Kyriakos Matsis

He was born in the village of Palaichori¹, Nicosia district, on January 23, 1926.

He fell on November 19, 1958 in his hideout in the village of Dikomo², Kyrenia district.

Kyriakos Matsis finished the primary school of Palaichori and the Gymnasium of Famagusta, when it operated in Trikomo, where it had relocated due to World War II.

He studied agriculture at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki³ and was working as an agronomist in Famagusta when the struggle began. He stood out for his love for Greece, people and the land, calling those who did not cultivate their land as abusers of the land.

He fought hard for the rights of the farmer and the worker within the ranks of their organizations, the PEK and the SEK, of which he was one of the founders. His desire for the liberation of Cyprus was strongly expressed during his student years with speeches and the organization of fighting events in Thessaloniki.

He served as EOKA sector leader in an area of the Famagusta district from 1955, leader of EOKA links from August 1955 to February 1956, and sector leader of Kyrenia until the end of the struggle.

On January 9, 1956, he was arrested and brutally tortured with electric shocks and other methods. Because his relationship with leader Digenis and his important role in the struggle was known, Governor Harding himself visited him at the Omorfitas inquest and offered him the legendary sum of 500,000 pounds , as well as his escape for protection, if he revealed where Digenis was hiding.

Angry, Matsis banged his fist on the table and replied,

The Governor left immediately. Appreciating Kyriakos’s ethos, he gave the order to stop the torture they were inflicting on him. He was then transferred to the Kokkinotrimithia detention center⁴

There he continued his activities, maintaining contact with Digenis and continuing, on his orders, the Makarios-Harding talks for a solution to the Cyprus problem after the Archbishop's exile. He organized his fellow prisoners, set up a school for the imprisoned students, created a library, gave speeches and generally created conditions that encouraged the fighting spirit within the prisons. He organized the enlightenment of the English soldiers guarding the prisoners with such success that they burned down their camp and the authorities were forced to replace them. He set up a network of escape organizations, which continued to operate after his own escape.

On September 13, 1956, he escaped and took over as sector chief the Kyrenia sector, where he developed a very rich and multifaceted activity. He was wanted with a reward of the sum of five thousand liras.

On November 19, 1958, he was surrounded in his hideout and blown up by the occupation forces. With his glorious death, he emerged as one of the idols of the struggle. Whatever was saved from his intellectual work reveals his deep spirituality.