Archbishop Makarios(1913-1977)
- Actor
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.