HISTORY
Cypriot
culture is among the oldest in the Mediterranean. By 3700 BC,
the island was well inhabited, a crossroads between East and West.
The island fell successively under Assyrian, Egyptian, Persian,
Greek, and Roman domination. For 800 years, beginning in 364 AD,
Cyprus was ruled by Byzantium. After brief possession by King
Richard I (the Lion-Hearted) of England during the Crusades, the
island came under Frankish control in the late 12th century. It
was ceded to the Venetian Republic in 1489 and conquered by the
Ottoman Turks in 1571. The Ottomans applied the millet system
to Cyprus, which allowed religious authorities to govern their
own non-Muslim minorities. This system reinforced the position
of the Orthodox Church and the cohesion of the ethnic Greek population.
Most of the Turks who settled on the island during the 3 centuries
of Ottoman rule remained when control of Cyprus--although not
sovereignty--was ceded to Great Britain in 1878. Many left for
Turkey during the 1920s, however. The island was annexed formally
by the United Kingdom in 1914 at the outbreak of World War I and
became a crown colony in 1925.
Cyprus
gained its independence from the United Kingdom and established
a constitutional republic in 1960, after an anti-British campaign
by the Greek Cypriot EOKA (National Organization of Cypriot Fighters),
a guerrilla group that desired political union, or enosis, with
Greece. Archbishop Makarios, a charismatic religious and political
leader, was elected president.
Shortly
after the founding of the republic, serious differences arose
between the two communities about the implementation and interpretation
of the constitution. The Greek Cypriots argued that the complex
mechanisms introduced to protect Turkish Cypriot interests were
obstacles to efficient government. In November 1963, President
Makarios advanced a series of constitutional amendments designed
to eliminate some of these special provisions. The Turkish Cypriots
opposed such changes. The confrontation prompted widespread intercommunal
fighting in December 1963, after which Turkish Cypriots ceased
to participate in the government. Following the outbreak of intercommunal
violence, many Turkish Cypriots (and some Greek Cypriots) living
in mixed villages began to move into enclaved villages or elsewhere.
UN peacekeepers were deployed on the island in 1964. Following
another outbreak of intercommunal violence in 1967-68, a Turkish
Cypriot provisional administration was formed.
In July
1974, the military junta in Athens sponsored a coup led by extremist
Greek Cypriots against the government of President Makarios, citing
his alleged pro-communist leanings and his perceived abandonment
of enosis. Turkey, citing the 1960 Treaty of Guarantee, intervened
militarily to protect Turkish Cypriots.
In a two-stage
offensive, Turkish troops took control of 38% of the island. Almost
all Greek Cypriots fled south while almost all Turkish Cypriots
fled north. Since the events of 1974, UN peacekeeping forces have
maintained a buffer zone between the two sides. Except for occasional
demonstrations or infrequent incidents between soldiers in the
buffer zone, the island was free of violent conflict from 1974
until August 1996, when violent clashes led to the death of two
demonstrators and escalated tension. The situation has been quiet
since 1996.
