Description
This is a story of how the people of Cyprus, a small island in the Mediterranean sea, took arms during the 1950s, to liberate their country from nearly eight decades of British colonial rule. Leading the struggle was an ex-Greek army Colonel, named Georgios Grivas, who supported and fought with the Allies during World War II, and in November 1954 secretly went to Cyprus to establish a secret organisation named EOKA (the National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters).
EOKA led an unequal four-year fight (1955–1959) against the British colonial authorities and security forces at all levels, including demonstrations, strikes, resignations from government positions (local and central), and attacks on military installations and buildings. By the end of 1958 the island became ungovernable by the British Government, who in response, sent 40,000 troops in an attempt to put a stop the uprising (an astonishing one third of the troops used by the Allies on D-Day). Despite being armed with the latest weaponry and technology, the British troops were unable to regain control of the island – they were no match for the courage, heart, and patriotism shown by the small group of men armed with rusty world war guns, homemade explosives, and a relentless desire to free their people.
During these times, EOKA was labelled a terrorist organisation and its members as murderers. Decades later, as the facts have been gradually uncovered, these labels have faded, and the story can now be told on how the people of a small island, fought bravely for freedom against all odds, and succeeded in bringing the end of the colonial rule.
Grivas’ military campaign managed to make the island non-governable colony. For the British to rule Cyprus they had to introduce illiberal emergency regulations: imprisonment without trial, death penalty for possessing arms, searches of persons, vehicles, houses and premises, interrogations under torture, concentration camps, curfews in villages, towns and cities and censorship of media and correspondence. Grivas with his EOKA campaign forced the British to sign the Zurich-London Agreements granting Cyprus independence.
