Kyrenia Castle Escape | |||||||
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Part of Cyprus Emergency | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
EOKA |
The Kyrenia Castle Escape took place early in the Cyprus Emergency. [1] A number of the EOKA were being held prisoner at Kyrenia Castle and on 23 September 1955, sixteen of them escaped by climbing down sheets tied to be a rope. [2]
The escapees were: Marcos Drakos, Christakis Eleftheriou, Evangelos Evangelakis, Mikis Fyrillas, Lambros Kafkallides, Constantinos Loizou, Pavlos Nikitas, Petros Papaioannou, Panayiotis Papanastasiou, Andreas Polyviou, Michalakis Rossides, Lefkios Rodosthenous, Stelios Siamisis, Petros Stylianou, Demos Vryonides, Charilaos Xenofontos.
Seven were caught but the other nine – Evangelakis, Xenofontos, Kafkalides, Drakos, Rodosthenous, Fyrillas, Polyviou, Eleftheriou, and Nikitas – joined EOKA guerrilla outfits. The incident was extremely embarrassing to the British government. [3]
Evangelakis was recaptured in February 1957. [4] Firillas was recaptured in April 1957. [5]
On 13 November 1955 over 100 prisoners rioted at the castle. [6]
Kyrenia is a city on the northern coast of Cyprus, noted for its historic harbour and castle. It is under the de facto control of Northern Cyprus.
The Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston was a Greek Cypriot nationalist guerrilla organisation that fought a campaign for the end of British rule in Cyprus, for the island's self-determination and for eventual union with Greece.
Nikos Sampson was the de facto president of Cyprus who succeeded Archbishop Makarios, appointed as President of Cyprus by the Greek military leaders of the coup d'état against Makarios, on July 15, 1974. Sampson was a journalist and a member of EOKA, which rose against the British colonial administration, seeking Enosis (Union) of the island of Cyprus with Greece. He was eventually arrested and sentenced to death, but was imprisoned in Britain after the sentence was commuted, returning after Cyprus gained independence.
Evagoras Pallikarides was a Greek Cypriot revolutionary and poet, and member of EOKA during the 1955–1959 campaign against British rule in Cyprus.
Grigoris Pieris Afxentiou was a Greek Cypriot guerrilla fighter who fought against the British rule of Cyprus and is considered a national hero. In the hierarchy of EOKA, he was second in command to general Georgios Grivas. His nom-de-guerre was Zidhros.
The Battle of Spilia is the name given in Greek Cypriot sources to a engagement of the Cyprus Emergency that took place in the neighbourhood of the Cypriot village of Spilia on either 11 or 12 December 1955. The engagement involved 2 members of Georgios Grivas’s EOKA group and a 700 man detachment and 45 Commando Royal Marines. In British military sources this is known as part of a wider operation known as ‘Foxhunter’ that was tasked with breaking up the EOKA presence in the Troodos mountains and capturing EOKA leader Georgios Grivas.
Markos Drakos was a Cypriot guerrilla fighter who was killed in the EOKA struggle (1955–1959) against the British. His nom de guerre was Lykourgos.
Several distinct periods of Cypriot intercommunal violence involving the two main ethnic communities, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, marked mid-20th century Cyprus. These included the Cyprus Emergency of 1955–59 during British rule, the post-independence Cyprus crisis of 1963–64, and the Cyprus crisis of 1967. Hostilities culminated in the 1974 de facto division of the island along the Green Line following the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. The region has been relatively peaceful since then, but the Cyprus dispute has continued, with various attempts to solve it diplomatically having been generally unsuccessful.
Kyriakos Matsis was a Greek Cypriot guerrilla and member of EOKA.
Michalis Karaolis was born in the village of Palaichori Oreinis of Pitsilia, Cyprus. He was a government clerk and a member of EOKA. He was the first to be sentenced to death and hanged alongside Andreas Dimitriou on 10 May 1956.
The Cyprus Emergency also known as the Greek Cypriot War of Independence or Cypriot War of Independence was a conflict fought in British Cyprus between 1955 and 1959.
The High Bright Sun is a 1964 British action film directed by Ralph Thomas and starring Dirk Bogarde, George Chakiris and Susan Strasberg. It is set in Cyprus during the EOKA uprising against British rule in the 1950s. It was based on a 1962 novel by Ian Stuart Black.
The Cyprus Times, also known at The Times of Cyprus was an English-language newspaper published in Larnaca, in Cyprus from 1880, following the island becoming a British protectorate in 1878. It was founded by Edward Henry Vizetelly, who also acted as its first editor. Vizetelly had been a war correspondent for the British newspaper The Daily News, and The New York Times.
The Times of Cyprus, also known at The Cyprus Times, was an English-language newspaper published in Larnaca, in Cyprus from 1880, following the island becoming a British protectorate in 1878. It was founded by Edward Henry Vizetelly, who also acted as its first editor. Vizetelly had been a war correspondent for the British newspaper The Daily News, and the New York Times.
The 1 April Attacks were a series of attacks across Cyprus in 1955 by the EOKA which led to the start of the Cyprus Emergency. Multiple British locations were attacked after midnight by EOKA members. This attack was accompanied by the distribution of leaflets across Cyprus.
The Battle of the Pine is the name given in Greek Cypriot sources to an attack on a British army vehicle by the EOKA on 24th November 1955, two days before the declaration of the Cyprus Emergency. A team of EOKA guerrillas ambushed the vehicles on the road from Kyperounda to Chandria killing one soldier, Sapper Robert Melson.
The Battle of Yialousa was a minor engagement on 17 December 1955. As part of the Cyprus Emergency, armed men of the EOKA took part in a series of attacks on police stations across Cyprus. The police station at Yialousa was attacked by 12 men resulting in the death of a British artillery officer, Lieutenant John Kelly.
The Battle of Nicosia Hospital was a military engagement during the Cyprus Emergency. The EOKA planned a raid to rescue Polycarpos Georkadjis, an EOKA prisoner who had been transferred to hospital. The escape was successful although the team suffered casualties.
The Raid onLepka took place in April 1957 as part of the Cyprus Emergency. British security forces attacked an EOKA guerrilla group in the mountains and captured seven leading EOKA officers including leader Georghis Demetriou and Mikkis Frillas.
The following events occurred in September 1955: