The Kyrenia Castle Escape took place early in the

Cyprus Emergency The Cyprus Emergency ( gr, Απελευθερωτικός Αγώνας της Κύπρου 1955–59), also known as the Greek Cypriot War of Independence or Cypriot War of Independence, was a conflict fought in British Cyprus between November 1 ...

. A number of the EOKA were being held prisoner at

Kyrenia Castle , tr, Girne Kalesi) , image = Kyrenia 01-2017 img02 Castle exterior.jpg , caption = Kyrenia Castle , map_type = Cyprus , coordinates = , location_town = Kyrenia , location_country = De jure De facto , ...

and on 23 September 1955, sixteen of them escaped by climbing down sheets tied to be a rope. The escapees were: Marcos Drakos, Christakis Eleftheriou, Evangelos Evangelakis, Mikis Fyrillas, Lambros Kafkallides, Constantinos Loizou, Pavlos Nikitas, Petros Papaioannou, Panayiotis Papanastasiou, Andreas Polyviou, Michalakis Rossides, Lefkios Rodosthenous, Stelios Siamisis, Petros Stylianou, Demos Vryonides, Charilaos Xenofontos. Seven were caught but the other nine – Evangelakis, Xenofontos, Kafkalides, Drakos, Rodosthenous, Fyrillas, Polyviou, Eleftheriou, and Nikitas – joined EOKA guerrilla outfits. The incident was extremely embarrassing to the British government. Evangelakis was recaptured in February 1957. Firillas was recaptured in April 1957.

November Riot

On 13 November 1955 over 100 prisoners rioted at the castle.

References

{{reflist Wars involving the United Kingdom Cyprus Emergency 1955 in Cyprus Kyrenia Escapes September 1955 events in Europe