Michael Kaili

He was born in the town of Lysi¹, Famagusta district, on April 13, 1933.

He fell during a clash with British soldiers, on August 23, 1958, in Lysi.

Michael 'Sialos' Kaili was an orphan of a mother. He finished the primary school of Lysi and as the eldest brother he entered the struggle to help his father raise his siblings. He joined EOKA in July 1955 and was assigned to the Lysi strike groups.

He was wanted on August 10, 1956 and fled to the guerrillas with his father's wish, of which he was very proud:

He took part in many attacks against the British with the guerrillas of the Lysi sub-sector and other Lysi fighters. In these attacks, Sialos was distinguished for his bravery.

”In the attack of August 1, 1958, outside Lysi towards Kontea, when the military vehicles appeared, Sialos rushed into the middle of the road and began to fire at them with his French automatic weapon. The drivers of the military vehicles were confused and the soldiers lost their way. Until they came to their senses and started shooting at us, we shot them down and retreated. We were impressed by his self-sacrifice. Sialos, with the many talents with which he was endowed and the humor that distinguished him, was the cheerful note among us”.

On the night of August 23, 1958, he and three of his comrades fell into an ambush of English soldiers, while they were transporting a large quantity of weapons for concealment. With the “alt” ordered by the English, Sialos shot and hit the first English soldier, according to the testimony of Panagis Larkou, who survived. He threw one of the two grenades he was holding and five other soldiers were killed. However, they were fired upon by a second group of English soldiers, from which Sialos fell dead. The second of the grenades he had was found in his hand, an indication that, although seriously wounded, he was waiting for the British to approach, in order to achieve better results by throwing it and giving his fellow fighters the opportunity to escape.