Archbishop Makarios III

Makarios III (1913-77), Cypriot Greek leader who was Orthodox archbishop of Cyprus and first president of Cyprus.Makarios, originally named Mihail Christodolou Mouskos, was born August 13, 1913, in Ano Panaya, Paphos, Cyprus, the son of a shepherd. Educated at the Kykkos monastery, the Pancyprian Gymnasium, and the universities of Athens and Boston, he was elected archbishop of Cyprus in 1950. Working for enosis (union) with Greece, long desired by the Greek Cypriot majority, Makarios repeatedly urged Britain, which controlled Cyprus, and the UN to allow a plebiscite. To protect the Turkish minority, however, they refused. Meanwhile, Makarios organized a patriotic youth group, which participated in terrorist attacks, and began to accept Communist support. When riots spread in Cyprus, Greece, and Turkey in 1955, the British sent in troops and eventually exiled Makarios to the Seychelles Islands in 1956. As a compromise, Makarios accepted Cypriot independence in 1959. Thrice elected president, he survived four assassination attempts, temporary deposition by a coup in 1974, and Turkish invasion. He died in Nicosia, August 3, 1977.