Michael Nikolaou

He was born in the village of Mesogi¹, Pafos district, in 1934.

He died in his village on September 21, 1958, after being shot by British soldiers.

Michael Nikolaou studied at Mesogi primary school and at Liasideio Gymnasium Paphos. He worked as a driver on a privately owned bus, with which he also served the needs of the groups of the Organization of the villages of Mesogi, Trimithousa and Mesa Chorio, of which he was also a member. He also transported the mail and armaments from Paphos to these villages in a crypt, which he had built in his bus.

In September 1958, he transported to his village from Paphos a locally made electric mine, of the water pipe type, weighing approximately 35 kilograms, with the destination of the planned attack against the British. This mine was used by his fellow fighters on September 21, 1958 in an attack against a military vehicle, which it hit on the Pafos – Mesogi – Tsada road in the village of Mesogi. The attack was retaliation for the death of Charalambos Kalaitzis and Iakovos Christodoulidis, who were killed by English soldiers during barbarities, which they committed against the inhabitants of the villages of the Kathika-Arod area of the Paphos district.

Michael Nikolaou, who was in the area, entered a nearby cafe after the explosion, where security forces, who were riding in a second car that was following, arrested him and, after taking him to the place of the explosion, shot him to intimidate him. They then chased him down, shooting and stabbing him repeatedly, killing him near the cafe where he had been arrested.

EOKA’s response, for his cold-blooded murder, was an ambush between the villages of Mesogi – Mesa Chorio, on October 2, 1958, against an English foot patrol of 30 soldiers, in which twelve fighters, members of the rebel group of the area, took part, with the participation of fighters from the village of Mesogi.