The plebiscite (Latin plebiscitum - referendum that does not have the power to change the constitution but reflects the opinion of the people), organized by the Greek Cypriot Orthodox Church on Sunday, January 15 and Sunday, January 22, 1950, so that only Greek Cypriots could participate, is an important event in the recent history of the island of Cyprus.
This plebiscite revealed with a large percentage of votes that one of the people with two different ethnic identities, who have been living on the island of Cyprus for centuries, will unilaterally connect the island to Greece (Annexation-Enosis).
III, whose real name was Mouskos of Michael Christodou. The second of the important events in the recent history of the island of Cyprus is the election of Makarios as archbishop by eliminating his strongest opponent with a perfect intrigue on September 18, 1950, and his becoming the head of the Greek Orthodox Church. In addition to being elected archbishop, Makarios assumed the role of Ethnarh, the de facto national leader of the Greek Cypriot community, and assumed the leadership position that determined the political life and strategies of the Greek Cypriots. In fact, the ethnic problems, armed conflicts, migrations and genocide between the Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots in the island of Cyprus between 1950-1974 began with the election of Makarios as archbishop.
Since Makarios' goal was to expel the British and then the Turkish Cypriots, who are an extension of the Turkish nation, from the island and to realize Enosis, he took a national oath in addition to his religious oath while he was taking the archbishopric oath, and he took his oath "I dedicate my life to the connection of the island of Cyprus to Greece". finished with his words.
The founding work of EOKA, which started with Grivas, who came to the island in 1951 to research the rebellion against the British colonial administration, became official and realized with the meeting held in Athens in 1954. On April 1, 1955, EOKA began its attacks. Aim; It was the connection of the island of Cyprus to Greece (Enosis). EOKA, which started to attack the British first, then targeted the Turkish Cypriots.
The "founding partners" of the Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots, on 16 August 1960, when the independence of the Republic of Cyprus was declared, was one of the important days in the recent history of Cyprus, because the Turks and Greeks had signed a common state based on equality on the island. However, Makarios, who was elected president by the Greek Cypriot people, from the very first day "ignoring Turkey", isolating the Turkish Cypriots from the Republic of Cyprus, not giving them their rights, intimidating them and forcing them to migrate, rolled up his sleeves to connect the island to Greece as soon as possible and set to work.
The intention was to Hellenise Cyprus with the Cretan formula. In Crete, he took the decision to apply the same method in Cyprus, taking as an example the Greeks who took the European states behind them, massacred a large part of 130,000 Turks, and forced the rest to migrate, clearing the island from the Turks, despite the Ottoman state. For this purpose, the strategy and logistics planning of the officers sent from Greece in March 1962 and the Akritas Plan were prepared and the preparations for the attack were started immediately.
Etnarh and Archbishop Makarios first stepped up their political work within the "Non-Aligned Bloc" to gain full Russian support. The assassination of US President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963 was a unique opportunity for Makarios. The fact that the US presidential office was filled by his deputy Lyndon B.Johnson and the presidential elections came to the agenda created the belief in Makarios that the USA would not be very interested in what would happen in Cyprus during this period. In addition to this, Makarios, who calculated that the most suitable date for the attack on the Turkish Cypriots, during the Christmas week, which is a very holy day for Christians, would not attract objections from the Christian world, and conveyed the instruction to Yorgacis to start the attacks during Christmas.
The attacks started with the attacks of the civilian paramilitary forces affiliated with Yorgasis, with the Greek Cypriot police behind them, on the Turkish Cypriots, consisting of six men and four women, in two cars returning to their home in Nicosia from Kyrenia in the early hours of Saturday morning, 21 December 1963, and spread to the entire island. With the Happy Peace Operation on 20 July 1974, these attacks came to an end, and the Turkish Cypriots regained their freedom, for which they had been fighting for a long time.
December 21, 1963 is a very important day in the recent history of Cyprus. The importance of this date is evident from the fact that Makarios repeatedly stated in his interviews with his close friends before he died in 1997, "My biggest mistake was that I ignored Turkey and allowing the armed attacks against Turkish Cypriots."