Rise of EOKA

EOKA, the National Organization of Cypriot Fighters, was a Greek Cypriot guerrilla organization that fought British colonial rule in Cyprus, with the aim of uniting the island with Greece, an aim known as enosis. It was led militarily by the Greek officer Georgios Grivas, who used the name Digenis, with Archbishop Makarios III as the political leader of the Greek Cypriot community. EOKA carried out bombings, ambushes and assassinations, and the British authorities responded with curfews, detentions and harsh interrogation. The campaign also set Greek and Turkish Cypriots against each other, as the Turkish Cypriot minority favored partition. It ended with the Zurich and London agreements, which led to an independent Cyprus.

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