When Grivas dies of a heart attack in January, Eoka B comes more directly under the control of military junta in Greece which, following a change of leadership the previous November, is even more hostile to Makarios.

On July 3 Makarios publicly accuses the junta of using Greek officers in the National Guard to subvert his government and demands that Athens withdraw 650 of them immediately.

Grivas’ funeral in January 1974

Instead, on 15 July, Greek officers in the National Guard, directed from Athens, launch a coup against Makarios aimed at enosis. He escapes to London. Nicos Sampson, a notorious ex-Eoka gunman feared by Turkish Cypriots, is installed as president. Makarios accuses Greece at the UN Security Council of invading Cyprus.

The presidential palace after the failed coup in 1974 EPA/CYPRIOT PRESS OFFICE

On July 20 Turkey invades, invoking the 1960 Treaty of Guarantee.

The coup collapses on 23 July. The military junta in Greece falls; civilian rule returns. Sampson is forced to step down and Glafcos Clerides becomes acting president.

Turkey launches the second phase of its invasion on August 14 with its forces advancing rapidly to seize 36.2 per cent of Cyprus. Ceasefire lines established on August 16 have not since changed. Between them marks the UN-controlled buffer zone.

165,000 Greek Cypriots are displaced from northern Cyprus while 45,000 Turkish Cypriots move north within a year.

Makarios returns from London in December.