Fotis Pittas: One for All and All for One
Four giants fell fighting at the Liopetri Barn. Among them, 23‑year‑old teacher Fotis Pittas from Frenaros stands out. He possessed great intellectual cultivation, incredible strength, and total selflessness. He left the desks of the Morfou Teacher’s College to teach the greatest lesson: that of freedom. As a teacher in Achna, Fotis did not limit himself to books. He organised, mobilised, and guided the youth. In October 1956, the authorities hunted him. He went underground and took charge of reorganising the villages of Lysi, Vatili and Assia.
The torture of the cell and the escape
In January 1957, the police arrested him in Vatili. In the Famagusta detention centres, they subjected him to horrific, inhuman torture. There, in the darkness, he left a shocking historical document: he recorded his torment in his diary, and on the wall of his cell he painted the image of Liberty with his own blood — blood that he spat from his mouth after the torturers beat him.
However, his spirit did not imprison. In March 1958, together with Andreas Karyos and two other fighters, he planned a cinematic escape from the Pyla detention centres. They hid inside a special compartment of a lorry.
The Deputy Head who forced the British Prime Minister to come to Cyprus
He became free again, and the organisation appointed him deputy head in the Lysi area. His action proved so relentless and effective that the British imposed an exhausting 15‑day house arrest on the area. The British Prime Minister himself, Harold Macmillan, came to inspect this restriction in person during his visit to the island!
The Barn Battle of Achyrona
On 2 September 1958, the occupying forces trapped Fotis Pittas, along with Andreas Karyos, Ilias Papakyriakou and Christos Samaras, in Liopetri. They tried to break the encirclement. They clashed with soldiers and barricaded themselves in a village barn.
When the British called on them to surrender, they gave one answer: Molon labe. For four whole hours, the four fighters held off hundreds of armed soldiers. The British could not bend them, so they doused the barn with petrol and set it on fire. Fotis and his comrades made their epic, final charge with weapons in hand. They fell one by one on the field of honour.
The teacher from Frenaros entered immortality. He signed history with his life. He gave the brightest lesson for future generations. Fotis Pittas. Immortal!
