CYPRUS: The Passing of the Dark Priest

Suddenly ending an era, Cyprus lurches into crisis

To irreverent British Tommies fighting to preserve colonial rule on Cyprus 25 years ago, he was Mack the Knife. His Turkish enemies reviled him as the Dark Priest, for his Byzantine politics rather than the black beard, cassock and tall kalimavki or clerical stovepipe hat that were his trademarks. Some American diplomats denigrated him as the Castro of the Mediterranean. But last week, after Archbishop Makarios III, President of Cyprus, died suddenly of a heart attack ten days before his 64th birthday, even enemies could...

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