The Bishops Rebel

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This time Grivas landed in Cyprus near Limassol, and immediately went to ground in his old haunts there, confident of support from the ‘National Front’ and the Bishop of Kitium, as well as from a number of mainland Greek officers who were now more and more being hand-picked by Athens. Makarios had no illusions about the purpose of the EOKA leader’s return. Papadopoulos had told the Archbishop privately in July that he should be prepared to accept an accommodation with Turkey in the form of ‘double Enosis’ or else resign as President. Makarios had spoken publicly of pressures on him from outside Cyprus — and everybody knew what he meant. On 20 July Xanthopoulos-Palamas, the Deputy Foreign Minister, had sent a Note to Nicosia, pointing out that, although Cyprus was ‘independent’, Athens was the ‘National Centre’ and in a matter affecting the national interest the Greeks of Cyprus must follow the line laid down by Athens. Makarios’s reply of 4 August was uncompromising: ‘In what concerns its national interest Cypriot Hellenism must have the last word. If there is disagreement between Athens and Nicosia, each must bear responsibility for its own actions.’KeywordsForeign MinisterNational GuardNational FrontNews ConferencePopular ReferendumThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.