About Fotis Pittas

He was born in the village of Frenaros, in the province of Famagusta, on February 28, 1935.

He fell on September 2, 1958 at the Battle of the Barn in Liopetri.

Fotis Pittas graduated from the elementary school of Frenaros, the High School of Famagusta and the Teachers’ College of Morphou. He was a student at the College when he joined EOKA at the start of the race. He served in the primary school of Achnas as a teacher, where he developed a rich activity, both in the militant and in the organizational and enlightenment field.

After his search by the British on October 18, 1956, he hid and was active during the “expedition to Victory”, in November 1956. He was then assigned the reorganization of the villages of Lysis, Vatilis and Askias (Assias).

On January 10, 1957 he was arrested in Vatili and held for about 20 days in Famagusta prison, where he was brutally tortured. For these days he left us a written document, his diary and the form of freedom painted on the wall of his cell with blood, which came out of his mouth due to torture.

He was then transferred to the Kokkinotrimithia detention center and then to the Pyla detention center, from where he escaped on March 12, 1958, together with the hero Andreas Karyos and two other competitors, in a crypt made in a truck.

After his escape, he was appointed deputy chief of staff in the Lysis area, where he developed such a rich and effective action that the British were forced to impose a fortnightly house arrest, which was even inspected by the British Prime Minister Macmillan, who was in Cyprus at the time. In the meantime the losses of the Organization were so great in the area that Fotis Pittas and the other surviving wanted persons of his sub-sector considered it expedient to move to a safer area.

On September 2, 1958, Fotis Pittas and his competitors, heroes Andreas Karyos , Elias Papakyriakou  and Christos Samaras (insert link), found themselves in a new house arrest in Liopetri. They tried to escape by breaking the siege, but clashed with English soldiers and were forced to take refuge in a barn in Liopetri. When they were discovered they were called by the English to surrender. Their fighting spirit, however, led them to a battle to the end. After a four-hour battle, and because their resistance was rigid, the British poured gasoline on the Barn and set it on fire. This was followed by their heroic exit during which all four fighters fell.