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GREEK CYPRIOT REVOLUTION 1 APRIL 1955 (EOKA)

Uploaded by: helleniccypriot
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n the early hours of 1st April 1955 the silence of the slavery of Cyprus which lasted for eight centuries was interrupted by the explosions of bombs planted by the EOKA fighters. Those explosions echoed the desperate voice of Cyprus which no in a dynamic way demanded its freedom from the Colonial Government - a demand which was in compliance with the declaration of Human Rights and the self-determination of peoples that followed the Second World War, as well as with the British Governments promises to offer Cyprus to Greece during the First World War.
The EOKA struggle, which started on April 1st 1955 and continued until Februay 1959, was headed by the political leader, Archbishop Makarios III and by the military leader George Grivas Dhigenis. This struggle was the culmination of a long peaceful struggle of the Cypriot people who in vain were d
emanding through written notices, talks and diplomatic communications their self-determination. The negative attitude of the British Government was as disappointing as it was provocative in so far as the British Government by their own behaviour had created expectations of freedom in the people of C
yprus by calling upon them to join the British Army during the Second World War in order to fight from freedom, a call which by implication also included the freedom of Cyprus. Following the failure of the talks and the refusal of the Colonial Government to accept a petition of the Cyprus Ethnarchy
Council which demanded the holding of a referendum that would give the opportunity to the Cypriot people to express its political wish, the Ethnarchy Council itself proceeded with the organization of such a referendum on 15th January 1950. The referendum results confirmed the desire of the overwhel
ming majority of the Cypriot people for the union of Cyprus with Greece. The British Government refused to accept the Referendum results conveyed to London by a Committee specially set up for this purpose and ignored completely its conclusions. On the contrary declarations by high-ranking British O
fficials, like that of the Prime Minister Anthony Eden in 1953 which stated that as far as Britain was concerned the Cyprus issue (meaning the Union of Cyprus with Greece) was a "closed" matter and also that of Henry Hopkinson, Under-Secretary for the Colonies, in the House of Commons in 1954 statin
g that Great Britain would "never" give up Cyprus, constituted a blatant retraction on earlier British promises given during the two World Wars. The British Colonial policy left no other option to the Cypriot people but to resort to an armed struggle. Basically, Cypriots are a peace-loving people,
inexperienced in warfare. The armed forces at their disposal were minimal compared to the military might of the Colonial government. Consequently, the EOKA struggle was limited to guerilla warfare and to passive resistance. For four years the people of Cyprus, and especially the young, fought with
bravery, self-sacrifice and heroism. Neither the superior enemy, nor the gallows, the inhuman tortures inflicted on the freedom fighters, the detention in concentration camps without trial, the massive taxation, the blowing up of premises, or the bribery attempts, were able to shake the fighting spi
rit and conviction of the people. The EOKA struggle ended in 1959 with the signing of the Zurich and London Agreements by which Cyprus was declared in Independent Republic, member of the United Nations. Unfortunately certain provisions of the Agreements were undemocratic and violated human rights.
Consequantly the republic of Cyprus from the very beginning had to face administrative and other difficulties. In 1974 Turkey, using as a pretext the coup against the lawful Government, invaded the Republic of Cyprus occupying since then 37% of its territory. In the occupied area Turkey has been sys
tematically endeavouring to alter the demographic composition of the population and to destroy its cultural tradition.

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