LAST EOKA LEADERS

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28258, 22 April 1957, Page 11

LAST EOKA LEADERS

Capture In Cyprus (Rec. 8 p.m.) NICOSIA, April 20. Security forces have captured the last group of “wanted” Eoka terrorists in the Lefka district of west Cyprus, it was officially announced today. Seven men were captured, including the group leader, George Demetriou, aged 22, and his chief lieutenant, Mikis Firillas. Arms and ammunition had also been captured with them, it was announced. It is understood that one man among the seven captured was Neofytos Sofocleous, aged 20, a Government House waiter. He disappeared on the day a timebomb was found under the bed of the Governor (Sir John Harding) in March last year, soon after Archbishop Makarios’s deportation. Asked whether the men had offered any resistance, officials said: “No comment.’’ Turkish organisations today protested against the invitation by the Governor of New York (Mr Averell Harriman) to Archbishop Makarios to visit New York. Mr Harriman wrote recently to the Archbishop expressing pleasure at his release from exile in the Seychelles, and adding: “I hope that the State of New York will shortly have the opportunity of extending to you its hospitality and warm welcome.” The leader of the Cyprus Turkish party (Dr. Fazil Kutchuk) said in a cablegram to Mr Harriman that the invitation had “caused great grief to the Turkish nation, a friend of the United States.”