Makarios III, the archbishop and president of Cyprus since 1960, is reelected in 1973.

Although Makarios had originally been a leader in the campaign for enosis, many Greek Cypriots and mainland Greeks believe that by the time he had become president he was content with Cyprus's independence.

Angered, dissidents had tried to assassinate Makarios in 1970 and do so again in 1973, in which year he is denounced by the three suffragan bishops who are ecclesiastically subordinate to him.

Meanwhile, General Giorgios Grivas had returned secretly to Cyprus in 1971 to form and lead the underground organization EOKA B, the second incarnation of Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston (Greek National Organization of Cypriot Fighters) and resume the campaign for enosis.

Talks between Glafcos Clerides and Rauf Denktash, representing the Greek and Turkish Cypriots, respectively, had begun in 1968.

They continue inconclusively until 1974, the Turks demanding and the Greeks rejecting the proposal for a bizonal federation with a weak central government.

Dimitrios Ioannidis, believing that a major nationalist cause will rally the Greek people behind him, induces a confrontation with Turkey in 1974 over control of recently discovered oil deposits in the Aegean Sea.

He also attempts to undermine Makarios by supporting Greek Cypriot terrorist activity.

Sampson is expendable, of course, to the Athens regime, but Sisco can get an agreement only to reassign the six hundred and fifty Greek officers.

As Sisco negotiates in Athens, Turkish invasion ships are already at sea.

A last-minute reversal might be possible if the Greeks made concessions, but they do not.

At the same time, Turkish prime minister Bülent Ecevit flies to London to elicit British aid in a joint effort in Cyprus, as called for in the 1959 Treaty of Guarantee, but the British are either unwilling or unprepared and decline to take action as a guarantor power.

The United States takes no action to bolster the Makarios government, but Joseph J. Sisco, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, goes to London and the eastern Mediterranean to stave off the impending Turkish invasion and the war between Greece and Turkey that might follow.

The Turks demand removal of Nikos Sampson and the Greek officers from the National Guard and a binding guarantee of Cypriot independence.

Sampson, of course, is expendable to the Athens regime, but Sisco can get an agreement only to reassign the six hundred and fifty Greek officers.

Konstantinos Karamanlis, in self-imposed exile in France since 1963, had been called back to head the Greek government once more.

Clerides is sworn in as acting president of the Republic of Cyprus, and the foreign ministers of the guarantor powers meet in Geneva on July 25 to discuss the military situation on the island

Prime Minister Ecevit publicly welcomes the change of government in Greece and seems genuinely interested in eliminating the tensions that have brought the two countries so close to war.

Nevertheless, during the truce that is arranged, Turkish forces continue to take territory, to improve their positions, and to build up their supplies of war materiel.

Glafcos Clerides, who as president of the House of Representatives automatically succeeds the head of state in the latter's absence, is sworn in as acting president of the Republic of Cyprus; while. ..

...the notorious EOKA terrorist Nikos Sampson is declared provisional president of the new Cypriot government.

It is obvious to Ankara that Athens is behind the coup, and major elements of the Turkish armed forces go on alert.

Turkey had made similar moves in 1964 and 1967, but had not invaded.

As Sisco negotiates in Athens, Turkish invasion ships are already at sea.

A last-minute reversal might have been possible had the Greeks made concessions, but they have not.

The intervention begins early on July 20, 1974.

Three days later, the Greek junta collapses in Athens, Sampson resigns in Nicosia, and the threat of war between NATO allies is over.

The Turkish army, however, remains on Cyprus.

Ioannidis' response to the Turkish invasion of the northern part of Cyprus is to mobilize for war with Turkey.

The Greek military, however, has already shown disaffection by scattered revolts, and the mobilization proves chaotic.

The regime, bitterly unpopular domestically and totally isolated diplomatically, collapses in complete disarray.

Thus, the Cyprus crisis makes clear that the regime's most fundamental base of support is crumbling.

Gizikis, recognizing the need for a return to civilian rule, recalls several former politicians from their self-imposed exile.

Former premier Konstantinos Karamanlis, having remained in Paris since 1967, has repeatedly called for the junta to resign but has not otherwise actively opposed the regime.

On July 24, 1974, Karamanlis returns to Athens as prime minister of an emergency government.

He demands and obtains the subordination of the armed forces to civilian authority, reinstates the constitution, and averts a catastrophic war with Turkey over Cyprus without loss of prestige.