Cyprus Historical Setting
Artist's rendition of a sphinx, carved in
ivory, from Salamis, eighth century B.C.
THE REPUBLIC OF CYPRUS was established in 1960, after
the former
colony gained independence from Britain. Since 1974,
however, a de
facto division of the island has existed, with the Greek
Cypriot
community controlling 63 percent of the territory, and the
Turkish
Cypriots, backed by Turkish army units, 37 percent. The
scene of
constant anticolonial and intercommunal strife since the
mid-1950s,
Cyprus assumed an importance out of proportion to its size
and
population because of its strategic location and its
impact on the
national interests of other nations. The island's location
in the
eastern Mediterranean Sea has made it easily accessible
from
Europe, Asia, and Africa since the earliest days of ships.
Its
timber and mineral resources made it important as a source
of trade
goods in the ancient world, but attracted conquerors,
pirates, and
adventurers in addition to merchants and settlers. About
the middle
of the second millennium B.C. Cyprus was subjected to
foreign
domination for the first time, and from then until 1960,
almost
without interruption, outside powers controlled the island
and its
people.
Christianity was introduced early in the Christian Era,
when
Cyprus was under Roman rule, by the apostles Paul, Mark,
and
Barnabas. The martyrdom of Barnabas and the later
discovery of his
tomb are particularly important events in the history of
the Church
of Cyprus and were instrumental in its becoming
autocephalous
rather than remaining subordinate to the patriarchate of
Antioch.
After doctrinal controversies split Christianity between
East and
West, the church survived 400 years of attempts by Roman
Catholic
rulers to force recognition of the authority of the pope
in Rome.
After Cyprus's conquest by Ottoman Turks in the sixteenth
century,
the sees of the Orthodox bishops were reestablished,
according to
the Ottoman practice of governing through a millet
(a
community distinguished by religion) system. Provided a
millet met the empire's demands, its leaders
enjoyed a
degree of autonomy. The head of the Greek Cypriot
millet,
the archbishop, was therefore both a religious and a
secular
leader, and it was entirely consistent with historical
tradition
that, in the anticolonial struggle of the mid-1950s,
Archbishop
Makarios III emerged as the leader of the Greek Cypriots
and was
subsequently elected president of the new republic.
After Greece had won its independence from the Ottoman
Empire
in 1821, the idea of enosis (union with Greece) took hold
among
ethnic Greeks living in the Ionian and Aegean islands,
Crete,
Cyprus, and areas of Anatolia. Britain ceded the Ionian
Islands to
Greece in 1864, and after control of Cyprus passed from
the Ottoman
Empire to the British Empire in 1878, Greek Cypriots saw
the ceding
of the Ionian islands as a precedent for enosis for
themselves.
Under British rule, agitation for enosis varied with time.
After
World War II, in the era of the breakup of colonial
empires, the
movement gained strength, and Greek Cypriots spurned
British
liberalization efforts. In the mid-1950s, when
anticolonial
guerrilla activities began, Turkish Cypriots--who until
that time
had only rarely expressed opposition to enosis--began to
agitate
for taksim, or partition, and Greece and Turkey
began
actively to support their respective ethnic groups on the
island.
After four years of guerrilla revolt by Greek Cypriots
against
the British, a compromise settlement was reached, in
Zurich between
Greece and Turkey and in London among representatives of
Greece,
Turkey, and Britain and the Greek and Turkish Cypriot
communities.
As a result of this settlement, Cyprus became an
independent
republic. Independence was marked on August 16, 1960. In
separate
communal elections Makarios became president, and Fazil
Küçük,
leader of the Turkish Cypriots, became vice president. In
the early
1960s, political arguments over constitutional
interpretation
continually deadlocked the government. Greek Cypriots
insisted on
revision of the constitution and majority rule. Turkish
Cypriots
argued for strict constructionism, local autonomy, and the
principle of minority veto. The result was stalemate.
Intercommunal
violence broke out in December 1963, and resulted in the
segregation of the two ethnic communities and
establishment of the
United Nations Peace-keeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP).
Even with
United Nations (UN) troops as a buffer, however,
intermittent
conflict continued and brought Greece and Turkey to the
brink of
war in 1964 and 1967.
The irony of the divided Cyprus that has existed since
1974 is
that the stage was set for Turkish intervention by the
Greek
government in Athens. The military junta that controlled
Greece
came to view Archbishop Makarios as an obstacle to
settlement of
the Cyprus problem and establishment of better relations
between
Athens and Ankara. A successful coup was engineered in
Cyprus in
July 1974, Makarios was ousted, and a puppet president
installed.
Turkey, as one of the guarantor powers according to the
agreements
that led to Cypriot independence, sent troops into Cyprus
to
restore order. Britain, as another guarantor power,
refused to
participate. Meanwhile, in Greece the junta had collapsed,
and a
new government was being established. After a short
cease-fire and
a few days of hurried negotiations, the Turkish government
reinforced its troops and ordered them to secure the
northern part
of the island.
Turkish forces seized 37 percent of the island and
effected a
de facto partition that was still in existence at the
beginning of
the 1990s. Turkish Cypriots declared the establishment of
their own
state in 1983, but as of 1990 only Turkey had recognized
the
"Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus." Although more
populous and
considerably richer, and enjoying international
recognition, the
Republic of Cyprus had not been able to regain its lost
territory.
Increased military expenditures could not offset the
considerable
Turkish military presence on the island. Years of
laborious
negotiations at numerous venues had also achieved little
toward
ending the island's tragic division.
Data as of January 1991
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