Makarios Returns

Makarios had been away from Cyprus since March 1956, first in exile in the Seychelles and then, after his release in 1957, in Athens. Once he had accepted the Zurich and London Agreements in February 1959, the main obstacle was gone, and Britain allowed him to come home to prepare for the new state he would lead.

He landed in Nicosia on 1 March 1959 to an enormous welcome. By one estimate almost two thirds of the adult Greek Cypriot population turned out to see him. A week later, on 9 March, Grivas declared a ceasefire, accompanied by an amnesty for political offences, and EOKA’s campaign came to an end. The state of emergency was formally lifted on 4 December 1959.

The return was not a simple triumph. Makarios had first resisted the London package and accepted it only when Greece would not back him. He came home with independence, not the union with Greece he had campaigned for since 1950. For Turkish Cypriots the same agreements ruled out enosis, but also the partition TMT had demanded.

The presidential election was held on 13 December 1959, nine days after the emergency ended. Makarios faced Ioannis Clerides, a lawyer and father of the later president Glafcos Clerides, and won about two thirds of the vote. On the same day Dr Fazıl Küçük was elected vice president unopposed by the Turkish Cypriot community. Elections to the House of Representatives followed on 31 July 1960. Makarios and Küçük took office when the Republic of Cyprus came into being on 16 August 1960.