70 Years Ago Today: Britain Hanged Two EOKA Fighters in Cyprus
Seventy years ago today, on May 10, 1956, the British colonial authorities in Cyprus hanged two young EOKA fighters at Nicosia Central Prison, making Michalis Karaolis and Andreas Dimitriou the first martyrs of the Cypriot independence struggle.
Karaolis was 23 years old when he was arrested in 1955 for killing a Greek Cypriot police constable who was working for the British colonial administration. He was tried, sentenced to death, and despite international appeals for clemency, including pleas from the Greek government and the Orthodox Church, the British authorities refused to commute his sentence. Dimitriou was convicted of a separate armed attack against British personnel and was condemned alongside him.
The two men were executed back to back on the morning of May 10, 1956. Their deaths did not suppress the Cypriot struggle. They had the opposite effect, hardening public resolve and intensifying EOKA operations across the island. General George Grivas, the EOKA commander, responded by escalating attacks against British military targets.
Karaolis reportedly walked to the gallows without showing fear, and his composure became part of the mythology surrounding the struggle for Cypriot self-determination. Both men are remembered today as national heroes in Cyprus, with streets, schools, and public spaces named in their honor across the island.
Cyprus was still 4 years away from formal independence when they died. Britain only granted the Republic of Cyprus its independence in 1960, after years of armed resistance, diplomatic pressure, and international scrutiny of colonial rule in the Eastern Mediterranean.
The execution site at Nicosia Central Prison remains a place of remembrance. Every year on May 9 and 10, Cypriots hold commemorations marking the sacrifice of Karaolis and Dimitriou, who entered the historical record as the first fighters executed in the name of Cypriot freedom.
