group of colonels. 1956, 9 July: The 7.7 Amorgos earthquake shakes the Cyclades island group in the Aegean Sea with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). The shaking and the destructive tsunami that followed left fifty-three people dead. A damaging M7.2 aftershock occurred minutes after the mainshock. 1959: The Merten affair challenges Greek politics. 1963, 27 May: Assassination of politician Gregoris Lambrakis. 1963, 17 June: Constantine Karamanlis resigns the premiership after a disagreement with King Paul. 1963, November: The Center Union party under George Papandreou wins the elections. Karamanlis is self-exiled in Paris. 1964, 6 March: The royal government announces the death of King Paul. Rumors circulate in Athens that in fact he had died several days earlier. He is succeeded by his son Constantine II. 1964: The Ankara government reneges on the 1930 Greco-Turkish Ankara Convention. Deported with two day's notice, the Greek community of Istanbul shrunk from 100,000 persons in 1955 to only 48,000 in 1965. 1965, 15 July: Royal Coup, involving King Constantine II and a group of politicians, known as Apostasia of 1965. Premier George Papandreou is forced to resign. 1966, 7 December: Ferry SS Heraklion sinks in the Mirtoon Sea. 247 people lose their lives in the worst shipwreck of postwar Greece. 1966–1980: About 160,000 Greeks emigrated to the USA. Military dictatorship (1967–1974) 1967, 21 April: Successful coup d'état led by a group of colonels. 1968: Counter-coup organized by King Constantine II fails. Constantine II leaves the country. 1968, 13 August: Assassination attempt against Dictator Papadopoulos by Alexandros Panagoulis. 1968, 1 November: George Papandreou dies. His funeral becomes the occasion for a large anti-dictatorship demonstration. 1971: Halki seminary, Orthodoxy's most prominent theological school, is closed by the Turkish government. Despite international pressure for its reopening, it remains closed ever since. 1972, 2 March: Ecclesiastical coup in Cyprus fails to remove Makarios from the Presidency. 1973, 1 June: Dictator George Papadopoulos declares Greece a republic and himself President, thus deposing King Constantine II via abolishing the monarchy. 1973, 17 November: End of the Athens Polytechnic uprising. A total of 24 civilians and students are killed. 1973, 25 November: Military coup by General Dimitrios Ioannides ousts Papadopoulos. Military law is reinstated. 1974, 15 July: The Greek regime sponsors a coup d'état in Nicosia, replacing President Makarios III with Nikos Sampson. 1974, 20 July: Turkey invades Cyprus. 1974, 23 July: Nikos Sampson is removed from office and