EOKA Members List : M

M

MACHERIOTIS, Kallinicos (He was a junior archimandrite at the All Saint's Greek Orthodox Church in London's Camden Town. On 12 June 1957, he was deported to Greece by the British security services. He was deported for collecting money from Greek and Cypriot communities for EOKA. Rejecting a protest lodged by George BENSIS, the charge d'affaires of the Greek Embassy, a Foreign Office spokesman said the priest's activities had exceeded his 'legitimate duties' and 'were not in the public interest'. EOKA activity in Britain was reported on the same day, The letters EOKA were spelled out in stone beside a railroad line between Sheffield and Rotherham in the Midlands. Two nearby ground signals were damaged. Three miles away, at Brightside station, the windows of a waiting room and employees' room were smashed. At Barnsley, in the same area, the brakes on 47 freight cars were released and the cars rolled down toward a level crossing on a main road. Throughout the EOKA conflict, Scotland Yard kept a number of Greeks and Greek Cypriots under constant surveillance.

MAIMARIS, Styllis (He was hanged for his Eoka activity and met his death in Nicosia Prison on 13.03.57)

MAKARIOS, Archbishop. Code-name: Genikos, Gen or G. (Born in 1913 in the small village of Panayia, he was the son of a peasant. Little is recorded of his mother, although there were rumors he was born illegitimately to a Turkish Cypriot woman. His primary education was at the Kykko Monastery and then, he moved to the Panycyprian Gymnasium in Nicosia, which GRIVAS had also attended. After graduating in 1943 from the Theology School of Nazi-occupied Athens, he became a priest. After WW2, the World Council of Churches awarded him a scholarship to attend Boston university in 1946. His rise in the Greek Cypriot Orthodox Church was phenomenal.
In the early 50s, he was appointed Archbishop. According to those who met EOKA's political master, code-names Genikos and Haris, his 'black beard and moustache conceal his thick, sensuous lips excepting when he talks, which he does mincingly, issuing his words sibilantly, choosing them carefully. His face is a fawning mask'. Another wrote: ' His bland smile crinkles his face like that of a boy who knows where the pot of jam is hidden.' Others noted his limp handshake and his chain-smoking.

© On 9 March 1956, Makarios and his closest associates were exiled by Governor HARDING to the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean after long and fruitless negotiations From left to right: Papastravros PAPAGATHANGELOU, Bishop KYPRIANOS, Makarios and Polycarpos IOANNIDES.
Makarios at Sans Souci, his house in the Seychelles, with members of staff and visiting school children.

While he could speak English, he preferred to answer questions from Westerners in Greek. 'Makarios gives the impression that he is slippery. This befits his Church. Throughout the ages the Orthodox Church of Cyprus has shown the greatest agility of mind in side stepping awkward facts and situations,' so wrote an author who knew him well.

There is circumstantial evidence to suggest Makarios was an active homosexual, with a penchant for young boys with whom he conducted unusual sexual acts. He was also fixated on the number 13 and the supernatural. At the London Conference in February 1959, he tried to stall signing an agreement without major changes. After a late evening visit to his hotel suite by Foreign Office officials, the next morning he put his mark on all the necessary documents, without any further protest.

Nigel West, a British expert in MI6 activities, suggests the Security Services' representatives showed him their files on his 'rather unusual homosexual proclivities' and suggested they would be made public if he did not sign.

GRIVAS, writing in his diary on 23.05.55, called him 'the real leader of the National Liberation Struggle'.

The Archbishop returned to Cyprus on 01.03.59 after talks in London had agreed independence for the Island. He called upon EOKA's field units to hand in their weapons at police stations and this started taking place on 14.03.59.

Keen to keep the Eoka leadership on his side, Makarios met many of the key players at his Archbishopric to discuss their future roles. Standing on the Archbishop's right, there is a smiling, bespectacled Polycarpos GEORGADJIS, soon to become Minister of the Interior in the first Republic government. Nicos SAMPSON, in open-neck shirt, is on the prelate's immediate left

But differences began to develop with GRIVAS, who believed the Eoka struggle was incomplete until enosis was achieved.

To reach a compromise Makarios flew to Rhodes to meet GRIVAS and other Eoka combatants whom Britain had released from UK prisons and would only be allowed back to Cyprus after independence.
Soon after the signing of the London-Zurich agreements, Makarios (sideways to camera) visits the RAF radar station on top of Mt Olympus in the Troodos Mountains, one of the UK Government's retained sites in Cyprus. Here the Archbishop listens to a briefing from his aides. On the right is a photographer from The Times of Cyprus. Standing alone on the left is the Archbishop's driver, dressed very much like an admiral in the Italian navy!

Makarios became the first President of the original 1960 co-partnership Republic of Cyprus, with Dr Fazil Kutchuk as the country's Vice-President. But, from the outset, it was clear that the right-wing politicians from both Greek and Turkish sides disagreed over the Island's governance.

Matters came to a head when Makarios, in 1963, tried to change the Republic's Constitution, to which the Turkish Cypriots objected. Just before Christmas, Greeks and Turks virtual civil war broke out and the UK was asked to intervene to create a 'Truce Force', the forerunner of UNFICYP. The Blue Berets' mandate did not allow them enforce peace by military means, just try to stop conflict by negotiation. With the power of government behind them, the various Greek militia were pulled together and became the (Greek Cypriot) National Guard under the command of General GRIVAS.

By 1967, GRIVAS was acting on his own initiative by ignoring Makarios and UNFICYP. He continued his attacks against the Turks. Only the threat of an invasion by Turkey prevented his National Guard from wiping out the Turkish Cypriot enclaves.

To prevent war between their two 'motherlands' over Cyprus, Athens eventually agreed to bring GRIVAS back.

Makarios breathed a sigh of relief. For his part, GRIVAS was determined to return and overthrow the Archbishop whom he considered was a pawn of the Left.

Taken on 21.05.67, this is the last known picture of GRIVAS and Makarios appearing together in public at a rally of the National Guard. Polycarpos GEORGHADJIS is seated on the extreme left of frame. He would later conspire with the former Eoka leader and others to kill Makarios.

From the moment, GRIVAS returned to Greece, Makarios was a marked man and considered a traitor to the Hellenist movement for 'betraying the struggle for enosis'. There would now be attempts on his life.

On 08.03.70, the Archbishop barely escaped when his helicopter was sabotaged. Colonel Dimitris PAPASTOLOU of the National Guard and former Interior Minister Polycarpos GEORGADJIS were behind the death plot.

On 15.07.74, Makarios was temporarily ousted from power by a coup engineered by the Athens junta. He escaped with the help of British forces. Nicos SAMPSON replaced him for a few days as president. Makarios remained outside Cyprus until the end of the year, by which time Turkey's military forces had split the Island in two, concentrating all Turkish Cypriots in the northern third. Most Greek Cypriots were pushed south.

Makarios died suddenly from a heart attack on 03.08.77 at the age of 64. His body lay in state for a week of mourning and more than a quarter of a million people filed past his coffin.

Thirty-one year-old Toula Tryfon, a mother of two, kept vigil by the Archbishop's body for five days and nights until his funeral. From the moment his unexpected death was announced, thousands of mourners swarmed the Archbishopric to pay their last respects. Police allowed only 100 people in at a time. Everyone cried and kissed his hand. Some Greek Cypriots were hysterical. 'I have never experienced or could have imagined such an outpouring of grief. I think three quarters of Cyprus must have come and they kept coming,' Tryfon recalls.

DIKO, a Greek Cypriot political party, still calls on Cypriot Hellenism to honour the memory of Makarios by upholding the battles to which he was dedicated. 'The visions, battles and great cause of the eternal ethnarch Makarios continue to inspire and lead Cypriot Hellenism,' declares the party.

Spyros KYRIANOU, who succeeded as president, kisses the hand of the Archbishop. Tassos PAPADOPOULOS and his wife can be seen at the extreme left of the picture.
He was buried at Throni, high in the Troodos Mountains, his coffin draped with the flag of Greece - but minus his heart!

Until late 2006, his heart was preserved in his bedroom in the Archbishopric in Nicosia. It was removed after Makarios's unexpected death in August 1977 so that it could be examined to ensure the Ethnarch had not been poisoned.

Most Cypriots were surprised by the discovery of the heart and expressed the hope it would be buried in Makarios III's Throni tomb, which it was 24.11.2006. On the day of his funeral in 1977, there was a heavy rainstorm. 'When a good man is buried, even the heavens shed tears,' says a Greek proverb. A Turkish proverb's message is different: 'When an evil man dies, the heavens try to wash away his misdeeds.'

The Makarios tomb in Throni Mountain, a site he himself chose, guarded 24 hours a day.

The slogan 'Makarios Lives', painted in giant white letters, appears directly below on the mountainside.

MALIOTIS, Andreas. (Born 1940 in Nata, Paphos, he was both student and hit and run Eoka operative in the Paphos area.)

MAPOURIADES, Costas (Born 1932, Ayios Ioannis, he was a member of the mountain gang operating in Spilia Palehori.))

MARCOU, Mimis: (With George HADJIANASTASIOU, he threw a bomb into the NAAFI in the center of Larnaca. Although entry was restricted to British subjects and locally-recruited employees, these two terrorists were able to successfully elude the NAAFI's tight security arrangements on 09.08.56 and explode their bomb, causing a fire to break out.)

MARKIDES, Georghios (A member of the Ethnrchy office in 1945, when there was an attempt to set up an electoral council.)

MARKIDES, Leonidas (Born 1914 in Yerolakos, he drove trucks for the Cyprus Transport Company (KEM) and moved members of the hit and run gangs in Nicosia).

MARSELLOU, Yulika (She was sentenced to imprisonment on 08.12.58 with her friend, Ann MELISS, for throwing homemade grenades at the security forces in Nicosia. She was 18, a year younger than MELISS.)

MARTIN, Tony (A British Army deserter, he joined Eoka. Captured by the Security Forces, he was court martialled and sentenced to a term of imprisonment in HM Wakefield. Here he joined other would-be terrorists - Joe DOYLE and Seamus MURPHY of the IRA and Eoka's Nicos SAMPSON and Renos KYRIAKIDES.

MATSIS, George (His hideout was in Kannavia. He was captured in Sarandi by 2 Para on 21 January 1957 during Operation Black Mak. When his arrest was announced, Athens Radio urged 'all Cypriot children should try to be like him. Troodos is in silence; not even the birds are singing' and said Matsis was 'beloved of the gods'. In his diary, GRIVAS noted: 'EOKA has lost a brave and honest soldier. May his memory be eternal. His self-sacrifice and patriotism will be an example to all.' As a terrorist, the highlight of his career was raiding a British arms store in Famagusta/Gazimagosa. His gang succeeded in snatching Sten guns, ammunition and grenades, part of the supplies removed from Egypt as the British Army moved out of the [Suez] Canal Zone bases. Born in Paleochori Village, he was the half-brother of Kyriakos MATSIS, who was killed by the Security Forces. A Special Court in Nicosia tried George Matsis in May 1957. He was found guilty of being in possession of weapons, ammunition, bombs & hand grenades. He was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment in the UK. After peace agreements were signed in London in February 1959, he was transferred with other EOKA members to Greece, returning to Cyprus when the Island became independent in 1960. He was still alive in 2008.

MATSIS, Kyriakos (The Eoka area commander in the Kyrenia/Girne District was found dead on 19.11.58 in the basement of a house in Kato Dhikomo/Dikmen by men of 1 Wilts, who were rounding up terrorist suspects. Two of his comrades surrendered - Andreas SOFIOPOULOS and Kostaris CHRISTODOULOU - but Matsis, aged 32, told the British troops: 'I shall come out firing.' The patrol threw three grenades into the hide.

After they had exploded, the soldiers saw what was left: Matsis was lying with two guns, his right leg severed at the hip and his body ripped by shrapnel. An inquest ruled he had committed suicide by shooting himself in the head.

When Matsis was first captured, Eoka claims, Governor HARDING offered him £500,000 to reveal GRIVAS's hideout. Matsis is reputed to have replied, 'Your Excellency, the Struggle is not for money, but for virtue.' Matsis was sent to Omorphita for interrogation. He escaped from there on 09.9.56. The 32-year-old graduate of Thessaloniki University, and nephew of George MATSIS, had a £5,000 price on his head.

The Matsis hideout after grenades destroyed it and it became a place of pilgrimage for Greek Cypriots

Later, Major General Darling, Director of Operations, discussing the discovery of the hideout, told reporters: 'It is an splendid effort. My men - 1 Wilts - have been first class under conditions requiring great patience and endurance. It is a terrific show and only the beginning.'

This is Matsis's binocular case, made by Dolland of London, that survived the grenade attack by members of 1 Wilts.

In December 1955, when 1 Gordon Highlanders moved into the Spilia area, Matsis acted as GRIVAS's chief courier. Arrested by the Security Forces for the first time on 09.01.56, he was offered £500,000 and a new identity abroad if he revealed where GRIVAS was hiding. He is reputed to have replied: 'This struggle is for virtue not for money.'

Confined in Camp K - Kokkinotrimithea - he escaped on 13.09.56 with six fellow inmates and went on to rejoin his Kyrenia group. He considered himself an intellectual who enjoyed reading New Fabian Essays. His body is buried in Nicosia's Central Prison grounds.)

MAVROGENIS, Demitris, Dr (Based in Athens in 1956, he assisted in drafting anti-British propaganda during the Eoka conflict. He died in August 1964 when Turkish Cypriots were under attack in the Kokkina area and the Turkish Air Force bombed Tylleria.)

*** MAVROMMATIS, Stelios (He was given a death sentence on 12.06.56 for shooting at a British civilian mother and her child in Fredericka Street, Nicosia, on 16.03.56. He was also found guilty of the attempted murders of RAF Storeman Mechanic Lawrence KEITH and SAC Norman KITCHEN on 25.03.56. He had been active since the start of the conflict. He was executed on 21.09.56, alongside Andreas PANAGIDIS and Michalis KOUTSOFTAS. Mavromatis' brother and cousin Evagoras PALLIKARIDIS were fellow Eoka collaborators. Mavrommatis was born in Lapithou/Lapta in the Kyrenia/Girne district on 15.11.32. His last words were: 'I want you to know that your son and brother died with a smile on his lips because he kept until the end the sacred oath he gave to sacrifice himself for the sake of the freedom of Cyprus.')

MAVROU, Diana. (A Limassol native, she was used by Eoka to smuggle explosives and weapons from Athens. She also became one of GRIVAS's mistresses. GRIVAS renewed this relation in the 1970s when he returned to the Island to lead Eoka-B against MAKARIOS.)

MAVROUDIS, Yannis. (The 19-year-old mechanic from Kalopsida was captured in Akhna village on 28 February 1957 by a Royal Leicestershire Regiment patrol. He surrendered with three others.'We were going through an orange grove about two miles west of Akhna on a routine pa-trol, when we came upon a house on the edge of the grove. Suddenly we saw an old man run towards it and almost immediately four men came running out towards us. We were still partly hidden in the grove. But suddenly they saw us, and turned and ran across a rough field. We took up the chase and after about 100 yards I shouted to them to halt. They stopped and put their hands above their heads,' said Cpl. MOORE.

MELISS, Ann (She was sentenced to imprisonment on 08.12.58 with Yulika MARSELLOU, her friend, for throwing homemade grenades at the security forces in Nicosia. She was 19, a year older than MARSELLOU.)

MELOS, Anargyros (He was the owner of the motor-ship St George in which EOKA tried to smuggle arms and munitions into Cyprus from Greece in January 1955, three months before the Cyprus conflict was launched on 1 April. The security services had intercepted the vessel and arrested those on board. Melos was sentenced to five years after being found guilty by the Paphos Assize Court in May.

MENELAOU, Aristos (No details available at present).

MENELAOU, Xanthos. (One of the younger Eoka members, he was arrested by Sgt Jack TAYLOR of the UK Police Unit. Menelaou put up no resistance. Asked why, he replied: 'I wanted the police to arrest me. I am fed up with the Organization.'

MICHAEL, Charalambos. (He died 16.03.56. Born 1938 in Kalopsidha, he was an EOKA student group member who gave his occupation as 'cyclist'.)

*** MICHAEL, Charilaos. (Born in Gallini, near Nicosia, on 09.02.35, he was one of 9 Greek Cypriots sent to the gallows for their Eoka actions during the conflict. He was a member of the gang, led by Markos DRAKOS, who attacked Major COOMBE and his driver near Soli on 15.12.55. Charilaos was hanged on 09.08.56. His last words were: 'Because I know why I shall be executed I feel strong and calm and I am ready to face anything with absolute tranquillity.')

MICHAEL, Costas. (No details known. There are eight EOKA members with the same name.)

MICHAEL, Georgios. (From Kissonerga, he was born 1939. He was killed 13.03.56 when he tossed a hand grenade at a military truck and the grenade bounced back and exploded.)

MICHAELIDES, Alexandros. Code-name: Koungas (He operated in the Amiandos area. Today's Eoka association does not list him as a 'hero'.)

MICHAELIDES, Costas (He was sentenced to death on 31.08.57 for firearms offenses. Michaelides' 'hunting ground' for Eoka was Limassol. Operating from his store at 102 Ayiou Andreou Street as a glassware dealer, he stored TMT there, shaped as small statues, smuggled from Athens. )

MICHAELIDES, Dinos. (An 'expert' explosives-maker, he specialized in producing Mercury Fulminate, used in the detonation devices, for the Limassol bombers, but also helped those in Larnaca. He was caught and sentenced to death, but the sentence was commuted. Released from prison following the independence agreement, he trained to be a lawyer. Post-independence, most Greek Cypriot legal matters were handled by former Eoka members. President KYPRIANOU, who favoured giving posts to lawyer-friends from Paphos and Limassol, later appointed Michaelides Minister of the Interior. Most stayed in the government for just over a year, the period required to secure a government pension for life, as well as diplomatic passports. For his part, Michaelides was forced to resign because of his connection to several corrupt deals. Not to lose any of his privileges, he formed his own legal political party - ETEK. It has three members, including himself and his wife. Today his large and luxurious Limassol home is much envied by the local mafia.

MICHAELIDES, Michael. (A theologian and teacher, he was born 1932 in Nicosia. He coordinated the activities of the Spiritual Supply Service on behalf of Archimanadrite LEFKOSIATIS. His religious pamphlets were widely distributed among the Bible study groups in the detention groups. They served a dual purpose: to assist discussion on spiritual matters and, more importantly, to pass coded messages.)

MICHAELIDES, Panayotis (From the village of Vassilias, he died, aged 84, on 14.02.2005. He worked as a clerk with the Electricity Board in Nicosia and Kyrenia/Girne)

MICHELIDES, Panicos (Born 1940, he operated in Lysso)

MICHAELOPOLIS, Michael. (He was a Government House accounts clerk, who had worked there from 1951 to 1954. He allowed GRIVAS to stay at his family home in Strovolos, while the Eoka leader was planning his Eoka conflict before April 1955.)

MICHAIL, Charilaos. (Born in Galini village in 1935, he joined Eoka, with his father and brothers. He was part of the gang that ambushed RE Major Brian Coombe and his driver near Soli. He surrendered to Coombe in the ensuing battle. He was sentenced to death and hanged in Nicosia's Central Prison on 09.08.56. Andreas ZAKOS and Iakovos PATATSOS were executed at the same time.)

MITSIS, H (A Limassol gunman, who, with another, C ATHANASSI, tried to kill Royal Marines S J COUGHTNEY and K J GOODEY by automatic fire. The two young soldiers wrestled their enemy to the ground and arrested both.)

MODESTOS, Andreas (A schoolboy, aged 16, he took part in his first Eoka mission at the age of 15 on 23.10.58, when he electrically-detonated mines under two trucks filled with British soldiers, as they pulled up outside Yiallousa police station. Eoka claimed there were 20 British casualties. None is recorded for that date.)

MODITIS, Andreas. (He was arrested by the British authorities on 18.11.56 after an unsuccessful attack on an army convoy travelling the Larnaca-Dhekelia road, near the Terra-Ombra factory. His cohort was Andreas IOANNOU. Both were sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment.)

MOUSKOS, Charalambous (Archbishop Makarios's cousin was shot dead by Major Brian COOMBE, RE, following an ambush of his Champ near Xeros led by Marcos DRAKOS, who escaped, leaving behind Coombe's dead driver, L/Cpl MORUM. Mouskos had a £5,000 reward on his head. His death took place on 15.12.55. He was the first EOKA guerrilla to die in the campaign.)

Crowds of Greek Cypriots, many carrying Greek flags, turned out to watch Mouskos's funeral cortege. Students from the Pancyprian Gymnasium crowded the sidewalks and sang nationalist songs.
Because MAKARIOS was his cousin, the Archbishop conducted the funeral service at Nicosia's Phaneromeni Church. The Security Forces were extremely concerned that there would be riots if the large crowds of mourners were not controlled. Troops and police stood by for trouble - and they did not have long to wait. Despite heavy winter rain, the crowds refused to disperse peacefully and only left the scene after tear gas bombs were used. MAKARIOS later protested the police action as 'sacrilege' and 'a dark stain on the history of the British occupation of Cyprus'.

MOUSKOS, Cleopatra (She was the sister of the Mouskos killed by Maj. Coombe at Soli in December 1955.)

MOUSKOS, Yiakoumis (MAKARIOS's brother and driver)

MOUSLOS, Yiorki (MAKARIOS's half-brother, whom the prelate disliked intensely.)

MOUSTAKAS, Andreas (Born 1929 in Platres, an electrician by trade, he was a deputy commander of a hit and run gang in Platres. After independence, he became involved with EOKA B in 1970-71).

MOUSTAKAS, Sotiris, (He was born in Limassol in 1940 and died in Athens in 2007. During the EOKA conflict, he acted for the terrorist organization as a messenger , leaflet distributor and a political graffiti artist. He was arrested and served seven months' imprisonment for his activities. Once Cyprus gained independence, he studied acting at the National Theater of Greece. At the time of his death, he was considered one of the best comic actors in the country. He appeared in several films and came to international attention, alongside Anthony Quinn, with his role in Zorba The Greek as Mimithos, the village idiot . Moustakas was never keen to talk about his EOKA membership. The photographs above are taken from his performances.)

MOUTTAS, StavrosCharalamides A Greek national he became involved with Eoka, but was not trusted by GRIVAS and others and was sent back to Athens in 1956.)

MOUTTOFF, Stavros (He was captured by the British at Kalopanayiotis and released later. He was not recorded by Eoka as a member. He was probably 'turned' by the British after capture.)

MYLONAS, Chrysanthos (An Eoka courier, he was murdered alongside Evagoras PAPACHRISTOFOROU on 07.10.57 by Michael ASHIOTIS at their hideout. He was 18-years-old. According to Brigadier R G V FITZGEORGE-BALFOUR, CO of 1 Guards Brigade, at a Nicosia press conference on 11.10.57, the two terrorists' hideout was found because of information provided by Michael ASHIOTIS. The house was found to contain Eoka plans to attack Karvouns power station as well as a list of 100 prominent Greek Cypriots GRIVAS planned to execute for failing to support Eoka or continuing to work with the colonial administrators)

MYLONAS, Polyvios (He was ordered to 'execute' 18 year-old Michael ASHIOTIS, who was with him and Christos PAPACHRISTOFOROU in a hide in the Kyperounda area. The order was sent directly by GRIVAS, because the Eoka leader believed any one who escaped from Kokkinotrimithia Detention Camp - as Ashiotis had - was 'turned'. When Ashiotis discovered his companions were to kill him, he did away with them first.)

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