The Customs department apologised on Tuesday after an image featuring Archbishop Makarios was republished on its official Facebook page, attributing the incident to what it described as an accidental repost.

The repost referred to Makarios’ address to the UN Security Council on July 19, 1974, delivered hours before Turkish forces landed in Cyprus.

It featured an image of Makarios speaking at the UN alongside the caption ‘the ultimate betrayal’, a narrative advanced by his critics that his speech contributed to the events that followed, and indeed ‘invited the Turks into Cyprus’.

Critics of Makarios have long argued that his characterisation of the July 15 coup as an invasion by the Greek junta and his appeal to the Security Council gave political or legal justification for Turkey’s subsequent military intervention.

The repost prompted criticism on social media before it was removed, leading the department to issue a public apology on Tuesday.

The department expressed its “sincere regret” over what it described as the “unfortunate republishing of a story by a specific political party”.

It said the repost may have occurred while the page administrator was “uploading information relating to a recent seizure of tobacco products at Larnaca airport”.

According to the department, the error was identified after the post had already appeared on the official page.

“As soon as the repost was noticed, the administrators of the page made every effort to delete it and did so immediately,” the department added.

It apologised for the incident, saying, “on behalf of all staff, we express our sincere apologies for the inconvenience caused by this unfortunate republishing.”

The customs department did not identify the political organisation from which the post originated or indicate whether any internal review would follow the incident.