ABSTRACT
The Greek junta leader Ioannidis initiated the coup against Makarios during a period when there was considerable disarray within the ranks of the senior members of the military regime. In spite of Turkey's record of opposition to Enosis and threats of going to war to avert its realization, Greece's junta leader discounted the likelihood of Turkey intervening on the island. There was concern in Ankara that the direct engagement between mainland Greek and Turkish forces would prompt Greece to extend the war beyond Cyprus. In fact, most Greeks and Greek-Cypriots have subscribed to the notion that the United States conspired to create the conditions that made Turkey's intervention possible in order to bring about the island's partition between Greece and Turkey. In spite of both Greece and Turkey's preoccupation with Cyprus as a major foreign policy problem, since 1974 both have avoided the appearance of negotiating a Cyprus settlement.
