Seizing the opportune moment after
the crisis had ended, in late December
1967 Turkish Cypriot leaders announced
the establishment of a "transitional
administration" to govern their community's
affairs "until such time as the provisions
of the Constitution of 1960 have
been fully implemented." The body's
president was Fazil Küçük,
vice-president of the republic; the
body's vice-president was Rauf Denktas,
president of the Turkish Cypriot
Communal Chamber. Nineteen governing
articles, called the Basic Principles,
were announced, and the provisional
administration organized itself along
lines that were similar to a cabinet.
The provisional administration also
formed a legislative assembly composed
of the Turkish Cypriot members-in-absentia
of the republic's House of Representatives
and the members of the Turkish Cypriot
Communal Chamber. The provisional
administration did not state that
the Communal Chamber was being abolished.
Nor did it seek recognition as a
government. Such actions would have
been contrary to the provisions of
the constitution and the Zurich-London
agreements, and the Turkish Cypriots
as well as the Turks scrupulously
avoided any such abrogation. The
Greek Cypriots immediately concluded
that the formation of governing bodies
was in preparation for partition.
U Thant was also critical of the
new organizations.
President Makarios, seeking a fresh
mandate from his constituency, announced
in January 1968 that elections would
be held during February. Küçük,
determined to adhere to the constitution,
then announced that elections for
vice president would also be held.
Elections were subsequently held
in the Turkish Cypriot community,
which the Greek Cypriot government
considered invalid; Küçük
was returned to office unopposed.
Two weeks later, Makarios received
220,911 votes (about 96 percent),
and his opponent, Takis Evdokas,
running on a straight enosis platform,
received 8,577 votes. Even though
there were 16,215 abstentions, Makarios's
overwhelming victory was seen as
a massive endorsement of his personal
leadership and of an independent
Cyprus. At his investiture, the president
stated that the Cyprus problem could
not be solved by force, but had to
be worked out within the framework
of the UN. He also said that he and
his followers wanted to live peacefully
in a unitary state where all citizens
enjoyed equal rights. Some Cypriots
opposed Makarios's conciliatory stance,
and there would be an unsuccessful
attempt to assassinate him in 1970.
In mid-1968 intercommunal talks
under UN auspices began in Beirut.
Glafkos Clerides, president of the
House of Representatives, and Rauf
Denktas were involved in the first
stages of these talks, which lasted
until 1974. Although many points
of agreement were arrived at, no
lasting agreements were reached.
Turkish Cypriot proposals emphasized
the importance of the local government
of each ethnic community at the expense
of the central government, while
the Greek Cypriot negotiating teams
stressed the dominance of the central
authorities over local administration.
In the parliamentary elections that
took place on July 5, 1970, fifteen
seats went to the Unified Democratic
Party (Eniaion), nine to AKEL, seven
to the Progressive Coalition, two
to the socialist coalition, and two
to the Independents. The enosis opposition
did not capture any seats. Eniaion,
led by Clerides and based on an urban
constituency, was a moderate party
of the right that generally supported
Makarios. The Progressive Coalition
had an ideological base almost the
same as Eniaion's, but was based
in the rural areas. The socialist
group was led by Vassos Lyssarides,
personal physician to Makarios; its
two seats in the House of Representatives
did not reflect its significant influence
in Cypriot affairs and the personal
power of its leader. The Independents
were a left-wing noncommunist group
similar to EDEK but lacking its dynamic
leadership. The fifteen seats reserved
for Turkish Cypriots went to followers
of Denktas.
In the early 1970s, Cyprus was in
fact a partitioned country. Makarios
was the president of the republic,
but his authority did not extend
into the Turkish enclaves. The House
of Representatives sat as the legislature,
but only the thirty-five Greek Cypriot
seats were functioning as part of
a central government. De facto, the
partition sought for years by Turks
and Turkish Cypriots existed, but
intercommunal strife had not ended.
In the summer of 1971, tension built
up between the two communities, and
incidents became more numerous. Sometime
in the late summer or early fall,
Grivas (who had attacked Makarios
as a traitor in an Athens newspaper)
returned secretly to the island and
began to rebuild his guerrilla organization,
which became known as the National
Organization of Cypriot Fighters
(Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agonistan
B--EOKA B). Three new newspapers
advocating enosis were also established
at the same time. All of these activities
were funded by the military junta
that controlled Greece. The junta
probably would have agreed to some
form of partition similar to the
Acheson Plan to settle the Cyprus
question, but at the time the overthrow
of Makarios was the primary objective,
and the junta backed Grivas toward
that end. Grivas, from hiding, directed
terrorist attacks and propaganda
assaults that shook the Makarios
government, but the president remained
a powerful, popular leader.
In January 1972, a new crisis rekindled
intercommunal tensions when an Athens
newspaper reported that the Makarios
government had received a shipment
of Czechoslovakian arms. The guns
were intended for Makarios's own
elite guard; the Greek government,
hoping to overthrow Makarios through
Grivas, EOKA B, and the National
Guard, objected to the import of
the arms. The authorities in Ankara
were more than willing to join Athens
in such a protest, and both governments
demanded that the Czechoslovakian
munitions be turned over to UNFICYP.
Makarios was eventually forced to
comply.
Relations between Nicosia and Athens
were at such a low ebb that the colonels
of the Greek junta, recognizing that
they had Makarios in a perilous position,
issued an ultimatum for him to reform
his government and rid it of ministers
who had been critical of the junta.
The colonels, however, had not reckoned
with the phenomenal popularity of
the archbishop, and once again mass
demonstrations proved that Makarios
had the people behind him. In the
end, however, Makarios bowed to Greek
pressure and reshuffled the cabinet.
Working against Makarios was the
fact that most officers of the Cypriot
National Guard were Greek regulars
who supported the junta and its desire
to remove him from office and achieve
some degree of enosis. Grivas was
also a threat to the archbishop.
He remained powerful and to some
extent was independent of the junta
that had permitted his return to
Cyprus. While the Greek colonels
were at times prepared to make a
deal with Turkey about Cyprus, Grivas
was ferociously opposed to any arrangement
that did not lead to complete enosis.
In the spring of 1972, Makarios
faced an attack from another quarter.
The three bishops of the Church of
Cyprus demanded that he resign as
president, because his temporal duties
violated canon law. Moving astutely,
Markarios foiled the three bishops
and had them defrocked in the summer
of 1973. Before choosing their replacements,
he increased the number of bishoprics
to five, thereby reducing the power
of individual bishops.
Grivas and his one-track pursuit
of enosis through terrorism had become
an embarrassment to the Greek Cypriot
government, as well as to the Greek
government that had sponsored his
return to the island. His fame and
popularity in both countries, however,
prevented his removal. That problem
was solved on January 27, 1974, when
the general died of a heart attack.
Makarios granted his followers an
amnesty, hoping that EOKA B would
disappear after the death of its
leader. Terrorism continued, however,
and the 100,000 mourners who attended
Grivas's funeral indicated the enduring
popularity of his political aims.
