Cyprus

Abstract

In 1193 the island became a Frankish kingdom, in 1489 a Venetian dependency, and in 1751 was conquered by the Turks. In 1914 the island was annexed by Great Britain and on 1 May 1925 it was given the status of a Crown Colony. In the 1930s the Greek Cypriots began to agitate for ENOSIS (Union with Greece). In 1955 they started a guerrilla movement (EOKA) against the British, with Archbishop Makarios, the head of the Greek Orthodox Church in Cyprus, as leader. In 1959 the Greek and Turkish Cypriots agreed on a constitution for an independent Cyprus and Makarios was elected President. On 16 June 1960 Cyprus became an independent state. In Dec. 1963 the Turkish Cypriots withdrew from the government. Fighting between Turkish and Greek Cypriots led to a UN peacekeeping force being sent in. Turkey invaded the island on 20 July 1974, eventually occupying the northern part. 0–2m. Greek Cypriots fled to live as refugees in the south. In 1975 a Turkish Cypriot Federated State was proclaimed. Rauf Denktas was appointed President. In 1983 the Turkish state unilaterally proclaimed itself the ‘Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus’ (TRNC). In 1991 the UN rejected Rauf Denktas’ demands for the recognition of sovereignty for the TRNC, including a right to secession. In 1998 a proposal by Rauf Denktas that the Greek and Turkish communities should join in a federation that recognizes ‘the equal and sovereign status of Cyprus’ Greek and Turkish parts’ was rejected by the Greek and Cypriot governments.