Cyprus of Turkish territory. Meanwhile, by 1964, "enosis" was a Greek policy that could not be abandoned; Makarios and the Greek prime minister Georgios Papandreou agreed that "enosis" should be the ultimate aim and King Constantine wished Cyprus "a speedy union with the mother country". Greece dispatched 10,000 troops to Cyprus to counter a possible Turkish invasion. On 15 July 1974, the Greek military junta under Dimitrios Ioannides carried out a coup d'état in Cyprus, to unite the island with Greece. The coup ousted president Makarios III and replaced him with pro-enosis nationalist Nikos Sampson. In response to the coup, five
Foreign relations of Northern Cyprus stance, the TRNC refuses any official recognition of the government of the Republic of Cyprus, calling it the ""Greek Cypriot Administration of Southern Cyprus"", and referring to its President as the ""Greek Cypriot Leader"". Turkey backs this position. After the Republic of Cyprus became a member of the European Union, the southern part of the island became part of the Customs Union of EU. The Northern part of the island is excluded from the Customs Union. In spite of that, the Green Line regulations are intended to ease trade relations between North Cyprus and EU. Oil exploration in East Mediterranean