The Thirteen Points were a group of amendments to the Constitution of Cyprus proposed on 30 November 1963 by Archbishop Makarios, the first president of Cyprus, that altered the ways in which Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots were represented in government. Upon being proposed after two years of peace between the two groups, the amendments were rejected by Turkish Cypriots, sparking a crisis between the two groups that led to widespread intercommunal violence and culminated in the Bloody Christmas conflict.
The proposed amendments were:
The most serious constitutional problem the newly-established Republic of Cyprus faced in daily politics stemmed from an issue regarding municipalities; Turkish Cypriots strove for the creation of separate municipalities for Greeks and Turks, while Greek Cypriots aimed for mixed ones. Makarios took into consideration the probability of changing the constitution unilaterally; despite being warned of constitutional collapse by his own cabinet minister Glafkos Clerides (who later became the 4th president of Cyprus), Greece's foreign minister Evangelos Averoff, and the Turkish government, Makarios proceeded with the changes. He calculated the political instability of Turkey and Greece, and believed that his proposal would be backed by the United Nations.
On 30 November 1963, Makarios handed a memo of the 13 points to the Turkish Cypriot side. Fazıl Küçük, Rauf Denktaş, and the Turkish government rejected all 13. Turkish Cypriots filed a lawsuit against the amendments in the Supreme Constitutional Court of Cyprus. Having been proposed after two years of peace between the two groups, the amendments and their rejection sparked a crisis between Greek and Turkish Cypriots that led to widespread intercommunal violence and culminated in the Bloody Christmas conflict.[1] In 1966, the amendments were revealed to be part of Makarios' secret Akritas plan, with the end goal of weakening Turkish Cypriot representation in the government of Cyprus to make union with Greece easier.