Thousands of Turkish Cypriots start moving into defended enclaves and establish their own autonomous administration. The Greek Cypriots alone are now represented in the government, which is recognised internationally as the island’s only legitimate authority. Turkish Cypriots say they were forced out; Greek Cypriots say they left to set up their own administration. The Greek Cypriots re-introduce the demand for Enosis.

A multinational United Nations peacekeeping force, Unficyp, is established in March but struggles to contain inter-communal violence. Turkey has been preparing for a military invasion, which is averted in early June only by a robust warning from the US president, Lyndon Johnson. He fears such Turkish action would lead to war between Turkey and Greece – the US’s allies in Nato – and so weaken the alliance’s south-eastern flank.

The Greek Cypriots establish a National Guard, introducing compulsory military service in June. Makarios starts making overtures to the Soviet Union.

Greece sends an army division of some 10,000 troops to Cyprus on the grounds that it will protect the island, but Athens is also concerned that Cyprus is coming under the influence of the Soviet Union.

At US president Lyndon Johnson’s initiative, there are talks between Greece and Turkey for a Cyprus solution, with a former US secretary of state, Dean Acheson, serving as mediator. The “Acheson Plan” envisages the union of Cyprus and Greece, while up to three cantons would be established for the Turkish Cypriots, over which they would have full administrative control.

There is heavy fighting in August when the National Guard – now commanded by the former Eoka leader General George Grivas – attacks the fortified Turkish Cypriot enclave of Kokkina-Mansoura on the northwest coast, which is being used to smuggle in arms from Turkey.

In response, Turkish jets attack two Cypriot patrol boats and bomb National Guard positions and Greek Cypriot villages in the area. Fifty-three Greek Cypriots are killed, including 28 civilians. After these incidents, Acheson abandons his initiative.