Ioannis Clerides member of the Colony's Executive Council (under the British colonial government) but resigned in 1956, protesting the deportation of Archbishop Makarios III to the Seychelles. In 1959 he was a candidate for President in Cyprus' first presidential election in 1959, with the support of AKEL, but was defeated by Archbishop Makarios III. Notably, his own son, Glafcos Clerides, supported Makarios over his father. He was awarded the QC and CBE by the British government. Ioannis Clerides died in 1961, aged 74. Ioannis Clerides Ioannis Clerides or John Clerides (Greek: Ιωάννης Κληρίδης, 1887 - 1961) was a Greek Cypriot lawyer and
Makarios III traitor in an Athens newspaper) returned secretly to the island and began to rebuild his guerrilla organization, which became known as the National Organization of Cypriot Fighters ("Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston B", aka EOKA B). Three new newspapers advocating enosis were also established; all of these activities were funded by the military junta in Greece. The junta probably would have agreed to some form of partition similar to the Acheson Plan to settle the Cyprus question, but it faced rejection by Makarios. The overthrow of Makarios became the primary objective, and the junta backed Grivas toward that end. From hiding,