Greek–Turkish relations regime, there were periodic crises with Turkey, which suspected that the Greek regime was planning a pro-unification coup in Cyprus. A 1971 Turkish law nationalized religious high schools, and closed the Halki seminary on Istanbul's Heybeli Island which had trained Greek Orthodox clergy since 1844. On July 15, 1974, a band of Greek Cypriot nationalists formed EOKA B, advocating Enosis (Union) with Greece and, backed by the Greek military junta in Athens, staged a coup against the Cypriot President and Archbishop Makarios. An ex-EOKA man, Nikos Sampson was appointed President. On July 20, Turkey—using its guarantor status arising from the
Cyprus dispute louder. Under the terms of the agreement reached between Britain and the Ottoman Empire, the island remained an Ottoman territory. The Christian Greek-speaking majority of the island welcomed the arrival of the British, as a chance to voice their demands for union with Greece. When the Ottoman Empire entered World War I on the side of the Central Powers, Britain renounced the Agreement, rejected all Turkish claims over Cyprus and declared the island a British colony. In 1915, Britain offered Cyprus to Constantine I of Greece on condition that Greece join the war on the side of the British, which