Cyprus-Forum.com

[miltiades]

Cypezokyli , I was born in 1946 therefore I was a mere child at the time , in 1958 while I was in Ayios Loucas , and at the ripe old age of 12 I along with others joined the ANE .
The leadership did indeed exclude Communists from it's ranks. Bearing in mind that the leader Georgios Grivas , had only just finished fighting the Communists in Greece it was very appropriate at the time to exclude them from the struggle. You must have come across the famous AKEL statement on April 1st 1955 following the commencement of the struggle.
EOKA during the period of 1955-1959 did not execute more than perhaps half a dozen collaborators. I do not know the exact figures perhaps some one can correct me on this , but please we are talking 55-59 .
The Harding's proposals were , I believe made in November 1955 , when Macmillan was the British Prime Minister.
In view of what has happened to Cyprus since , any solution then would have been better than we we currently have.

[Natty]

3. EOKA also attacked tcs (collaborators and not). i might be wrong on this one , but i believe that the tcs casualties were bigger than the british ones. ask any tc in this forum to tell you what they think about EOKA.

The majority of Turkish Cypriots killed by EOKA were members of the police force made up, by the British, completely of Turkish Cypriots, to crush EOKA, therefore the GC's considered that they were fighting the British where as the TC community saw it as a direct act agains't them. However some fantical nationalistic members, as far as I can tell, killed people they regarded as being collaborators with The British, and it didn't matter whether they were GC or TC, although the majority only targeted the British.

The first Turk to be killed by EOKA was killed on 21 June 1955, when a Turkish policeman in the service of the British was killed. This was not an attack on Turks, but against British colonialism.

(Taken from Wikepedia)

EOKA B, however were different as far as I could tell they targeted civilians, again both GC and TC, infact many GC's fought agains't them.

EOKA-B was a Greek Cypriot right-wing pro-enosis paramilitary organisation formed in 1971 that was supported by the ruling Greek junta which came to power in 1967 overthrowing the legitimate Greek government of Panayiotis Kanellopoulos. The organization is commonly referred as a terrorist organization by Turkey and United Kingdom.[1] because EOKA B engaged in the killing of civillians, this terminology is shared by President Makarios on his speech at UN following the coup.[2]



Whereas EOKA (1955-59) were seen by the majority of the Greek Cypriots as anti-colonialist freedom fighters[citation needed], the EOKA-B did not have the overwhelming support of the Greek Cypriot population, who where skeptical over the organisation's involvement with the unpopular Greek dictatorship. They did not want to swap their newly found independence for direct rule from Athens. The organisations unpopularity increased after attacks on Greek Cypriot socialists and supporters of independence, while public outrage followed the murder of government minister Polycarpos Georgadis and a botched assassination attempt on Makarios.

When Grivas died from heart failure in January 1974, the new leadership of EOKA-B increasingly came under the direct control and influence of the military junta in Athens. On July 15, 1974, the EOKA-B with approval of the Greek Dictator Ioannides and the help of the National Guard, launched a military coup, overthrowing Makarios and installing Nikos Sampson as President of Cyprus. This action served only to provoke a Turkish military invasion on July 20, 1974 leading to the subsequent de facto division of the island.

(Again taken from Wikepedia, which seems pretty fair)


Peace!

[ExNicosia]

I left the island for Khartoum Aug 57 and therefore do not know just when the bombings and killings ended. As of 3 Sept 1956 the killing and wounded numbers were as follows:

Police killed Civilians killed
U.K. GC TC U.K. GC TC
4 9 7 6 68 3 4 other nats.

Police wounded Civilians wounded

U.K. GC TC U.K. GC TC
6 21 0 34 102 14


Military
Killed Wounded
42 181


I think many of the GC casualties were by EOKA for being "traitors". Maybe someone can confirm or deny this?

[Natty]

I believe people also died in the bomb explosions that happened, although I could be wrong.....I think we need you Miltiades! :)

[anastasiaC]

i would love to learn more about Cypriot history - having grown up in Australia we seem to know nothing about it
and I only know from what my parents have told me.......

[miltiades]

Natty , the executions of traitors by EOKA was in single numbers .
The G/C -EOKA casualties throughout the period 55-59 amounted to just over 210 , some killed in action , some hanged by the British , some killed by T/cs and some by accidents while carrying explosives including a young 13 year old girl , NIKI YIANGOU who was killed in Limassol following a bomb explosion aimed at the security forces.Also from similar circumstances on the 9/02/57 a 9 year old boy lost his life, and a 7 year old from Famagusta on the 19/04/58.So EOKA were not very good shots.I have story on this to tell later on.
One of youngest to die was a 7 year old boy named Dimitris Demitriades who was shot by the British in Larnaca on the 14/03/56 , during a student demonstation.Another casualty was a young girl from Famagusta , 10 years old who on seeing excited British soldiers entering the city died of fear !.
I could be wrong but I believe one of the oldest was a 72 year old shepherd from TRIPIMENI , who was killed by T/Cs while out in the fields tending his flock .Two other 72 year olds were killed by T/Cs on the 17/07/58 near PERGAMOS. both were from the village of Lysi , which could possibly explain Lysis outlook to life .

[rotate]

Another casualty was a young girl from Famagusta , 10 years old who on seeing excited British soldiers entering the city died of fear !.

The ten year old Famagusta girl who died of fear was a class mate of my wife who had an undiagnosed congenital heart condition. Together with my wife and some other girls they were running home to avoid being caught up in school battle of the flags between older students and the British.

My wife clearly remembers turning around to see if everyone had kept up and seeing the girl collapse to the ground. The rest is all a little hazy to her and can still evoke a tear. My wife treasured a doll belonging to the dead girl that the heart broken mother gave to her sometime later, sadly the doll went the way of everything else we owned in 74.

[Natty]

Hey Miltiades, when you say TC's do you mean members of the Auxilary force, set up by the British to crush EOKA? I don't think people at that point had starting killing each other just because they were Greek or Turkish...
Although I could be wrong!!

Peace!!

[miltiades]

Natty , at that time the inter communal troubles had started . It was Turk against Greek with the British enjoying every minute of it. I lived through those years and experienced what was going on. I blame the British colonial policy .

[Natty]

Thanks Miltiades, I understand now! I'd love to hear some more personal experiences of yours (Only if you want to of course!! ) For someone who didn't live through those years, it's great to hear first hand stories from someone who was actually there, instead of reading a historians opinion on what happened in a book...

Peace!!!!