Makarios III was a Greek Cypriot politician, archbishop and primate who served as the first president of Cyprus and in which is widely regarded as the Father of the Nation or "Ethnarch".
35 Facts About Makarios III
2.
Makarios III was the leader of the autocephalous Church of Cyprus.
3.
Makarios III spent the difficult years of World War II studying theology and law at the University of Athens, graduating in 1942.
4.
Makarios III took up the duties of a priest in the Cypriot Orthodox Church while sustaining an interest in academic theology; he received a World Council of Churches scholarship to undertake further study at Boston University in Massachusetts.
5.
Mouskos adopted, as his clerical name, an old Greek given name Makarios meaning "happy, fortunate, blessed".
6.
Makarios III soon became a leading advocate for enosis, and during the early part of the decade he maintained close links with the Greek government.
7.
Makarios III undoubtedly had common political ground with EOKA and was acquainted with its leader, the Greek-Cypriot soldier and politician George Grivas, but the extent of his involvement is unclear and disputed.
8.
Makarios III, vilified in the British press and viewed with suspicion by the British authorities, was abducted by Special Branch officers while attempting to board a flight at Nicosia airport.
9.
Makarios III was released from exile after a year, although he was still forbidden to return to Cyprus.
10.
Makarios III went instead to Athens, where he was rapturously received.
11.
Negotiations in 1958 generated the Zurich Agreement as a basis for a deal on independence, and Makarios III was invited to London in 1959 to fine-tune the plan.
12.
Presidential elections were held on 13 December 1959, in which Makarios III defeated his rival, lawyer Ioannis Klerides, father of future president and Makarios III ally Glafkos Klerides, receiving two-thirds of the vote.
13.
Makarios III was to become the political leader of all Cyprus as well as the communal leader of the Greek Cypriots.
14.
In March 1961, Cyprus was admitted as a member state of the Commonwealth of Nations and Makarios III represented the island at the 1961 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference.
15.
Makarios III attended the Belgrade NAM conference in September 1961, and troubled the governments in London and Washington, DC, with his lukewarm policy towards the West.
16.
In November 1963, Makarios III proposed thirteen amendments to the Constitution, which would free many public offices from the ethnic restrictions agreed in London and Zurich.
17.
Makarios III continued his high-profile neutrality, but ultimately failed either to reassure the Turkish Cypriots that they were safe in an independent Cyprus, or to convince the Greek Cypriots that independence was a satisfactory alternative to assimilation within a Greater Greece.
18.
President Makarios III, seeking a fresh mandate from his constituency, announced in January 1968 that elections would be held during February.
19.
Makarios III received 220,911 votes, and his opponent, Takis Evdokas, who ran on a platform for unification with Greece, received 8,577 votes.
20.
Makarios III said that he and his followers wanted to live peacefully in a unitary state where all citizens enjoyed equal rights.
21.
Makarios III held that the regime undermined his authority by supporting paramilitary organizations committed to enosis.
22.
The overthrow of Makarios III became the primary objective, and the junta backed Grivas toward that end.
23.
Mass demonstrations proved that Makarios III had the people behind him.
24.
Makarios III remained powerful and to some extent was independent of the junta that had permitted his return to Cyprus.
25.
Makarios III foiled the three bishops and had them defrocked in the summer of 1973.
26.
Meanwhile Makarios III took advantage of Grivas' demise by granting an amnesty to the dead leader's followers.
27.
Makarios III hoped and believed that with Grivas gone, EOKA-B would disappear as a guerrilla force and could be politically tamed.
28.
On 3 May 1974, Makarios III sent the Greek government a letter that identified certain Greek military officers stationed in Cyprus as undermining the Cypriot government.
29.
Makarios III believed that he could eliminate the junta's control of Cyprus by forcing the Cypriot National Guard to remain loyal to himself.
30.
Makarios III escaped to Paphos and was rescued by a British helicopter.
31.
Makarios III remained in London for five months; then, having succeeded in securing international recognition that his administration was the rightful government of the whole island, he returned to Cyprus and focused solely on restoring Cypriot territorial integrity.
32.
Makarios III was not successful, and Turkey has remained as an occupying power ever since, with the political, military and diplomatic status of the island unresolved.
33.
Makarios III died of a heart attack on 3 August 1977.
34.
Makarios III had been experiencing issues with his heart earlier that year.
35.
Makarios III is buried in a tomb on Mount Throni, a site he personally chose.