On November 30, 1963, Makarios, spurred on by the British High Commissioner for Cyprus, Arthur C. Clarke, proposed changes to the Constitution that dealt with the distribution of powers between the two communities of the island. Kathimerini wrote about this on December 5: “According to information received yesterday in Athens, the President of the Republic of Cyprus, Archbishop Makarios, presented last Monday to the Ambassadors of Great Britain, Greece and Turkey in Nicosia, a plan to amend certain provisions of the Cypriot Constitution. With the help of the proposed amendments, the uninterrupted operation of the state and the prevention of conflicts between the Greek and Turkish communities are achieved.”

The so-called “13 Points” of Makarios, among other things, stripped the Greek Cypriot President and the Turkish Cypriot Vice President of veto power and changed the split-majority system in the House of Representatives, limiting the Turkish Cypriot community’s super-privileges to guarantee minority rights. The Turkish government rejected this plan, considering it an attempt to change the Zurich-London agreements and limit the rights of the Turkish Cypriots. “The Greek government,” writes Kathimerini on December 8, “however, does not seem to rule out future amendments to the international agreements of Zurich and London regarding Cyprus.”

The front page of the December 11 Kathimerini notes: “Despite the hostility, reaction and threats of the Turks, the Government of the Republic of Cyprus continues its efforts to revise the constitutional regime, without which its functioning becomes impossible. state, and its survival is problematic. After presenting to the governments of Great Britain, Greece and Turkey a memorandum (including paragraphs of the Constitution to be revised), which was purely informative, President Makarios presented his proposals to the Greek deputies of the House of Representatives of Cyprus and the members of the Parliament of the Greek community. The rejection of the 13 Points, the bombing of the statue of EOKA fighter Markos Drakos a few days earlier, and rising tensions between the two communities led to the so-called Bloody Christmas of 1963.