History of Cyprus since 1878 accepted by both sides. Both Greece and Turkey along with Britain were appointed as guarantors of the island's integrity. Some of the major points of the Zurich agreement are: On August 16, 1960 Cyprus gained its independence from the United Kingdom, after the long anti-British campaign by the Greek Cypriot EOKA (National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters), a guerrilla group which desired political union with Greece, or "enosis". Archbishop Makarios III, a charismatic religious and political leader, was elected the first president of independent Cyprus. In 1961 it became the 99th member of the United Nations. The Zurich agreement, however, did
Politics of Cyprus 1985, they adopted a constitution and held elections—an arrangement recognized only by Turkey. For information pertaining to this, see Politics of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. The Organisation of the Islamic Conference (now the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation) granted it observer member status under the name of "Turkish Cypriot State". The division of Cyprus has remained an intractable political problem plaguing relations between Greece and Turkey, and drawing in NATO, of which both Greece and Turkey are members, and latterly the European Union, which has admitted Greece and Cyprus and which Turkey has been seeking to join for over