Cyprus-Forum.com

[brother]

Murdered - or executed as traitors?

By Andreas Hadjipapas

GREEK Cypriot leftists killed by Eoka men during the fight aganst British rule 50 years ago were "murdered," Akel chief Demetris Christofias said this week.

But ex-Eoka fighters association president Thasos Sofocleous insisted these people had been "executed" on the orders of the organisation for allegedly being traitors, informers or spies, undermining the struggle.

There may have been cases of people getting killed "by mistake", as it happens in every armed struggle, he conceded. But it was difficult to pinpoint each case individually.

Akel has been waging a campaign to "restore" the good names of 23 left-wingers who died in Eoka attacks in the 1955-59 armed struggle.

Christofias says since Eoka fighters associations are "not willing" to help, the matter should be taken up by the state. A "courageous political decision" was needed to end the smear on the families of these people, he argued.

"These people were just as much patriots (as the Eoka men), they just

took a different line," he declared.

Many Greek Cypriot politicians, MPs and former Eoka people aired their views on the sensitive and emotional issue during the past week. Christofias’ timing was not the most appropriate. He spoke on CyBC radio - accusing Eoka of committing murders and crimes - the day President Papadopoulos honoured 108 Eoka heroes for their sacrifice in the liberation struggle.

The Akel chief hopes to get better results by holding consultations, as President of the House, with other political groups on the best way forward--probably setting up a committee to probe the cases of individual leftists, in cooperation with the Fighters association. or merely pushing for a vote, calling on the government to decide on the matter.

Distance

Christofias said he has talked things over already with President Papadopoulos - himself a high-ranking Eoka man during the struggle.

But the government seems to keep a distance from the whole issue. Spokesman Kypros Chrysostomides said the demand for an investigation "posed difficulties", since there was no Cyprus state at the time of the Eoka struggle.

"We must first wait and see what comes out of the House debate, what kind of suggestions will be made," he said.

With Archbishop Makarios and General George Grivas dead, it is difficult for others to come forward to give a definitive account on what actually happened.

As one Eoka man remarked, it was strange that Akel did not press for a clearcut statement on the matter from the two leaders while they were still alive. Makarios was President, with Akel’s support, until he died in 1977.

Some of the Eoka lieutenants have also died and those still alive appear reluctant to testify. One of them said that only eight or ten of the leftists were "executed as traitors", hinting that the others were killed either by mistake or accident.

"But they were not murdered, Eoka did not kill people for just being communists," he said.

Opposition Disy has agreed to cooperate in ending the decades-old hatred of the past and promote reconciliation. But they are not happy with Christofias’ remark that the 23 leftists were killed out of "anti-communist rage" on the orders of the "brains" behind the Eoka campaign - meaning Grivas, who, as military leader of the underground group, opposed from the beginning the inclusion of communists .


Blunders


Akel at the time of the launch of the Eoka campaign 50 years ago used harsh and abusive language to attack the movement, branding the people involved as terrorists , adventurists and pseudo-patriots, even "organs of the British intelligence."

Christofias himself said the Akel approach at the time - opposing armed struggle and favouring instead political action to end the colonial rule - was more correct.

"We see the result - a mutilated independence", he remarked, thus casting doubts on the success of the Eoka fight.

Akel MP Aristophanis Georgiou called on Eoka fighters associations to "recognise" their mistake. He claimed the Eoka associations had already collected evidence showing the truth "but they did not have the courage to admit their blunders."

Sofocleous insisted the Eoka organisations had given "all information" they had showing the "executions were justified ’ and could not do more, since there were no records kept.

The controversy is certain to go on, with feelings still high on both sides.

 

[pantelis]

Sofocleous insisted the Eoka organizations had given "all information" they had showing the "executions were justified ’ and could not do more, since there were no records kept.

Brother,
Eoka and TMT had the same bosses and financiers, whether their members knew about it or not. The crimes they committed remain un-punished to this day. They are responsible for paving the road for the partition of Cyprus.
Did we, or are we going to let them succeed?

[brother]

Brother pantelis,

the EOKA & TMT people were in part animals that killed and in another poor brainwashed people who thought they were fighting for their country, what needs to be done is a commitee formed consisting of tc, gc and E.U, Human rights people or the likes and bring these people where possible to court so all cypriots can see justice served.
But the division they tried and are trying to create will never succeed as the population is not as simple as they were 30+ years ago.

[Bananiot]

Oh brother, how much I wish you were right! In reality it is not like this, not by a mile. On our side EOKA is a sacred cow, no one can touch it or even scratch the surface. This is how people are brought up in schools where EOKA is portrayed as a god sent liberator. No effort is made for a pragmatic and realistic way of what EOKA was. In effect, there is no serious, scientific effort to analyse EOKA and any people that dare are stigmatised for the rest of their lives.

[Piratis]

Bananiot, you condemn the whole organization because of the actions of few.

First of all there is the deference between EOKA and EOKA B.

Secondly, the cause of EOKA was a noble one, and your generalizations are disrespect to those young people that gave their lives for the freedom of this island from the colonialists.

If you were pro colonialist and the liberation of Cyprus hurt your personal interests this is something you have to deal by yourself. We are not here to support the interests of a small pro colonialist group. (I will refrain from giving any adjective to people that belong to such group since it is clear anyways).

That said, there were criminal persons inside EOKA, including its leader. And the crimes committed against innocents (=not the colonialists or the ones supporting them, but people that were killed because of their race or ideology) are condemned.

The ones that did the crimes, like Grivas, deserve no respect. But this is not the same with people like Gregoris Afxentiou and others like him. The EOKA cause was supported by the great majority of GCs in one way or another. It was a noble cause for liberation, and we will not allow to the small group of pro-colonialists to make such kind of generalizations that put mud on everybody that supported the cause of EOKA.

[Bananiot]

You see what I mean brother, a sacred cow ... "we will not allow to the small group of pro-colonialists to make such kind of generalizations that put mud on everybody that supported the cause of EOKA".

How do you intend to stop this small group of pro-colonialists, Piratis?

All I said is for us to make, 50 years on, a valid and scientific evaluation of EOKA, in order to bury the skeletons. But no, slogan shouting still sells in Cyprus and this is one reason why we have only half of it left. People of a different opinion from us are always traitors and they are to be blamed for all our misfortunes. We may be in Europe physically but mentally we are light years apart from the european values of pluralism of thought etc.

[Piratis]

How do you intend to stop this small group of pro-colonialists, Piratis?

By not allowing you to pass your propaganda that has as only aim to serve the interests of some others and not the great majority of the Cypriot people.

All I said is for us to make, 50 years on, a valid and scientific evaluation of EOKA

If you need the scientific evaluation, then how comes and you have an opinion about EOKA without it?? What you did is to put mud on everybody and there is nothing scientific about this.

People of a different opinion from us are always traitors and they are to be blamed for all our misfortunes. We may be in Europe physically but mentally we are light years apart from the European values of pluralism of thought etc.

Ok Bananiot, so I guess you think that a French supporting the Nazis during the German occupation of France would not be a traitor and the French would not have a problem with him?

Our country is under occupation, and you side with the enemy. So it is clear what you are, and you are the same thing with the European standards also.

[Bananiot]

I side with the enemy? Am I wrong in saying that you sided with Denktas to bury the A plan that was to end 30 years of occupation?

Quote:

I thank God, the Greek Cypriots voted no (Rauf Denktas, April 25 2004)

[metecyp]

Our country is under occupation, and you side with the enemy. So it is clear what you are, and you are the same thing with the European standards also.

And how does Bananiot side with the enemy? By not agreeing with T-Pap? He just says what he believes is right. You can disagree but you cannot call him a traitor just because he disagrees with the "official" opinion.

[pantelis]

Pirati.
What I know about EOKA is a lot less than what I don't know.
Eoka was not simply the "little soldiers" who were distributing leaflets, or setting bombs at the British police stations, or serving time in concentration camps, or the heroes being hanged and killed by the British colonial powers; (The 108 heroes killed and the few hundred people jailed over a four year period, I don't call it a war of independence nor a general up-rise of the people of Cyprus). Most Cypriots were not involved.
Who were the ones who organized and financed this "up-rise"? Were they simply Grivas and Makarios? How did Grivas transitioned from being employed/financed by the British, during the civil war in Greece, murdering communist Greeks, into a leader against the British occupation of Cyprus? was the Greek government, at the time, a pawn of the West?
Do you have any answers?