When Makarios was forced to flee the island after the military coup of 15 July 1974, the three defrocked bishops entered the limelight again. The coup leaders, having appointed Nikos Giorgades Sampson as President of the Republic, also installed Gennadios as the new Archbishop of Cyprus. Sampson was sworn in as president in a ceremony conducted by Gennadios in the presence of Kyprianos and Anthemos. However, the coupist government collapsed on 23 July as a result of the Turkish military invasion of Cyprus on 20 July. Glafkos Klerides, as Speaker of the House of Representatives, constitutionally took over the powers of the President in the absence of Makarios, but agreed to be sworn in as President before Gennadios, an action which Klerides's detractors suggest was indicative of a pro-coupist orientation on his part at the time. With the return of Makarios to the Presidency and the Archbishopric in December 1974, the three defrocked bishops faded from the political scene.