| The Raid on Lepka | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Cyprus Emergency | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 United KingdomSuffolk Regiment | EOKA | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Unknown | Georghis Demetriou (POW) | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Unknown | 7 EOKA officers captured EOKA weapon stores confidscated | ||||||
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. [1]
The Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston was a Greek Cypriot nationalist guerrilla organization that fought a campaign for the end of British rule in Cyprus, and for eventual union with Greece.
Georgios Grivas, also known by his nickname Digenis, was the Cypriot founder and leader of the Greek and Greek Cypriot paramilitary organisations Organization X (1942–1949), EOKA (1955–1959) and EOKA B (1971–1974).
Cyprus was part of the British Empire, under military occupation from 1914 to 1925, and a Crown colony from 1925 to 1960. Cyprus became an independent nation in 1960.
Taksim is a Turkish nationalist and secessionist movement of Turkish Cypriots advocating for the independence and recognition of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus under a two-state solution. It was the primary ideology of supporters of the 1974 invasion, with the concept being articulated as early as 1957 by Vice President Fazıl Küçük.
Nikos Sampson was a Cypriot journalist, militant and politician, who was installed as acting President of Cyprus during the 1974 coup.
The Turkish Resistance Organisation was a Turkish Cypriot pro-taksim paramilitary resistance organisation formed by Rauf Denktaş and Turkish military officer Rıza Vuruşkan in 1958 as an organisation to counter the Greek Cypriot Fighter's Organization EOKA. The name of the organization was changed twice. In 1967 to "Mücahit", and became the Security Forces Command in 1976. Its members (soldiers) are called Mücahit (Mujahideen).
Evagoras Pallikarides was a Greek-Cypriot poet and revolutionary who was a member of EOKA during the 1955–1959 campaign against British rule in Cyprus. He was arrested on 18 December 1956 when he was caught carrying weaponry on a donkey, to which he confessed in his trial. He was sentenced to death by hanging for firearms possession on 27 February 1957 and was the youngest insurgent to be executed in Cyprus. His death generated widespread controversy due to his young age and the circumstances of his arrest.
The Battle of Spilia is the name given in Greek Cypriot sources to an 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 approximately 12 members of Georgios Grivas’s EOKA group and a 40 man detachment of the 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 Greek Cypriot guerrilla fighter who was killed in the EOKA struggle (1955–1959) against the British. His nom de guerre was Lykourgos. He was born in Nicosia District, on 24 September 1932 and studied accounting. He worked for the Hellenic Mining Company in Cyprus until 1954. When EOKA was formed, Drakos was among the first to join, training others in the use of arms and recruiting members. Drakos was mild-mannered and enthusiastic to learn about military operations, as well as being devoutly religious, and EOKA commander Georgios Grivas "Dighenis" quickly took a liking to him. He saw great potential in Drakos as a leader, and he was quickly promoted to a senior position in EOKA.
PEKA, the Political Committee of the Cypriot Struggle, was the political wing of the EOKA movement which fought against the British the independence of Cyprus and later union with Greece between 1955 and 1959. It was founded in the summer of 1956 with the specific aims to:
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.
Stylianos Lenas was a member of EOKA, and one of the Cypriots who were wounded in battle against British soldiers.
The Cyprus Emergency was a conflict fought in British Cyprus between April 1955 and March 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 as 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 Kyrenia Castle Escape took place early in the Cyprus Emergency. 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.
The Battle of Nicosia Hospital was a military engagement during the Cyprus Emergency. The EOKA planned a raid to rescue Polykarpos Giorkatzis, an EOKA prisoner who had been transferred to hospital. The escape was successful, although the team suffered casualties.
One Morning Near Troodos (1956) was a British TV play by Iain MacCormick which aired on the BBC as part of Sunday Night Theatre. It was the first British TV play about the Cyprus Emergency.
The Black Gang was a Turkish Cypriot pro-taksim paramilitary organisation formed in 1957 with the support and funding of Fazıl Küçük and some other predominant Turkish Cypriots as an organisation to counter the Greek Cypriot Fighter's Organization (EOKA).