Christodoulos Sozos | The Mayor of Limassol who sacrificed himself for the liberation of Ioannina

Defence Redefined

06/12/2021

Like today, on December 6, 1912, Christodoulos Sozos dies while fighting in the battle of Manoliassa on the hill of Profitis Ilias, opposite Bizani.

Christodoulos Sozos was born in 1872. His father, Sozon Loizou, had served as a volunteer in the war of 1866 in Crete and his grandfather, Antonios Iakovos Loizou, had served as a volunteer in the Greek Revolution and fought under Faviros in Athens where he had been injured. His mother was Maria Christodoulou Hatzipavlou from Limassol. He married Ermioni Ioannou Zachariadis with whom he had a son. 

He studied law at the University of Athens and then worked in Cyprus as a lawyer. As a student he was a collaborator of Athens Acropolis and sent reports to the “Union of Larnaca” newspaper.

He had been a member of the Legislative Council for a decade. In 1906 he spent seven months in London, at his own expense, where he worked close to English political circles in favour of Cypriot interests. During his tenure as a member of the Legislative Council he was very active in the struggle for the unification of Cyprus with Greece with his decisive contribution for the filing and approval of the first union referendum in 1903. 

He also served as a member of the Executive Council, as the Registrar of Greek Schools in Limassol, was one of the founders of the Limassol Popular Bank, while together with Andreas Themistokleous and Nikolaos Kl. Lanitis, he founded the first Gymnastics Association of Cyprus, “Ta Olympia” in Limassol in 1892.

In 1908 he was elected Mayor of Limassol. During his tenure, major projects were carried out in the city of Limassol, such as roads and street naming, the public garden, the philharmonic, street lighting, etc. with the Pancyprian Games of 1911, while he helped in the construction of a waterfront and transported water to the city from the waters of Platres.

While a Mayor of Limassol, he volunteered for the Balkan Wars. Too many Cypriots, in the context of national enthusiasm, volunteered for the Hellenic Army. Sozos enlisted in the 1st Infantry Regiment and served as a common soldier. Although he met with Eleftherios Venizelos who offered him to serve in Athens, Sozos refused and went to the front. He fought on the fronts of Thessaly, Macedonia and Epirus and fell fighting heroically in the battle of Manoliassa on the hill of Profitis Ilias, opposite Bizani on December 6, 1912.

With information from: Municipality of Limassol, polignosi

Also read: October 1931 | Cypriot uprising against British colonialism