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325 AD First Ecumenical Council

Condemns Arianism

The First Ecumenical Council convened in Nicaea, Asia Minor, on May 20, 325 AD, to condemn Arianism. Representing Cyprus were Bishops Gelasius of Salamis, Cyril of Paphos, and Spyridon of Tremithous.

1571 Holy League

Signed to repel the Ottomans

The Holy League was born out of the need to assist Venice in saving Cyprus from the Ottomans. It was signed on May 20, 1571 - too late, in other words, to send reinforcements to Cyprus. However, due to the critical nature of the situation, the agreement was swiftly implemented despite the practical difficulties of assembling and coordinating a large force

1948 British Government

Submits a draft constitution

On May 20, 1948, the British submitted a draft constitution for Cyprus that provided, among other things, for the creation of a Legislative Council (House of Representatives) with representation from both communities based on their population ratio, as well as an Executive Council, which would have an advisory role only.

The term Constitutional Conference (Διασκεπτική) refers to the consultative conference convened by the British in Nicosia in 1947–48, with the aim of implementing a new and more liberal constitution in Cyprus, which was then a British colony. For many years, the British proposal for a liberal constitution served as their counterproposal to the demand by the Greeks of Cyprus for the union of their island with Greece.

Cyprus, of course, remained under British occupation, and most of the key powers remained in the hands of the British governor. This plan was rejected by the Greek Cypriot representatives, with the exception of the three independents, and was accepted by the Turkish Cypriots. As the chairman of the conference, Chief Justice Jackson, stated, the British proposals did not constitute an offer of self-government, something the British considered impossible to achieve.

Shortly thereafter, on August 12, 1948, the conference concluded its work and was deemed a failure. The British did not attempt to implement the constitution, which could not be accepted by the majority of the people, since the Right wing had opposed it from the outset and the Left wing had voted against it in the conference.

On this day, May 19, 1571, Marcantonio Bragadino, defender of Famagusta with 5,000 soldiers, successfully repelled a major attack by tens of thousands of Ottoman troops led by Lala Mustafa against Famagusta.

As the situation in Famagusta grew increasingly dire, Marcantonio Bragadino ordered, on April 16, 1571, a general census of the population and a survey of supplies in all homes; 5. 370 people of all ages and genders who were found in the city against their will were ordered, rather belatedly, to leave it unarmed with all their belongings and enough wheat and flour for a single day. During their departure, which was supervised by Bragadino himself from the Diamante Tower, surprisingly and contrary to what they had done in Corfu in 1537, the Ottoman Turks did not harass them and allowed them to scatter to the surrounding villages.

Marcantonio Bragadino’s headquarters were located in the Androuzi Tower, from where, on May 19, he directed the successful repulsion of a major enemy attack; the army and its leadership were stationed on the walls, because the interior of the city was being fiercely pounded day and night by Turkish artillery, especially the howitzers. Despite all this and despite the gradual undermining of the walls by the Armenians and the villagers, on May 25 Lala Mustafa Pasha found himself in a difficult position, even though he had ample supplies, due to the appalling losses suffered by his army from the superhumanly brave resistance of the besieged, which filled the Turks with admiration, and rumors that the Christian fleet was on its way to Cyprus.

1839 Oikonomos Ioannikios

He was brutally tortured by the Ottoman Turks

The steward of the Monastery of Saint Nicholas of Davlos, Ioannikios, while returning from the village of Flamoudi to his monastery, is tracked down by the Turks and arrested on May 18, 1839. The Turks brutally torture him and throw him off the cliff of Koronia.

From the monastery of Saint Nicholas, which was in operation during Ioannikios’s lifetime and was built on the northern slope of the Pentadaktylos mountain range, between the castle of Kantara and the village of Davlos, a few handwritten notes have survived that provide further and different information about the monk Ioannikios. It is reported that during 1821–1822, Ioannikios had served at this monastery as a steward.

A note written by a monk named Mamas on July 18, 1822, states that on July 5, 1822, due to the ongoing Turkish persecution in Cyprus, they departed for Greece, bound for Mount Athos, leaving secretly by boat from the coastal area of Akanthou, the abbot of the monastery, Charilaos, Ioannikios, and two other monks.

There is no mention of any activities by Ioannikios and the others in Greece, nor of exactly when they had returned to Cyprus. However, another note from the same monastery, written by the abbot Charilaos in January 1831 / June 1832, proves that he was already back at his monastery at that time.

Another important note from the same monastery was written in August 1833 by a monk named Tzyrkatzin. This note recounts the events of the battle fought by Ioannikios:

«Το 1833, καλοκαίριν τζιαιρόν επιαστήκασιν οι δικοί μας με τους Τούρκους πόξω του Τρικώμου ημέραν μεσομέριν, εγίνην μιάλον ματζελιόν όπως λαλούσιν. Κουμάντον τους δικούς μας έκαμνεν ο Ιωαννίκιος μα εμολοήσαν οι Φράντζοι της Σκάλας εις την Τουρτζιάν όπως εμάχαμεν...» /

“In 1833, during the summer, our men clashed with the Turks outside Trikomo at midday; it turned into quite a battle, as they say. Ioannikios was in command of our men; however, as we later learned, the Franks of Larnaca testified to this in Turkey..."

According to this account, the battle took place outside the village of Trikomo, where the Turks had ambushed Ioannikios’s group. According to the report, many Turks were killed, as well as “Arnaouts” who were with Ioannikios, and Cypriots, among whom were several monks from the monastery of Saint Nicholas—Chambis, Panaos, Fosis, Giorkis, Theofanis, Kallis, Nikis, as well as others from villages in Karpasia. Eleven people were killed in Davlos alone, another eight in Flamoudi, 14 in the village of Ioannikio, Agios Ilias, six in Ardana, and others from the villages of Akanthou, Gerani, Eptakomi, Komi Kepir, and others.

Consequently, the battle must have been both long and fierce, and Ioannikios’s force was large.

However, where this particular account differs radically from the others is regarding the fate of Ioannikios himself. According to the writings of the monk Tzyrkatzis (Kyriakos, from the village of Komi Kepir), Ioannikios was neither arrested nor executed at that time. He had been very seriously wounded in battle, but two of his men, Christofis from Lythragomi and Tzyrkatzis from Tochni, took him and hid him in the barn of a man named Hatzilambis outside the village of Ardana. That night, they transported him by mule to the monastery of Saint Nicholas, while the Ottoman Turks were still searching the plain. At the monastery, the severely wounded Ioannikios was tended to by the monk Mamas (who apparently knew about herbs and empirical medicine) and a woman, Hatzittallou from Davlos, who had been summoned to the monastery in the middle of the night.

Later, the Turks, while searching the area, made their way up to the monastery, where they remained for a time, eating, drinking, and torturing the monks:

 «...Είχαμεντε τζιαί τα Τουρτζιά, όη να τους ταϊσουμεν, όη να τους πεζέψουμεν, όη να τους ποτίσουμεν, εδέρναν μας τζιόλις, την πρώτην εφτομάαν είχαμέν τους πας την κελλέν μας κάχι μέρα...» /

"...We also had the Turks there we had to feed them, entertain them, and give them drinks and on top of that, they were beating us. The first week, they were on our backs every single day..."

However, the Turks did not find Ioannikios. This account notes that the wounded man, along with the two people who were caring for him, were hidden in a secret hiding place in the monastery, apparently somewhere in the area, a hiding place “whose location very few people know...”

It is therefore significant that Ioannikios was neither arrested nor executed at that time, in 1833. On the contrary, thanks to the care he received at the monastery of Saint Nicholas of Davlos, he recovered. Only to meet a martyr’s death at the hands of the Turks a few years later.

According to another note from the monastery, written six years later, in May 1839, the monastery’s steward, Ioannikios, while returning from the village of Flamoudi to his monastery, was spotted by the Turks and arrested on May 18, 1839. The Turks tortured him brutally and threw him off the Koronia cliff, having tied him with ropes. They broke all his bones by pulling him up and throwing him back down the cliff. That night, monks from the monastery went out, found his body, carried it back, and buried it at the monastery.

In the monastery’s small cemetery, Ioannikios’s grave remained until at least 1974, when the Turkish invasion took place.

1937 and 2025 The Turkish Cypriot poet, writer, and educator Cahit Neriman was born and died in Nicosia

A Turkish Cypriot poet, writer, and educator, known as a leading figure in Turkish Cypriot poetry and an advocate for women’s rights. During her 33-year career as an educator, she was a prominent figure in the Turkish Cypriot Teachers’ Union (KTÖS) and defended women’s rights, freedom of the press, and labor unions.

She was born in Nicosia in 1937 and died on May 18, 2025.

Her first book, K.T.Ö.S. Mücadele Tarihi ("History of the KTÖS Struggle"), was published in 1987, followed by her first book of poetry, Sıkıntıya Vurulan Düğüm, in 1988. Her first book focused exclusively on women, Konu: Kadın ("Subject: Woman"), was published in 1989. Since then, she has released a series of books comprising her poetry, interviews, research, and articles. The themes she explores in her work are primarily Cypriot women, the prejudices and stereotypes that oppress them, and other issues revolving around social inequalities, the city of Nicosia and her passion for it, the city’s deep roots in her soul, and the pain caused by the division of Nicosia and her homeland.

1191 Cyprus in the hands of Leontokardos

Isaac Comnenus suffers a crushing defeat

On May 17, 1191, the final clash between the armies of Isaac Comnenus and Richard Leoncard took place, resulting in the latter’s complete victory in Cyprus. The battle on May 17, 1191 is reported to have taken place at Tremithousa, which was either present-day Tremetousia in Mesaoria or present-day Kokkinotremithia, near Nicosia, which was then called Tremithous.

1664 Archbishop Nikiforos

Seeks assistance from Venice to free Cyprus from the Ottoman Turks

Archbishop Nikiforos sends a request to the Most Serene Republic of Venice on May 17, 1664, asking for assistance in liberating Cyprus from Ottoman Turkish rule or in its reconquest, in which Nikiforos also provides details on the political, military, and economic situation in Cyprus.

1842 Aziz Pasha

New Governor of Cyprus

Aziz Pasha assumes the office of governor on May 17, 1842, and immediately raises taxes from 3 to 4 million grosia, plus one million in rental income. A delegation of Greek notables is sent to the sultan to request a reduction in taxes and the replacement of Aziz.

He had previously served as governor of Mytilene. In Cyprus, he succeeded the (Cypriot) governor Said Mehmet at a time when the Sublime Porte had decided on a rapid rotation of governors, which hindered the implementation of improvements. Aziz had a reputation as a fair and steady man, but the orders he received were to raise taxes from two to three million grosia, in addition to the income from leased estates, which amounted to another million.

Furthermore, the salaries of civil servants with the exception of the governor’s would continue to be paid by the Cypriots, who numbered 100,000 at the time. For these reasons, both Greek and Turkish Cypriots, rich and poor alike, received the new governor with coldness.

To relieve the island of these heavy burdens, two of Cyprus’s leading Greek figures rushed to Constantinople to take action with the Sultan’s central government. There was even a suspicion that the secret aim of their mission was to try to secure the reappointment of Said Mehmet for a fourth term as governor, so that they could have him as an ally in implementing the old tax system. But instead, Etchem Pasha was appointed as Aziz’s successor.

The administration of Cyprus was in the hands of the governor and his council, which consisted of the mufti, the mullah, four Turks, and two Greeks—elected by the Turkish and Greek populations, respectively—with the archbishop also serving on the council.

1941 Strike

First direct confrontation with the British colonial government

On May 17, 1941, the first direct confrontation between government employees and the colonial government took place. Four hundred construction workers at the military hospital waged a fierce struggle until May 30.

1951 KEO Beer

Launched on the Cypriot market

According to newspaper advertisements from the time, cypriot KEO beer was first launched on May 17, 1951. KEΟ beer was designed by Czech brewers based on the renowned Czech tradition of lager beers, taking Cyprus’s climatic conditions seriously into account.

On this day, May 16, 1916, the secret Sykes-Picot Agreement was signed, establishing spheres of influence between Great Britain and France in the Middle East.

It stipulated that Great Britain would not enter into negotiations regarding the cession of Cyprus without France’s approval.

The Sykes–Picot Agreement was signed on May 16, 1916, in London, in the midst of World War I, between Great Britain and France with Russia’s consent (English: Sykes–Picot Agreement, French: Accords Sykes-Picot). It was a secret agreement that included a map enclosed in a letter sent by Paul Cambon to Sir Edward Grey on May 9, 1916. Through this agreement, territories of the Ottoman Empire in present-day Turkey, the Middle East, Iraq, and Syria were divided into spheres of influence and control among Great Britain, France, and initially Russia. The name of the pact derives from the names of Mark Sykes and François Georges-Picot, who were the diplomats of Great Britain and France, respectively, and who formulated the terms of the agreement.
After the October Revolution in Russia (October 1917), the Bolsheviks discovered this secret pact and published it on November 23, 1917, in the newspapers Izvestia and Pravda. Three days later, it was also published in the British Guardian.

The agreement on Cyprus was reached in exchange for British use of the strategic ports of Haifa and Acre to facilitate maritime trade in the Eastern Mediterranean, and to ensure the supply of water from the major rivers Tigris and Euphrates, which were controlled by the French side. The Treaty of Sèvres, which also concerned the final partition of the Ottoman Empire, could be considered a continuation of this agreement; however, it collapsed in 1922. The part of the agreement concerning Cyprus initially collapsed in 1960 through the Zurich-London Agreement and definitively following the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974.

On this day, May 15, 1968, Alexandros Panagoulis, a politician and activist who opposed the Greek military dictatorship (junta) of 1967–1974, arrived in Cyprus seeking assistance.

Alexandros Panagoulis returned to Cyprus on May 15, 1968, after passing through Greece using his Cypriot passport.

Interior Minister Polykarpos Giorkajis assists Panagoulis and his organization in various ways.

Following the imposition of a military dictatorship (junta) in Greece (April 21, 1967), Alekos Panagoulis went underground as the leader of the “Greek Resistance” and embarked on a multifaceted struggle against the Greek colonels and their regime. Although he initially managed to flee abroad (to Europe and Cyprus), he soon returned secretly to Greece to fight “from within” against the dictatorial regime. The culmination of his resistance activities was his attempt to assassinate the dictator Georgios Papadopoulos on August 13, 1968.

The failed attempt involved blowing up the car carrying the dictator on the Sounion-Athens highway. The failure, primarily due to a lack of coordination, resulted in Panagoulis’s arrest at the scene of the attempt. In custody, he endured terrible torture, yet he did not yield. He was ultimately sentenced to death twice (November 17, 1968), a decision that stirred international public opinion and sparked an international outcry. Protests by governments and international organizations, along with appeals from international figures (including the UN Secretary-General and the Pope), resulted in his sentence being commuted to life imprisonment. He remained a prisoner of the junta and was constantly tortured, but his indomitable strength not only allowed him to endure but also led him to make repeated escape attempts. He thus became an international symbol of the anti-dictatorial struggle and the fight for democracy.

When Panagoulis went into hiding in 1967, he managed to evade the pursuit of the secret police and other agencies of the Greek junta and secretly and illegally entered Cyprus on May 27 of that same year, using a Cypriot student passport. When he arrived in Cyprus, he was initially hosted by the family of a student (Christakis Zoppou) in Paphos. Later, Panagoulis explained that he had decided to come to Cyprus to be trained in guerrilla warfare methods. From Paphos, he got in touch with another Cypriot friend of his, Andreas Christodoulides (later a PASOK official), and was sent to Nicosia, where he appeared as “Marios” and was hosted for a short time by the lawyer Andreas Panagiotou. Soon, however, the Greek secret services discovered his trail leading to Cyprus and began investigating him on the island. Panagiotou then turned to Vassos Lysarides and Takis Hatzidimitriou to secure protection for Panagoulis. It was then arranged for him to move and hide in another house, that of actor Nikos Siafkalis.

Meanwhile, Panagoulis’s whereabouts were traced to Cyprus by the team of Polykarpos Giorkatzis, the Minister of the Interior, who had initially ordered his arrest. At that point, Panagoulis decided he had to leave Cyprus. Vassos Lyssarides spoke with President Makarios, and the latter—who just two months earlier had faced the major crisis in Kofinou ordered that Panagoulis be granted an exit permit (laissez-passer) for Lebanon. Thus, Panagoulis finally made personal contact with Giorkatzis himself, which marked the beginning of their future collaboration. Giorkatzis gave Panagoulis a regular passport, and the latter left for Europe as scheduled on January 27, 1968.

In Rome, Panagoulis founded his anti-dictatorship organization, aided by his friends from Cyprus. Giorkatzis himself, in fact, had other personal and, of course, secret contacts with Panagoulis in Paris and in Cyprus, where Panagoulis returned on May 15, 1968, after passing through Greece as well, using his Cypriot passport. Georkatzis had finally agreed to help Panagoulis and his organization in various ways: financially, materially (by supplying weapons), and by training both Panagoulis himself and the men he had recruited in Cyprus. The first small quantities of weapons had already been sent from Cyprus to Athens via the diplomatic pouch.

It is said that the bomb Panagoulis planted to assassinate the dictator Papadopoulos was delivered to him personally by Giorkatzis. However, this theory was disproved when it became clear that Panagoulis’s attempt to assassinate the dictator Papadopoulos had not been approved by Giorkatzis and that he had acted without his knowledge.

On this day, May 14, 1539, the Ottoman Turks raided Limassol, completely destroying the city.

The Ottoman Turks raid on Limassol in 1538 resulted in the destruction of the city and its castle. Jodocus v. Meggen gives the date as May 14, 1539.

Such was the extent of the destruction that, of all the city’s buildings, only the Latin cathedral remained standing.