Cyprus-Forum.com

[alekcen]

sorry, about the repeated posting, computer problem.

[purdey]

Were the British soldiers killed professional soldiers, or National Service conscripts ?
How many were killed in action ?
How many were unarmed when killed ?

[connor]

Are there no comments ref the list of civilians killed by EOKA as provided / claimed by Alekcen..?

[purdey]

According to EOKA, they were quizlings in the pay of the British, traitors to Cyprus. Some were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
As history teaches us when so called Freedom Fighters take the fight amongst there own people old scores are seldom forgotten and in most cases settled as part of the struggle.

[Nikitas]

Were George Washington and Thomas Jefferson and their fighters terrorists or freedom fighters? Who did they fight? The British, why? to liberate America. In the end the test seems to be who has the biggest guns AFTER the fight is over. You now go argue with Yanks if Washington and his men were terrorists.

And from what I read they also killed civilians and indulged in some horrid acts after battles, including scalping.

[halil]

Were the British soldiers killed professional soldiers, or National Service conscripts ?
How many were killed in action ?
How many were unarmed when killed ?

you can find the British losses from below link.
http://www.britains-smallwars.com/cypru ... er/ROH.htm

to read more about EOKA follow the links below web page.
http://www.britains-smallwars.com/cyprus/index.html

here is the link for The British Cyprus Memorial Trust
http://www.britishcyprusmemorial.org/

[purdey]

Thank you Halil. The British Cyprus Memorial trust site is interesting.

[alekcen]

i need to correct something about the number of british soldiers killed.
The number is 104, which for 20 000 fighters, we have 0.0052 per fighter.

About david carter thats not so trust worthy source, taking into account that he lives in the north . Also remarkable is the fact that the eoka fighters association nowadays, instead of giving evidence or deny the accusations about the murders committed by them against GC ( 204) they just refereed to david carters report that claims 369 British soldiers were killed. Ironic isnt it, the eoka association uses as evidence one reported that lives in the north and his whole report about the 369 soldiers lacks of proofs.



The actual number of dead english soldiers is 104.
GreekCypriots murdered most of them without reason ( except being left wing, or supporting something different) is 204.

[alekcen]

An evaluation of the EOKA struggle
Makarios Drousiotis - Politis


01/04/2005




Today is the 50th anniversary of the EOKA struggle. On this occasion the “Council of Historical Remembrance” and its various offshoots, are organising a series of events supported financially and politically by the state. EOKA is undoubtedly one of the most important landmarks of Cyprus’ recent history and symbolises the struggle of Greek Cypriots for freedom. This is the positive evaluation of the 1955 – 1959 period. But half a century later should have been long enough to enable us to acquire the maturity to see the complete picture, namely the negative outcome of the EOKA struggle on the history of Cyprus.



That we should honour those who died for their beliefs is commendable. However, this should not occur at the expense of historical truth. Nor should it be used as a means to obtain material or political rewards. The way that EOKA is being honoured smacks of the kind of practices carried out by dictatorial regimes which recognise only one truth. Anything that goes beyond this perceived truth is deemed to be hostile, undermining and sacrilegious.



In the name of EOKA our schools, from kindergarten to university, have become hotbeds of nationalism. Our children from a very early age, instead of being taught how to think for themselves, instead of being encouraged to question whatever is not supported by sound arguments, have become receptors of a relentless propaganda through a form of knowledge, which is filtered through the so-called “Council of Historical Remembrance”, thereby producing yes men rather than free-thinking citizens.



With the exception of a few EOKA members whose patriotism and self-sacrifice must of course be respected, the organisation as a whole has had a dramatically negative impact on the democratic development of the Cypriot society. As a result of the kind of struggle and the ideology that its leader, General G. Grivas, propounded, freedom of thought and expression were forbidden by force. Disagreement was considered treason and therefore punishable by death. A whole segment of the population, the Left, was stigmatised without a shred of evidence, as collaborating with the British Intelligence Service. EOKA banished collectivism and imposed that Makarios was “the one and only”.



When EOKA divided the Greek Cypriots into patriots and traitors (230 Greek Cypriots died at the hands of EOKA as opposed to 105 British), it also inevitably contributed to the division of the population into Greeks and Turks. As a result of its activities EOKA enabled Turkish Cypriot nationalists to set up the TMT. A close study of the activities of both organisations reveals that they are both surprisingly similar. This separation of the population into Greeks and Turks, Left and Right, was the legacy bequeathed to the newly created Republic of Cyprus.



History did not end when the struggle ended in 1959. It was the ideological side-effects of EOKA and TMT that undermined the Zurich agreements, which Mr Papadopoulos recently characterised as a godsend. When Grivas and his collaborators set up EOKA B, they were trying to recreate the EOKA spirit but they only succeeded in demolishing the structure of the Republic of Cyprus that had already cracked since 1963. It is many of these people who we see today strutting about as officials of the Council of Historical Remembrance, with their fat salaries and at the forefront of the various endless events of “remembrance and honour”, evidently because as a result of their feelings of guilt they have a need to be reassured that they were true patriots and freedom fighters to the end of their lives.



So when the lights go out at the end of the glorious ceremonies for the EOKA anniversary, we owe it to ourselves as a society to put our national costumes away in our cupboards and take a good hard look at our past. We must learn from it and start to teach our children in a way that will give them the tools to handle the future better than their forefathers did. This fairytale about armies of freedom fighters, while half our country is under occupation and the other half is still unwilling to accept the other community, must one day come to an end.

[halil]

i About david carter thats not so trust worthy source, taking into account that he lives in the north .

.

Alekcen ,
if he was living in South it will be trust worth .... Am i right ....

how about list at below link .
http://www.britishcyprusmemorial.org/index.php/roll

if they weren't true how they can build up Memorial for them .

Also those men are in rest at the buffer zone at the moment . Do u think the names they are carring on their graves are fake ?