April 1, 2025 marks 70 years since the commencement of the Eoka struggle against British colonial rule, from 1955 to 1959, “a glorious, revolutionary four-year period, which is acknowledged as the top historical milestone in the modern history of our homeland,” Education Minister Athena Michaelidou said on Monday.

In a message to mark the day, read out in schools, Michaelidou said the desire for freedom and for unification with Greece united the people and clergy.

The uprising, she added, was a decisive action of collective consciousness, which led to independence and established the Republic of Cyprus as a sovereign state.

“We have a duty to proceed in unity, in order to secure the course of Cyprus as a modern, European state, and the continuation of Cypriot Hellenism in a free, reunified country,” Michaelidou said.

She added that the younger generation had a duty to lead this new struggle for peace and human rights, putting the knowledge passed on by their teachers to good use.

“This will be the greatest justification of the sacrifice of all our country’s heroes,” the education minister said.