Turkish Cypriot, elected by the Turkish Cypriot population. The Cabinet is to include seven Greek Cypriots, chosen by the President, and three Turkish Cypriots, chosen by the Vice President. Decisions will need an absolute majority but both the President and the Vice President have the right of veto. The United Kingdom is to remain a guarantor and keep both of its military bases. Independence On August 16, 1960 Cyprus gained its independence from the United Kingdom, after the long anti-British campaign by the Greek Cypriot EOKA (National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters), a guerrilla group which desired political union with Greece, or enosis. Archbishop Makarios III, a charismatic religious and political leader, was elected the first president of independent Cyprus on 13 December 1959. In 1961 it became the 99th member of the United Nations. The Zurich agreement, however, did not succeed in establishing cooperation between the Greek and the Turkish Cypriot populations. The Greek Cypriots argued that the complex mechanisms introduced to protect Turkish Cypriot interests were obstacles to efficient government and as such developed the Akritas Plan aimed at forcing all Turkish Cypriot parliamentarians from government so as not to disrupt Greek Cypriot plans of enosis . Both sides continued the violence. Turkey threatened to intervene on the island. In November 1963, President Makarios advanced a series of constitutional amendments designed to eliminate some of these special provisions. The Turkish Cypriots opposed such changes. The confrontation prompted widespread intercommunal fighting in December 1963, after which the Akritas Plan was put into motion and Turkish Cypriot participation in the central government ceased on December 23, 1963, when all Cypriot Turks from the lowest civil servants to ministers, including the Turkish Vice-President Dr. Fazıl Küçük were out of the government. Makarios ordered a cease-fire and again addressed the issue to the United Nations. With the government no longer functional, following the forced withdrawal of Turkish Cypriot politicians, UN peacekeepers were deployed on the island in 1964, effectively recognising the Greek Cypriots as the government. The force, UNFICYP, included Canadian, Irish and Finnish troops. Its mandate was to prevent fighting, maintain law and order. In 1964 the UK Prime Minister, Sir Alec Douglas-Home, met with the American Attorney General, Robert F. Kennedy to explain why international intervention was required, stating that "If they had not done so, there would probably have been a massacre of Turkish Cypriots", who were confined in enclaves