The EOKA Liberation Struggle Foundation and the Council of Historical Memory of the Struggle have issued a strongly worded statement on recent public debates regarding the sacrifice of Grigoris Afxentiou. They denounced the reproduction of colonial falsehoods that presented the hero as having taken his own life.
In their announcement, the bodies stressed that the British used false testimony and fabricated evidence to cover up their practices during the 1955–59 liberation struggle. They underlined that historical memory and the sacrifice of the fighters cannot be treated lightly or distorted by what they called “newly-emerged propagandists.” At the same time, they noted with optimism that Cypriot youth are rejecting such narratives and recognising the value of the Struggle and the contribution of its heroes.
The statement continues:
“The British imperialists, always and continuously, treated the colonised peoples with disdain, considering them uncivilised. When these peoples revolted against them, claiming the universal right of freedom and self-determination, they were met with harshness and inhuman repressive practices. Cyprus between 1955 and 1959 was no exception. House arrests, looting, detentions without trial, emergency regulations, demolitions, torture, humiliations, exiles, executions, holocausts.
A common counter-revolutionary practice of the colonisers, when reaching an impasse, was sophistry and the use of lies. With false witnesses, the first to be hanged, hero Michalakis Karaolis, was condemned. With false accusations, the Anorthosis clubhouse in Famagusta was blown up. With inflated numbers, they tried to justify the so-called ‘terrorist’ actions of EOKA. With fabricated evidence, they presented their repressive actions as effective. They falsely spread that they had located the hideout of Digenis. With false claims they insisted there was no torture of detainees. With false documents, Turks collaborating with them were acquitted when arrested. And the list goes on…”
Among these lies, the EOKA Foundation said, was the claim that Grigoris Afxentiou, the “Eagle of Machairas,” had committed suicide.
“The purpose of this falsehood was to escape the terrible responsibility that the ‘civilised’ burned a man alive- and to reduce the significance of his sacrifice, hoping to deprive the Greek, and ultimately world, martyrology of a reference point that would become a model for all those ‘sparrows’ who always flock around those who sacrifice themselves for freedom.”
The EOKA Foundation noted that the British used this falsehood from the very day of his sacrifice, broadcasting it on colonial radio before the “ordered forensic investigations” had even taken place. The lies continued through the inquest into his death, with different versions given: that Afxentiou had killed himself before the fire, that he had been shot by another before the fire, or that a bullet exploded by the flames had fatally wounded him. The aim, it said, was always to prove the hero was already dead before being burned.
The strongest counter to these claims, the Foundation argued, was the testimony of Avgoustis Efstathiou, the last man to see Afxentiou alive. He insisted that even when the hideout had been set ablaze and both men were burning, the “Master” was still alive, encouraging him: “Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid.”
“It is sad,” the Foundation continued, “that nearly seventy years after the sacrifice of Grigoris Afxentiou, we must again dismantle British lies. Sadder still is that these lies are today reproduced, whether in vain attempts at self-promotion or by circles whose appointed role is to slander the Struggle of the Greeks of Cyprus. Even sadder, these circles call themselves ‘liberal’ and ‘progressive’, yet deliberately act as mouthpieces of colonial propaganda, reproducing imperialist lies under the guise of postmodern analysis, ‘revealed truth’ or ‘new knowledge’. While they spew their poison, they hypocritically rush to clarify that they supposedly ‘honour’ the heroes. Honour, however, does not consist in assurances or clarifications of respect, but in service to the Truth.”
The statement went on to condemn “surface-level, pseudo-scientific and insufficient approaches” as attempts by some to justify their own lack of substance, to mask their inability to reach the heights of bravery of the Struggle’s heroes.
Finally, the Foundation said it was “particularly encouraging” that Cypriots of all political backgrounds, and especially the youth, have rejected such distortions. It called those repeating colonial narratives “useful idiots” who feed off likes, views and social media algorithms at the expense of historical memory.
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