills. Serbian leaders sent him as their representative in Constantinople where he managed to obtain for them a favourable peace treaty, known as "Ichko's Peace". Peter Ichko resettled in Belgrade as an honorary citizen but he died there soon after on 5 May 1808, probably poisoned.