The coup against Makarios > Turkish forces landed easily and Cypriot defenders reacted slowly because Greek officers and other forces had overthrown the island’s legitimate leader Archbishop Makarios. The coup took place on the orders of the military junta in Athens. Archbishop Makarios had long been at odds with the government in Athens, even before the first junta took over in April of 1967. For many Greeks he was the impediment that forestalled Enosis, the union of the island with Greece. His flirtations with the eastern bloc and the movement of non-aligned nations had caused US circles to call him the “Red Bishop”. Before the junta, in 1964-65, the government of the elder George Papandreou had secretly moved a Greek Army division to Cyprus, after incidents of ethnic violence and a brief interlude by the Turkish airforce. This force was recalled in 1967 after the junta took power. Relations between Athens and Makarios had deteriorated significantly by 1974, especially after the fall of the colonels and the rise of Brigadier Dimitrios Ioannidis to power. EOKA B, the conspiratorial group used by the junta against the Archbishop had often attacked the government and even tried to assassinate Makarios in October 1973. But the Archbishop was no less politically ruthless than his opponents. He had bolstered his own power by posting loyal functionaries in vital posts, creating a police praetorian guard, the so-called Auxiliary Corps or Efedrikon, arming his followers, jailing opponents indiscriminately and isolating Greek officers from their commands. Ioannidis and his supporters wanted Makarios out and ordered the coup, which they believed the US and its allies supported. The Greeks executed the coup on July 15 but it didn’t go well. Greek officers expected little opposition and were taken aback when Cypriots rebelled. Firefights ensued at the Presidential Palace, the CyBC state radio station, the barracks of the Auxiliary Corps and elsewhere. But the Greeks didn’t kill or capture Makarios, who fled with the help of loyalists to the Monastery of Kykkos and then to Paphos, where he tried to organise a small army. That effort failed, so he took refuge at a Finnish UN post. From there he contacted the British, who flew him to the UK. cyprus_archbishopric_palace.jpg A soldier stands beside the Archbishopric Palace, Makarios’ fire-damaged residence in Nicosia after an Athenian-launched coup to kill Makarios was botched on 15 July 1974. The coup hurt Cyprus’ armed forces and National Guard. Half of the Cypriots supported Makarios, while the others wanted him out. Morale was low. Cypriots worried as internal rivalries tore apart their country while Greek officers had seen many casualties in the coup. Operation Attila > Safe in exile, Makarios called on the guarantor powers to reinstate the status quo ante. This was all the pretext needed by Ankara. Bulent Ecevit, Turkey’s prime minister at the time, ordered an invasion, codenamed Attila. Greeks knew about the attack and so did the Cypriots, since rumours had been circulating for some time that the Turks were planning an invasion. At the National Guard Headquarters in Nicosia, a major rushed out to calm spirits and told the assembled officers: “There is nothing to worry about. We were told from above, i.e. Athens, that it’s just a show of force… There is no problem. Gentlemen, you’re going to sleep.”
Posted on: Mon, 14 Jul 2014 14:19:24 +0000
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