Nikos Sampson

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Nikos Sampson
Nikos Sampson
Cypriot politician, journalist and EOKA terorrist
Born	December 16, 1935 Cyprus
Died	May 9, 2001 Nicosia, Cyprus
Nationality	Cypriot
Religion	Cypriot Orthodox Church

Nikos Sampson (Greek: Νίκος Σαμψών; December 16, 1935 – May 9, 2001) was the de facto president of Cyprus installed by the coup d'état that overthrew Archbishop Makarios, President of Cyprus, in 1974.^[1] Sampson was well known as a Greek nationalist and member of EOKA, which sought Enosis (Union) of the island of Cyprus with Greece. He remained President for only eight days but the puppet regime that installed him failed to gain diplomatic recognition from any country.

Contents 1 The EOKA period 2 The 1960s 3 The 1974 coup 4 Aftermath 5 References

[edit] The EOKA period

Sampson was born Nikos Georgiadis in the Cypriot port city of Famagusta. He began his working life as a correspondent for The Cyprus Times. He adopted the name Sampson to distinguish him from countless others who bore this surname. It was also his nom de guerre during the resistance campaign against British rule in Cyprus, waged from 1955 to 1959.

Joining EOKA, he became known to the British Army and police as one of its most feared resistance fighters. He and his supporters instigated a number of killings carried out along Ledra Street. These included three police sergeants, for one of which Sampson was tried in May 1957. He confessed, but was acquitted because of suspicions that his confession had been coerced. But a month after this acquittal, he was convicted of weapons possession, which carried a death sentence under the emergency regulations of the time.

Sampson was working as a photographer-reporter at the time and he used to photograph the bodies of the people he killed to be published in the newspaper he was working for. The police became suspicious about how Sampson was always the first reporter to arrive at the murder scene and he was arrested.

The death sentence was subsequently commuted to life imprisonment and Sampson was flown to the United Kingdom to serve it. He was released a year and a half later under a general amnesty as part of the 1959 London agreement but remained in exile in Greece until Cyprus gained formal independence in August 1960, with Archbishop Makarios as its first President. He returned to Nicosia shortly after Independence Day, receiving a hero's welcome.

[edit] The 1960s

Sampson returned to newspaper publishing, admitting in 1961 in a series of newspaper articles that he was responsible for the death of police officers in 1956 during the resistance campaign against British rule.

In 1960 he set up the newspaper Makhi which was one of the first Greek newspapers in circulation in the nation of Cyprus.

Sampson actively participated clashes between the Greek and Turkish communities in December 1963 which eventually led to a United Nations peacekeeping force being dispatched to Cyprus. The effect of these clashes between in the Greek and Turkish communities in Cyprus was the departure of the Turkish Cypriots from government and the segregation of the Turkish Cypriot community into enclaves. Sampson was particularly active in the mixed suburb of Nicosia known as Omorfita/Kucuk Kaymakli, with a majority Turkish Cypriot population where he took part in the fierce battles that took place at the end of December 1963 between Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot irregulars for the control of the whole suburb.

[edit] The 1974 coup

In 1970 Sampson became a member of the Parliament of Cyprus as a leader of one of the main parties of Cyprus, Progressive Party (Proodeftikoi). In 1971, EOKA head General Grivas returned to Cyprus and gave the campaign for enosis further momentum, forming EOKA-B. Following the death of Grivas in January 1974, the Greek military junta of 1967-1974 gave active support to EOKA-B.

On July 15, 1974, Makarios was deposed by a military coup on which was led by Greek officers of the Cyprus National Guard.

[edit] Aftermath

After the coup, the Greek military junta installed Sampson as Cyprus' second president, having picked him from a list of "several candidates".^[2] The puppet government he led failed to gain international recognition from any other country and Sampson was forced to resign eight days later, after Turkey invaded Cyprus, taking control of the northern third of the island.

In an interview with Reuters, on the 25th of July 1974 Sampson claimed to have been unaware of the impending coup that had installed him. He went on to claim that after military officers had insisted he "saw the possibility of civil war and accepted". ^[3] Nonetheless, Sampson was prosecuted and sentenced to 20 years in prison for treason in 1976. In 1979 he was allowed to go to France for medical treatment which lasted for most of his prison sentence, before returning to Cyprus in June 1990. Following his release from prison in 1992, he went back to the newspaper publishing business. On May 10, 2001, he died in Nicosia following a protracted bout against cancer.

[edit] References

The references in this article would be clearer with a different or consistent style of citation, footnoting, or external linking.

• Cyprus. By Paul D. Hellander, 2003 ISBN 1740591224
• The Cyprus Question and the Turkish Position in International Law By Zaim M. Necatigil, 1993 ISBN 0198258461

v • d • e Presidents of Cyprus Makarios III • Nikos Sampson* • Glafkos Klerides* • Makarios III • Spyros Kyprianou • George Vasiliou • Glafkos Klerides • Tassos Papadopoulos • Dimitris Christofias * acting