Already 69 years have passed since that glorious morning of April 1, 1955, when together with the explosions of the amoustaka lads of the legendary EOKA also awakened the eternal longing for the freedom and Union of Cyprus with Mother Greece.
No matter how many thousands of pages, songs and poems are written, they will not be enough to contain the greatness and meaning of EOKA's struggle for future generations. One of the protagonists of EOKA, Eutychios Salatas, through a shocking narrative, describes to us his initiation into the struggle, and details of everything that preceded the night before and after April 1st together with other hero-martyrs of the Organization, such as Charalambos Mouskos .
From Lythrodonts rushing
We met Mr. Salata last week in his hometown, the village of Lythrodonda in the province of Nicosia. Born on June 14, 1933, Mr. Salatas is blessed with 84° year of his age. Born of a large farming family, with 5 brothers, he himself was only 22 years old in the years of preparation for the race. Asked about his first contacts with the organization, he explained to us that during one of his visits to Paphos as a salesman at the Charalambous Coffee Roasters, he met a young man, who wanted to get to know them in a third person.
"It was then that I first met Haralambos Mousko", he said. Charalambos Mouskos had then been chosen by Archbishop Makarios and three other priests, in order to work in the Archdiocese's printing office. Among the priests there was a fellow villager but also a relative of Mr. Salata, Socrates of Herakleidi, who lived in the village and later brought Mousko with him, in order to host him. Charalambos Mouskos, who also became a member of the "Elia" of the village, where he played soccer on the weekends, then suggested that Mr. Salata work as a linotyper in the Archdiocese, a proposal which was accepted by the latter. From that moment, as he told us, a close brotherly friendship began, which also led to their living together in Nicosia.
"One day he tells me. 'Eftychi, do you remember when we were talking about the need for a fight in Cyprus?'. Yes, I answered him. I remember, and Muskos answers me: 'If in case there is such a fight, are you willing to participate?'. Of course, I answered him. And then he revealed to me that there is a move and a preparation in the works in this direction». Muskos then asked him to find 3-4 other trusted people in order to form a team. Arestis Cheilidis, Andreas Stefanou, Pavlos Eftihiou, Georgios Ioannou, were the chosen friends of Mr. Salata, who immediately accepted the proposal.
The night of the swearing-in
It was an autumn evening in 1954, when in the apartment of Aresti Cheilidis, in Palouriotissa, Salatas and 3 other young fighters gathered in order to give an Oath to the Struggle, in the presence of H. Mouskos, as it happened. In the following period they began rudimentary training in explosives and smoke grenades, while they had a little exposure to revolvers. Asked if they had any prior familiarity with weapons, explosives, military knowledge, etc., Mr. Salatas explained to us that they didn't even have a shotgun. After the formation of other secret groups, surveillance of British military installations began. Salata's team watched over Weasley Barracks, which was the British Headquarters in the Middle East (now the Courts).
The Long Night
"On March 31, 1955, our group was ordered to gather at the house of our very good competitor Lambros Kavkalias, in order for the Chief to inspect us. The team leader Yiannis Eleftheriou was there as well as the explosives expert Stylianos Lena. Lenas, due to his profession, a plumber with studies in Leros, was an expert in pipes. He was the Volcano of the Organization. That's what we called him. The rest were Melis Georgiou, Evripidis Kokkinos and possibly Christakis Tsiartas, said Mr. Salatas. The time passed excruciatingly and no one said to show up until 10. "Then Vangelakis arrived, the man who swore to us. He placed some things on the table and asked us:
'Are you ready?'. We said yes, and then he left. We kept wondering what exactly was going on. It was about 11:30. They came again and brought some bottles (molotov cocktails), and some leaflets (proclamations). They asked us to make our own knife and face mask. These were our weapons. They left and when they came back they said to us: 'Guys, are you ready if it starts tonight?'. We are ready, we told him. 'Well then, tonight the Struggle begins,' was the description of Mr. Salata, who spoke with a trembling voice and tears of emotion in his eyes, and continued saying: «We stayed. We didn't expect it to happen that night. We were not afraid, but we froze, because it was a great surprise. There were seconds of silence, and after declaring readiness, we were ordered to hit the facility we were monitoring (Camp Weasley).
The Plan
Among the materials carried by the militants were explosives, while Mr. Salata was given a tool for cutting the fence. The plan was to cross the Pedia river, turn left by a path beside the mountain, and pass through a narrow passage on the right, which led directly to the buildings of the English camp. In front, carrying the explosives, Lenas entered with Eleftheriou. They also brought slow-melting plaster with them, so that they could place the explosives on top, for more power, and leave. We and another group were close by and when we heard the explosions, we would enter from the back side of the camp to throw Molotov cocktails at the radio communication facilities.
The order was to wait until 12:30 for the lights to go out and the explosions to be heard. Those minutes, for me and my competitors, were something indescribable. My mind went back many years to the history of Cyprus and Greece. And I thought: It is the beginning of fighting to free Cyprus. But, on the other hand, we had in our minds that we could die, due to inexperience,», Mr. Salatas told us, full of wise pride.
The time of freedom
The minutes that followed were tragic. Everyone knew it would be lights out at 12:30. A flickering was observed, but did not stop. It was the moment when Modestos Pantelis fell in Liopetri, after his failed attempt to cause a short circuit in power cables. "It arrived 12:30… 12:31… 12:32… At 12:32 and 30 seconds. The first explosion occurred. I cannot describe what we felt at that moment from the bang and the flash that lit up the area. Seconds later, the second one was heard. Then we cut through the fence and entered. We surrounded the premises ready to drop the Molotov cocktails and TNT bags. The English went out without knowing what was happening to them. They saw the glow from the wick I lit and fell down. We didn't want to kill anyone. Our mission was to destroy the telecommunications facilities. We threw the Molotov cocktails, but unfortunately they didn't activate. We dropped the leaflets and left.
The meeting with Musco
Then, as Mr. Salatas recounted, they met with the rest of the competitors, all happy that they had done their duty to the Motherland, happy that no one was killed, but also worried about what the next day would bring. It dawns and Eutychis Salatas takes the bus to go to the house where he lived, in Nicosia. In the courtyard of the house he meets the landlady, who informs him about what she heard that took place the night before. He declares ignorance and enters the house. "I go upstairs to the room. There was Muskos in the middle of the room waiting for me. He was worried about me and I was worried about him. We hugged and kissed, and we felt that satisfaction that I don't know if other friends felt,'' he said. The calendar said April 1st and that was the start of the Race.
Source: Simerini, 1/4/2016
