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He was born in the village of Panayia , in the Paphos district. He was bishop of Kition from 1948 and archbishop of Cyprus from 1950. He was an organizer of the Greek Cypriot resistance organization EOKAEOKA Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston in English National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters was a Greek Cypriot nationalist organisation that fought for the expulsion of United Kingdom troops from the island, for self-determination and for union with Gr (“National Organization of Cypriot Fighters”). The British exiled him to the SeychellesThe Republic of Seychelles ( Creole: Repiblik Sesel is an island nation in the Indian Ocean, some 1,600 km east of mainland Africa, northeast of the island of Madagascar. Other nearby island countries and territories include Mauritius and Reunion to the s in 1956 on charges of collusion acts of terrorismTerrorism refers to the use of violence against noncombatants for the purpose of achieving a political, religious or socio-economic goal. Terrorist acts can be carried out by individuals or groups, and are sometimes sponsored by governments as an alternat connected with his organization. When the British, Turkish and Greek governments agreed on conditions for the independence of Cyprus, Makarios was elected president, steering a course between the island's Greek and Turkish communities. Though in March 1961 Cyprus was admitted as member of the British Commonwealth and Makarios represented the island at the Commonwealth Prime Ministers΄ Conference, in September 1961 he participated in the Belgrade Conference of Heads of State of Non-Aligned Countries. When his term of office was about to expire in 1965 it was extended to 1968. During this time, the Americans regarded him as 'the CastroFidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (born August 13, 1926) has ruled Cuba since 1959, when, as part of the 26th of July Movement, he helped overthrow the government of Fulgencio Batista and turn Cuba into the first socialist state in the Western Hemisphere. He hel of the Mediterranean', a reference to the Cuban leader Fidel Castro, and the apparent ideological similarities between the pair.
In 1974, the Greek military government in Athens sponsored a coup d'etat in Nicosia, hoping to replace Makarios with a new president who would be more committed to taking active steps towards Enosis. While addressing the UN Security Council on July 19 1974, Makarios accused Greece of having invaded Cyprus and of posing a threat to the Turkish-Cypriot community: "The coup of the Greek junta is an invasion, and from its consequences the whole people of Cyprus suffers, both Greeks and Turks." Makarios's castigation of a Greece as an invader gave Turkey legitimate pretext to invade the island under the treaty of Guarantee. Turkey's self-proclaimed "peace mission" resulted in the occupation of the northern third of the island by August 1974, well after the military regime in Greece and the Greek Cypriot putschists had collapsed. The Turkish invasion has remained controversial ever since, and has met with opposition by the UN Security Council and other international fora. In December 1974 Makarios returned to a divided Cyprus, and resumed the presidency until his death in 1977.