GRIVAS, GEORGIOS (THEODOROS)

born May 23, 1898, Trikomo, Cyprus died Jan. 27, 1974, Limassol also called Dighenis Cypriot patriot who helped bring Cyprus independence in 1960. His goal was enosis (union) with Greece, and in this he failed; indeed, he was a fugitive at the time of his death. Grivas organized EOKA (Ethnik Orgnosis Kipriako Agnos, or National Organization of Cypriot Struggle) about 1955, after leading a right-wing resistance group in the Athens area during the German occupation of World War II. With his friend, afterward his enemy, the Orthodox cleric Makarios III, Grivas conducted a guerrilla war against the British that led to the independence of Cyprus but not to the enosis that was always his objective. After a period of retirement in Greece, Grivas returned to Cyprus in 1971 to revitalize the underground movement against Makarios (then president of Cyprus). On his death, his followers vowed to continue his terrorist campaign for enosis.