by Nikitas » Sun Sep 07, 2008 9:22 pm
Those of us who lived through the start of the intercommunal conflict in the 50s remember how it was.
The GCs were put in curfew. A siren went off in Nicosia and we had half an hour to get home where we were forced to stay till next morning. Anyone found on the street could be shot.
Then one night, as we sat curfewed in the house, a few blocks from the Locmaci gate, a huge fire erupted. It was a GC owned timber business just north of Ermou street. That was the start for us. The routine from then one was curfew, guarded by TC auxiliary police while TC youths rioted through the area. The EOKA response was to advise us to set up a "civil guard" for protection. This involved storing heavy stuff on the terrace to drop on rioters. If this can be interpreted as EOKA turning against TCs then so be it. The fact is that TCs broght the fight to the GC areas under the eyes of the British who engineered the whole thing. In Omorfita one attack led to the death of dozens of GCs.
Those that talk about EOKA turning against the TCs obviously do not know, or do not want to know, the capabilities of EOKA. It was a small band of people, with no ability to manage a large scale urban conflict. Which explains why the conflict was brought to the cities and to neighborhood level. A ploy originated by the British to pressure EOKA into accepting a ceasefire, which it did. EOKA could not protect the GCs and it realised that if the attacks went on the GC population would be totally demoralised and turned against EOKA.