Ezekias Papaioannou

Who was Ezekias Papaioannou?

Ezekias Papaioannou was a Greek Cypriot communist politician and Secretary General of the left wing political party of AKEL.

He was born in the village of Kellaki, Limassol District and received his secondary education at the American Academy of Larnaca with financial help from his brother. In his last year of school because of health reasons he moved to Nicosia where he finished his studies in The English School, Nicosia. He then worked as a miner in Skouriotissa and as a manual worker in Piraeus port.

He moved to London in the early 1930s where he actively worked with the Communist Party of Great Britain against different fascist factions. During this time he was arrested and jailed for three months by the British authorities. During his time in Britain he became a founding member of the Association of Cypriot Affairs which sought the expulsion of the British from Cyprus.

In 1936, he was part of a contingent of 60 Cypriot leftists who volunteered to fight in the Spanish Civil War as part of the International Brigades. 15 of them died and Ezekias was injured and had to return to London. Cyprus had the biggest percentage of volunteers and dead per capita of any country fighting against Franco. After the war he lived in London.