Cyprus

An island divided by a line the United Nations has patrolled since 1964, with two communities and three guarantor powers. Cyprus was Mycenaean, Phoenician, Assyrian, Persian, Ptolemaic, Roman, Byzantine, Lusignan, Venetian and then Ottoman from 1571, which is when a Turkish-speaking Muslim population settled alongside the Greek-speaking Orthodox majority. Britain took the administration in 1878 and annexed the island in 1914. Greek Cypriot demand was not for independence but for enosis, union with Greece, and the EOKA campaign from 1955 fought for it; Turkish Cypriots opposed union and favoured partition. Independence in 1960 came with a constitution allocating posts by community and a treaty giving Britain, Greece and Turkey rights of intervention. It broke down within three years, and after a Greek junta-backed coup in July 1974 Turkey invaded and took the northern third, displacing populations in both directions. The north declared a republic recognised only by Turkey. The Republic of Cyprus joined the EU in 2004, weeks after Greek Cypriots rejected a UN reunification plan that Turkish Cypriots accepted. Nicosia is the last divided capital in Europe. Copper gave the island its name. The island has about 1.3 million people, around a fifth of them in the north. Greek and Turkish are both official. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean. Britain retains two sovereign base areas on the island. Halloumi has protected designation status and is a significant export. The island has been divided for longer than it was ever unified as an independent state.

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