Archbishop Makarios

Archbishop Makarios is possibly one of the most famous Cypriots. Born in 1913, he became a Greek Orthodox cleric. In 1950, he was voted as Archbishop of Cyprus. During this part of the century, he became involved in the Cypriot movement for "enosis" (i.e., re-union of Cyprus with Greece), called EOKA. Because of their ideals, and his, the British colonists of Cyprus arrested him in 1956 and sent him into detention in Mauritius, on the suspicion of terrorist activities. He later tended to lean on Cypriot independence, rather than enosis. Britain agreed to hold a presidential election in 1959, not long after his return, for which he was a candidate. His main contender was Ioannas Clerides. Makarios won the vote and took office as President of Cyprus in August 1960, when independence was granted. His vice-president was the Turkish Cypriot Fasil Kuçuk. Despite his appointment of a Turkish Cypriot as vice president, tensions between the two groups on the island remained strong. He was commonly nicknamed "Castro of the Meditteranean", because of his ideologies had something in common with the Cuban prime minister, coming to power about the same time as Makarios. When his mandate was due to end in 1965, it was expanded to 1968. Again, he won this late election. In 1974, he was briefly forced out of office when Turkish forces invaded Cyprus, and they placed a Turkish president. After several weeks, Makarios returned. A year later, the Turks created a separate territory in the North, an area now known as the TRNC. In 1977, he held negotiations with Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash to arrange a ceasefire. A few weeks later, on the 3rd August, Makarios died.