The hands of the clock read a little after 7 a.m. on Sunday morning, March 8, 1970. The then President of the Republic and Archbishop Makarios was preparing to depart by helicopter for the Monastery of Machairas, to preside at the annual religious memorial service of the EOKA hero Gregory Afxentios.
As soon as the helicopter, piloted by artillery major Zacharias Papadogiannis, took off, it came under fire from automatic weapons from the roof of the Pancyprian Gymnasium across the street. Despite the fact that the pilot was seriously injured, with self-sacrifice he managed to land the plane in an adjacent open area.
With the help of local residents, the wounded man, accompanied by Archbishop Makarios, was rushed to the Nicosia General Hospital.
The Archbishop's guard had already gone to the Mahaira Monastery, since in the previous days information had leaked that the assassination attempt against him would take place there.
The four would-be assassins, who belonged to the hard-core unionists of the "National Front", were later brought to justice and the court accepted that "prima facie Polycarp Yiorkatzis was part of the conspiracy".
After a search of the home of former Interior Minister Polycarp Yiorkatzis, two revolvers and six bullets were found. Although the two pistols were a gift from Archbishop Makarios for his safety, Yiorkatzis was brought to court on March 12 on charges of possessing weapons, without special permission from the cabinet, and explosives, and was sentenced to a small fine.
At noon the following day, Friday, March 13, Yiorkatzis attempted to flee abroad but was intercepted. The same afternoon he announced his decision to retire from politics citing defamatory rumours against him. Three days later, Polycarp Yiorkatzis was murdered on a deserted road outside Nicosia, near Neo Horio Kythrea.
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