The Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston (EOKA ; Greek: Εθνική Οργάνωσις Κυπρίων Αγωνιστών, lit. 'National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters') 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.
Cyprus, an island in the Eastern Mediterranean, has had a Greek cultural presence dating back thousands of years, visible in its language, religion, and traditions. The island was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1571. Before this, it had never been under Turkish rule, having been governed at different times by Greek, Byzantine, and Latin powers. During Ottoman administration, the population remained overwhelmingly Greek. Following the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878), control of Cyprus was transferred to the British Empire on 4 June 1878. Official censuses conducted under British administration recorded a consistent Greek Cypriot majority: in 1881 Greeks numbered 137,631 (73.9%) and Turks 45,458 (24.4%) out of 186,173; in 1931 Greeks 276,572 (79.5%) and Turks 64,238 (18.5%) out of 347,959; and in 1960 Greeks 442,363 (77.1%) and Turks 104,333 (18.2%) out of 573,566.
British censuses conducted between 1881 and 1960 consistently recorded Greek Cypriots as the large majority of the population, with Turkish Cypriots forming a smaller minority:
As nationalistic tendencies grew in both major population groups, Greek Cypriots advocated for Enosis (Union with Greece) which was a part of the Megali idea. The origins of Enosis date back to 1821, the year when the Greek War of Independence commenced, and the archbishop of Cyprus, his archdeacon, and three bishops were beheaded by the Ottoman colonial administration, amongst other atrocities. In 1828, Ioannis Kapodistrias, the first governor of Greece, asked for the union of Cyprus with Greece, while small-scale uprisings also occurred. In 1878, when British general Wolsely came to Cyprus to formally establish British rule, he was met by the archbishop of Kition who, after welcoming him, requested that Britain cede Cyprus to Greece. Initially, the Greek Cypriots welcomed British rule, as they were aware that the British had returned the Ionian Islands to Greece in 1864. They were also hopeful for British investment in Cyprus, which the Ottoman occupation left as an impoverished island.
In 1912, the British government made an offer to Greece to exchange Cyprus for a naval base in Argostoli, in order to gain control of the Ionian Sea, an offer which was repeated in 1913. In 1915, the British offered Cyprus to Greece several times in exchange for Greece's participation in World War I. While Greece was undecided whether it should enter the War, however, the British government withdrew its offer. By 1915, the Greek Cypriots' opposition to British rule had increased, seeing that neither the British investment nor Enosis had materialized. In the beginning, the Enosis movement had only few supporters, mainly from the upper classes. However, that was about to change as two groups, disappointed with the new ruler, began to form, namely the Church and the Usurers. A number of Cypriots studying in Greece in the following years became strong advocates of Enosis upon their return. On the other hand, the Turkish Cypriot community started to develop its own nationalism in the early 20th century, as news arrived in the island about the persecutions faced by Muslims in the countries that formed after the collapse of Ottoman Empire.
The November 1926 appointment of Ronald Storrs (a philhellene) as the new governor of Cyprus, fostered the idea among Greek Cypriot nationalists that British rule would be a stepping stone for the eventual union with Greece. Their relationship was to sour in 1928, when Greek Cypriots refused to take part in the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the British occupation of Cyprus. Greece appealed for calm, limiting the spread of anti-colonial articles in Greek Cypriot newspapers. Education became another arena of conflict with the passage of the Education Act, which sought to curtail Greek influence in the Cypriot school curricula. Cypriot irredentists also lamented the supposedly preferential treatment of Malta and Egypt at the expense of Cyprus. Relations worsened further when the British authorities unilaterally passed a new penal code which permitted among other things the use of torture. In 1929, Legislative Council members Archbishop of Kition Nikodemos and Stavros Stavrinakis arrived in London, presenting a memorandum to the secretary of colonies Lord Passfield which contained demands for Enosis. As with previous such attempts the answer was negative.
In September 1931, Storrs blocked a Legislative Council decision to halt tax hikes that were to cover a local budget deficit. Greek Cypriot MPs reacted by resigning from their positions. Furthermore, on 18 October, Archbishop of Kition Nikodemos called Greek Cypriots to engage in acts of civil disobedience until their demands for Enosis were fulfilled. On 21 October 1931, 5,000 Greek Cypriots, mostly students, priests and city notables rallied in the streets of Nicosia while chanting pro–Enosis slogans in what came to be known as the October Events. The crowd besieged Government House, following three hours of stone throwing the building was set on fire. The rioters were eventually dispersed by police. At the same time British flags were stripped from public offices across the country, often being substituted with Greek ones. Order was restored by the beginning of November. A total of seven protesters were killed, thirty were injured, ten were exiled for life, while 2,606 received various punishments ranging from prison terms to fines on account of seditious activities.
The revolt damaged both the Enotic cause and the Anglo–Hellenic relations. The Legislative Council and municipal elections were abolished, the appointment of village authorities and district judges was relegated to the governor of the island. Propagating Enotic ideas and flying foreign flags was banned as was the assembly of more than 5 people. Cyprus thus entered a period of autocratic rule known as Palmerokratia (Παλμεροκρατία; lit. 'Palmerocracy'), named after governor Richmond Palmer, which started shortly before the revolt and would last until the beginning of World War II.
In the 1950s, EOKA was established with the specific aim of mounting a military campaign to end the status of Cyprus as a British crown colony and achieving the island's unification with Greece. The leadership of AKEL at the time, the island's communist party, opposed EOKA's military action, advocating a "Gandhiesque approach" of civil disobedience, such as workers' strikes and demonstrations.
Initially, the struggle was political, as opposed to military. EOKA, in Grivas' words, wanted to attract the attention of the world through high-profile operations that would make headlines.
EOKA was headed by Georgios Grivas, a Greek Army officer, World War I and World War II veteran. During the Axis occupation of Greece in World War II, he led a small, anti-communist resistance group, named Organization X. During the anti-communist struggle of December 1944 in Athens after the Axis withdrawal he was saved due to British intervention. Grivas assumed the nom de guerre Digenis in direct reference to the legendary Byzantine Digenis Akritas who repelled invaders from the Byzantine Empire. Second in command in EOKA was Grigoris Afxentiou, also a former officer of the Greek army. Afxentiou had graduated from the reserves Officers Academy in 1950 without previous experience on battlefield.
The main objective of EOKA was Enosis. The organization adopted typical Greek national ideologies and displayed religious, conservative and anticommunist ideas. This was in agreement with the prevailing ideas of Cypriot society at the time. There was a widespread belief that leftists opposed national objectives and provided a certain support to the colonial regime contrary to other contemporary anti-colonial insurgencies in Africa or Asia, which were led by Marxists.