Today is Cypriot National Day, a public holiday in Cyprus. This holiday commemorates the start of the insurgence against the British in 1955.
Following the Russo-Turkish war (1877 – 1878), Cyprus was leased to the British Empire and was formally annexed by Britain at the end of the First World War.
Among the Greek Cypriots, the concept of ‘enosis’ – union with Greece had been a movement that had taken hold during the previous century, under the Ottoman rule. On April 1st 1955, the EOKA (Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston) whose aim was unification with Greece through armed struggle, started their guerilla campaign, targeting British military installations on the island.
The campaign against the British lasted for the next four years. On August 16th 1960, a cease-fire was reached and Cyprus attained independence after the Zurich and London Agreement between the United Kingdom, Greece and Turkey.
Today is the birthday, in 1939, of Rudolph Isley, from American group The Isley Brothers who first came to prominence in 1959 with their fourth single, ‘Shout’, and then the 1962 hit ‘Twist and Shout. The Isley Brothers also scored the hits ‘This Old Heart Of Mine’, ‘Summer Breeze’ and ‘Harvest for the World’. Sixteen of their albums charted in the Top 40. He died from an apparent heart attack at his home on 11 October 2023, at the age of 84. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEjLFpU2pJ4
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