A recent prominent example of this was Archbishop Makarios III of Cyprus, who served as President of the Republic of Cyprus from 1960 to 1977.

The executive, for example, was headed by a Greek Cypriot president, Archbishop Makarios III, and a Turkish Cypriot vice president, Dr Fazıl Küçük, elected by their respective communities for 5-year terms and each possessing a right of veto over certain types of legislation and executive decisions.

The prime originator of Cypriot non-alignment was Makarios III, the first President ( 1960 – 1977 ) of the independent republic of Cyprus.

This article of the constitution was never implemented by the Republic and President Archbishop Makarios.

The programme also attracted complaints from the Boy Scout Association, who were upset by an item questioning the sexuality of its founder Lord Baden-Powell, and the government of Cyprus, which claimed that a joke about Archbishop Makarios, the country's ruler, was a " gross violation of internationally accepted ethics ".

Among other matters in which he was involved were the dispute between India and Pakistan over Kashmir, assisted emigration from Britain to Australia, and relations with Archbishop Makarios of Cyprus.

Makarios, leader of the militant anti-British and pro-Greek movement, was detained in exile in the Seychelles.

In 1959 the plan was ratified in London by Makarios III.

Makarios III (), born Michail Christodolou Mouskos () ( August 13, 1913 – August 3, 1977 ), was the archbishop and primate of the autocephalous Cypriot Orthodox Church ( 1950 – 1977 ) and the first President of the Republic of Cyprus ( 1960 – 1974 and 1974 – 1977 ).

On September 18, 1950, Makarios was elected Archbishop of Cyprus.

Makarios undoubtedly had common political ground with EOKA and was acquainted with its leader, the Greek soldier and politician George Grivas, but the extent of his involvement is unclear and disputed.

Makarios, characterised in the British press as a crooked Cypriot priest and viewed with suspicion by the British authorities, was intercepted by Special Branch officers whilst attempting to board a flight at Nicosia airport.

Makarios was released from exile after a year, although he was still forbidden to return to Cyprus.

Negotiations in 1958 generated the Zurich Agreement as a basis for a deal on independence, and Makarios was invited to London in 1959 to fine-tune the plan.

Makarios was to become the political leader of all Cyprus as well as the communal leader of the Greek Cypriots.

By now, Makarios had accepted that enosis was not to be, and that the only outcome which could secure harmony in Cyprus was robust independence.

Taking office on August 16, 1960, the day the Union Flag was finally lowered in Nicosia, Makarios moved towards the moderate centre of Cypriot politics and now pursued a policy of non-alignment, cultivating good relations with Turkey as well as Greece and becoming a high-profile member of the Non-Aligned Movement ( NAM ).

In March 1961, Cyprus was admitted as member of the Commonwealth of Nations and Makarios represented the island at the Commonwealth Prime Ministers ' Conference.

This was seen in the U. S. as demonstrating a tendency towards communism ; Makarios was vilified as the " Castro of the Mediterranean " although he had by now been rehabilitated in the British press and was affectionately nicknamed " Black Mak " on account of his clerical garb.

There was increasing acrimony between Turkish and Greek Cypriots about the workings of the constitution, and Makarios was forced to act to salvage the machinery of state from imminent collapse.

The joint police / military plan, codenamed Operation Airborne saw Makarios exiled to Mahe Island in the Seychelles on 9 March 1956, as a ‘ guest ’ of Sir William Addis, Governor & Commander-in-Chief of the Seychelles.

A month later, chased by the British forces, he was secretly transferred from the mountains by the car of a passionate EOKA fighter, Kostis Efstathiou, widely known as Pachykostis, and found refuge in a hideout at Limassol from where he directed not only the military activities but also the political campaign, since Archbishop Makarios in March 1956 was exiled by the authorities.

Sometime in the late summer or early autumn, Grivas ( who had attacked Makarios as a traitor in an Athens newspaper ) returned secretly to the island and began to rebuild his guerrilla organisation, which became known as the National Organization of Cypriot Fighters ( Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston B, aka EOKA B ).

As time progressed Grivas ' pursuit of enosis through guerrilla tactics with the use of the EOKA B ' paramilitary organisation failed to force Makarios to follow the policy of self-determination-union with Greece and led to a period of armed civil war in Cyprus among the Greek-Cypriot community.

In the 1950s the Cyprus issue flared up again when the Greek Cypriots, under Archbishop Makarios, claimed union with Greece, and the EOKA group launching a paramilitary movement on the island-mainly against the British, but also inflicting collateral damage to other parties and civilians.

On July 15, 1974, a band of Greek Cypriot nationalists formed EOKA B, advocating Enosis ( Union ) with Greece, and backed by the Greek military junta in Athens, staged a coup against the Cypriot President and Archbishop Makarios.

Following the 15 July 1974 coup d ' état in which EOKA B, a Greek Cypriot pro-enosis paramilitary organisation, overthrew the democratically elected Makarios and installed Nikos Sampson as a President with dictatorial powers, Turkey invaded Cyprus.

The head of the political arm of EOKA, Makarios, took a more compromising approach especially during the later stages of the struggle.

British pressure had forced Makarios to distance Georgadjis, a former active EOKA member from the Ministry of Interior which was in charge of internal security, police and intelligence.

Georkadjis ' men shot at Makarios ' helicopter just after it took off from the Archbishopric in Nicosia to convey the Archbishop to a memorial service for EOKA hero Grigoris Afxentiou in the mountains of Macheras.

After the discovery of his plans by the authorities he secretly returned to Cyprus where he formed the armed organization EOKA B which he used as leverage in his attempts to persuade or force President Makarios to change his policy and adopt the line of " Self Determination – Union " with Greece.

EOKA B failed to overthrow Makarios but the armed struggle led to a vicious circle of violence and anti-violence which amounted to civil war among the Greek-Cypriot Community from 1971-1974.

The EOKA B members and other pro-enosis forces joined the National Guard in the afternoon of Monday July 15th 1974 in the fight against Makarios forces.

The bulk of EOKA supporters were in favour of Makarios III, whereas AKEL backed Ioannis Kleridis ( father of Glafkos Klerides ).

The first secret talks for EOKA, as a nationalist organization established to integrate the island to Greece, were started in the chairmanship of Archbishop Makarios III in Athens on 2 July 1952.

During the campaign for the 1968 presidential elections, Makarios III said that enosis was " desirable " whereas independence was " possible ".

Makarios, the target of Grivas ' campaign for enosis, formally boycotted the event.

President Makarios distanced himself from his earlier enosis convictions in his 1968 presidential campaign and argued for the independence of Cyprus.

By 1967, when a military junta had seized power in Greece, the political impetus for enosis had faded, partly as a result of the non-aligned foreign policy of Cypriot President Makarios.

On July 15, 1974 Ioannides took by surprise Makarios and organised a coup d ' etat in Nicosia at 8. 15 in the morning when Makarios ' forces were off guard.

Makarios fled Cyprus when the coupist forces took control of the whole of Cyprus and was replaced by Nikos Sampson, a Cypriot newspaper editor and politician.

War was averted when Sampson's coup collapsed a few days later and Makarios returned to power ; and the Greek military junta in Athens, which failed to confront the Turkish invasion, also fell from power on 24 July ; but the damage to Turkish-Greek relations was done, and the occupation of Northern Cyprus by Turkish troops would be a sticking point in Greco-Turkish relations for decades to come.

Caesaropapism existed in the Eastern Orthodox Church in Turkey until 1923 and in Cyprus until 1977, when Archbishop Makarios III died.

Another crisis flared in July 1974 within the NATO alliance when Turkish forces, concerned about the long-term lack of safety for the minority Turkish community, invaded Cyprus after the Cypriot National Guard, supported by the government of Greece, overthrew President Archbishop Makarios.

To Makarios, people are like lemons: when they are squeezed dry, he throws them away.

Led by Archbishop Makarios, the Greek Cypriot demand for enosis emerged with new force in the 1950s, when Greece began to accord it support on the international scene.

However, in December 1963, when Makarios III attempted to modify the Constitution, Greek Cypriots began attacking Turkish Cypriot villages ; by early 1964, the Turkish Cypriots began withdrawing to armed enclaves where the Greek Cypriots blockaded them.

Makarios argued that the office of President of the Republic of Cyprus could not be called secular at a time when the Orthodox Greeks of Cyprus were struggling for their national survival, and that in the circumstances the holding of secular office did not confer on the Archbishop any personal reward, but was an onerous and bitter duty which he could not shirk.