Echoes of the “Dekemvriana” of 1944 in Cyprus
These days mark 80 years since the “Dekemvriana” of 1944, the civil conflict that largely shaped Greece’s post-war political landscape, significantly influencing the fate of Cyprus’s unionist cause.
The events began with shootings that turned the blood-drenched EAM demonstrations (banned by the government) into massacres in Syntagma Square on 3 and 4 December. The conflict had become apparent earlier, with the resignation of EAM-affiliated ministers from Georgios Papandreou’s “Government of National Unity” on 1 December 1944, due to their refusal to accept the disarmament of ELAS, as stipulated in the Caserta Agreement. The battles continued until 5 January 1945, determined by the decisive involvement of British military forces against ELAS units. This was in stark contrast to the indecision of the EAM leadership, which kept its main forces away from Athens, where the most significant fighting took place. Notably, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill personally visited the Greek capital on Christmas Day 1944, while World War II was still raging. Other Allies kept their distance…
“Dekemvriana” and Cyprus
The “Dekemvriana” also involved Cypriot protagonists: In Athens, Lieutenant Colonel Georgios Grivas played a prominent role as leader of the “X” organisation during the battles in Thiseio. On the opposing side, in Thessaloniki, Leonidas Striggos from Limassol, Secretary of the Macedonian Bureau of the KKE (Communist Party of Greece), played a key role in disregarding the Caserta Agreement, contributing to the subsequent “EAMokratia” until January 1945. Meanwhile, among the hundreds of Cypriot families and individuals who experienced the civil conflict in Athens were future Archbishops of Cyprus, Makarios II and Makarios III. Alongside them were several men from the “Cyprus Regiment” of the British Army, who participated in the clashes in auxiliary roles. In the most challenging position were AKEL members – war volunteers such as Andreas Fantis, who recounts his experiences of the events in one of his books.
In Cyprus, the “Dekemvriana” derailed efforts by Archbishopric caretaker Metropolitan Leontios of Paphos to secure cooperation among political parties in support of the unionist cause, as dictated by the initial spirit of “national unity” in the metropolitan centre. At the “General Assembly” of the “Cyprus National Party” (KEK), coincidentally held on 3 December 1944, it was decided to reject “any collaboration with Cypriot communists” until the situation in Greece was resolved.
From the coverage in Cypriot newspapers about the “Dekemvriana,” we highlight the article by Loizos Filippou in the newspaper Paphos on 7 December 1944. The distinguished intellectual from Paphos laments both the events and, above all, the impending consequences:
“Every Greek heart bleeds for the turn events have taken in our martyred homeland. (…) The partisan vultures croak over the ruins, each seeking to assign blame according to their interests and beliefs. Yet, the pure national soul, bleeding, covers its face before the heartbreaking spectacle and, crushed, cries out: ‘May God save Greece.'”
Also read: ON THIS DAY: The Monroe Doctrine is declared (1823)
Source: papapolyviou.com
