What Caused The Division Of The Island Of Cyprus? (2024)

FAQs

What caused Cyprus to be divided? ›

The Cyprus dispute's causes stem from ethnic Greek nationalist ideology, Greek-Cypriot sentiment, the Megali Idea and Enosis, and some of the ethnic Turkish peoples' desire for the partition of the island of Cyprus through Taksim as a means of protection of their people by what they considered to be the threat of Greek ...

In 1974 a Greek military coup, which aimed to unite the island with mainland Greece, led to a Turkish invasion and the division of the island between Turkish Northern Cyprus and the Greek Cypriot Republic of Cyprus.

The genesis of Cyprus took place through a series of complex tectonic processes in the broader context of the subduction of the African plate under the Eurasian plate. Thus, about 90 Ma, a new oceanic crust was created, part of which was cut off and later formed the Troodos ophiolite.

Before 1974, Varosha was the modern tourist area of the Famagusta city. Its Greek Cypriot inhabitants fled during the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974, when the city of Famagusta came under Turkish control, and it has remained abandoned ever since.

The island is divided into 6 administrative divisions: Nicosia (Lefkosia), Limassol (Lemesos), Larnaca, Paphos, Famagusta (Ammochostos), and Kyrenia.

The two-state solution for the Cyprus dispute refers to the proposed permanent division of the island of Cyprus into a Turkish Cypriot State in the north and a Greek Cypriot State in the south, as opposed to the various proposals for reunification that have been suggested since the island was split into two by the 1974 ...

There are, in fact, two peoples of Cyprus - the Turkish Cypriots numbering about 200.000 and the Greek Cypriots numbering about 700.000. The Turkish Cypriots are mainly Moslems and the Greek Cypriots are mainly adherents of the Greek Orthodox Church.

Following the breakdown of peace talks, Turkish forces enlarged their original beachhead in August 1974 resulting in the capture of approximately 36% of the island. The ceasefire line from August 1974 became the United Nations Buffer Zone in Cyprus and is commonly referred to as the Green Line.

The ROC is the only internationally recognized government on the island, but since 1974 the northern third of Cyprus has been administered separately by Turkish Cypriots with the support of Turkey. This area proclaimed itself the “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus” (“TRNC”) in 1983.

Cyprus was the "Chittim" of the Old Testament (Numbers 24:24). The Greek colonists gave it the name of Kypros, from the cyprus, i.e., the henna, which grew on this island. It was originally inhabited by Phoenicians. In B.C. 477 it fell under the dominion of the Greeks; and became a Roman province B.C. 58.

Who originally owned Cyprus? ›

The first of these are believed to have been the Achaean Greeks who arrived in around 1200 BC introducing their language, religion and customs to the island. Cyprus was subsequently colonised by the Phoenicians, the Assyrians, the Egyptians and the Persians.

During the times of the Crusades, Cyprus was more important for the Crusaders compared to the past due to its special position on the way to the Holy Land. Isaac Comnenesus's administration on the island ended with the arrival of Richard I, King of England (Richard the Lionheart) to Cyprus in May 1191.

Varosha, on the eastern coast of Cyprus, has been shut off since the 1970s due to the Turkish armed forces occupying the town as well as almost 30% of the island. It has been described in many ways: ghost town, no-man's land, military restricted zone, etc.

The island has been divided since 1974, when Turkish troops responded to a coup backed by Greece's then-ruling junta by splitting off roughly one third of the island as a zone for Turkish Cypriots. That zone declared its independence in 1983, though to this day only Türkiye recognises the claim.

Varosha remained part of the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, or TRNC, until a United Nations resolution in 1984. The decision placed Varosha under the control of the United Nations and forbade anyone other than those who were forced out in the 1970s from resettling there, according to BBC.

Taking place upon a background of intercommunal violence between Greek and Turkish Cypriots, and in response to a Greek junta-sponsored Cypriot coup d'état five days earlier, it led to the Turkish capture and occupation of the northern part of the island. Ethnic map of Cyprus in 1973.

On August 16, 1960 Cyprus gained its independence from the United Kingdom, after the long anti-British campaign by the Greek Cypriot EOKA (National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters), a guerrilla group which desired political union with Greece, or enosis.

The European Union considers the area not under effective control of the Republic of Cyprus as EU territory under Turkish military occupation and thus indefinitely exempt from EU legislation until a settlement has been found.

This separation became a militarized border between the Republic of Cyprus and Northern Cyprus after Turkey invaded the island in 1974 following an attempt at Enosis.