Ioannidis pursued a crackdown internally and an aggressive expansionism externally. He was determined to annex Cyprus to Greece and achieve Enosis. He also felt a bitter personal antipathy towards the President of Cyprus, Archbishop Makarios III, considering him opportunistic and communistic. He called him the "Red Priest". This antipathy was further fueled by the bishop rejecting actions against Turkish Cypriots. To that end, he organized the 15 July 1974 "coup d'état" in Cyprus (his last chance to do so since Makarios decided to expel all Greek officers from Cyprus by July 20 (from "The Tragic Duel and the Treason of Cyprus", M. Adamides, 2011) which overthrew the government of Archbishop Makarios III. This was the third successful coup organized by Ioannidis, and at first things seemed to go along according to plan. Ioannidis put in power Nikos Sampson, a controversial figure.