Andreas Sourouklis

He was born in the village of Troulloi¹, Larnaca district, on October 26, 1933.

He fell in the battle of Troulloi on August 1, 1958 at the location “Sameri”².

Andreas Sourouklis finished his village’s primary school and worked on his estates. He joined EOKA together with his siblings, parents and wife and collaborated with the guerrilla group in his area. They built a hideout in their field, where EOKA guerrillas settled, whom Andreas also hosted in his home.

Michalakis Parides, after his escape from the hospital on December 12, 1957, where he had been transferred from prison for surgery, ended up in Troulli and set up his headquarters in the house of Andreas Sourouklis, where he built his personal hideout. Parides kept both his hideout and his stay there in complete secrecy, even from his guerrillas, who lived in the same house. After Andreas' death, despite the thorough searches carried out by the British, they were unable to locate the hideout.

On the night of August 1, 1958, the local EOKA Troulloi group and the guerrillas who were at Sourouklis’ house set up an ambush against the British at the “Sameri” location, on a bridge on the Larnaca – Troulloi road, near a deep ditch. They were given cover by a reed bed. The night was moonlit and the retreat was difficult. Andreas was hit during the retreat, when he followed the line of the bank and was left uncovered by the reed bed.

The hero’s father, accompanying his daughter-in-law in front of his child’s coffin, bent down and kissed his hand. His wife and those of his siblings who managed to attend the funeral did the same. The English had allowed very few to attend the funeral, even preventing some of his siblings.