Portal:Cyprus

The Cyprus Portal

Cyprus (/ˈsaɪprəs/ ^ⓘ), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Although it is geographically located in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical make-up are overwhelmingly Southeast European. It is the third largest and third most populous island in the Mediterranean. It is located southeast of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and Lebanon, northwest of Israel and Palestine, and north of Egypt. Its capital and largest city is Nicosia. Cyprus also hosts the British-controlled military bases Akrotiri and Dhekelia, whilst the northeast portion of the island is de facto governed by the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which is separated from the Republic of Cyprus by the United Nations Buffer Zone.

Cyprus was first settled by hunter-gatherers around 13,000 years ago, with farming settlements emerging a few thousand years later. During the late Bronze Age, Cyprus (then called Alashiya) developed an urbanised society closely connected to the wider Mediterranean world. Cyprus experienced waves of settlement by Mycenaean Greeks at the end of the 2nd millennium BC. It was subsequently occupied by several empires, including the Assyrians, Ancient Egyptians, and Persians, from whom the island was seized in 333 BC by Alexander the Great. Subsequent rule by Ptolemaic Egypt, the Classical and Eastern Roman Empire, Arab caliphates, the French Lusignans, and the Venetians was followed by over three centuries of Ottoman rule between 1571 and 1878 (de jure until 1914). Cyprus was placed under the United Kingdom's administration based on the Cyprus Convention in 1878, and was formally annexed by the UK in 1914.

The future of the island became a matter of disagreement between the two prominent ethnic communities, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots. From the 19th century onwards, the Greek Cypriot population pursued enosis (union with Greece), which became a Greek national policy in the 1950s. The Turkish Cypriot population initially advocated for the continuation of British rule, then demanded the annexation of the island to Turkey; in the 1950s, together with Turkey, they established a policy of taksim (the partition of Cyprus and the creation of a Turkish polity in the north of the island). Following nationalist violence in the 1950s, Cyprus was granted independence in 1960. The crisis of 1963–64 brought further intercommunal violence between the two communities, displaced more than 25,000 Turkish Cypriots into enclaves, and brought the end of Turkish Cypriot representation in the republic. On 15 July 1974, a coup d'état was staged by Greek Cypriot nationalists and elements of the Greek military junta. This action precipitated the Turkish invasion of Cyprus on 20 July, which led to the capture of the present-day territory of Northern Cyprus and the displacement of over 150,000 Greek Cypriots and 50,000 Turkish Cypriots. A separate Turkish Cypriot state in the north was established by unilateral declaration in 1983, which was widely condemned by the international community and led to Turkey being the only country to recognise the new state. These events and the resulting political situation are matters of an ongoing dispute. (Full article...)

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Bloody Christmas (Turkish: Kanlı Noel), in Turkish Cypriot and Turkish historiography, refers to the resumption of intercommunal violence between the Greek Cypriots and the Turkish Cypriots during the Cyprus crisis of 1963–64, on the night of 20–21 December 1963 and the subsequent period of island-wide violence amounting to civil war. This initial episode of violence lasted until 31 December and was somewhat subdued with the start of peace talks at the London Conference, but outbursts of violence continued thereafter. The violence precipitated the end of Turkish Cypriot representation in the Republic of Cyprus.

The death toll for the entire conflict between December and August amounts to 364 Turkish Cypriots and 174 Greek Cypriots, of whom 136 Turkish Cypriots and 30 Greek Cypriots were killed in the initial period between 21 December and 1 January. (Full article...)

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Cyprus news

3 October 2024 – Israel–Hezbollah conflict: A Hellenic Air Force plane evacuates Greek and Cypriot nationals from Beirut–Rafic Hariri International Airport in Lebanon. (Ekathimerini)
24 September 2024 – Israel–Hezbollah conflict: The United Kingdom deploys 700 troops to Cyprus ahead of a planned evacuation of thousands of British nationals from Lebanon. The UK has advised all of its citizens to leave Lebanon immediately if they can. (Reuters)

General images

The following are images from various Cyprus-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Cyprus in 1482 (from History of Cyprus)
Image 2Proposed flag of the United Republic of Cyprus (from Cyprus problem)
Image 3Central Bank of Cyprus (from Cyprus)
Image 4Cypriot cult image. 'Red Polished Ware', 2100–2000 BC. Museum zu Allerheiligen (from History of Cyprus)
Image 5Atatürk Square, North Nicosia in 2006 (from Cyprus problem)
Image 62010 population by age and gender (from Cyprus)
Image 7Cathedral of Saint Nicholas, consecrated in 1328, the largest medieval building in Famagusta, where the Kings of Cyprus were crowned also as Kings of Jerusalem. In 1571 having fallen to the Ottoman Empire it became the Mosque of Mağusa, and remains a mosque today (from History of Cyprus)
Image 8A British soldier facing a crowd of Greek Cypriot demonstrators in Nicosia (1956) (from Cyprus)
Image 9Greek Cypriot demonstrations for Enosis (union with Greece) in 1930 (from Cyprus)
Image 10Ayia Paraskevi Byzantine church in Yeroskipou, Cyprus (from History of Cyprus)
Image 11Ioannis Kigalas (c. 1622–1687) was a Nicosia born Greek Cypriot scholar and professor of philosophy who was largely active in the 17th century. (from Cyprus)
Image 12Cypriot demonstrations for Enosis (Union) with Greece. (from History of Cyprus)
Image 13Büyük Han, a caravanserai in Nicosia, is an example of the surviving Ottoman architecture in Cyprus. (from Cyprus)
Image 14Limassol General Hospital (from Cyprus)
Image 15Cypriot style café in an arcade in Nicosia (from Cyprus)
Image 16Spyros Kyprianou Athletic Centre in Limassol (from Cyprus)
Image 17Population growth, 1961–2003 (numbers for the entire island, excluding Turkish settlers residing in Northern Cyprus) (from Cyprus)
Image 18Street in the divided capital of Nicosia (from Cyprus)
Image 19A Greek Cypriot demonstration in the 1930s in favour of Enosis (union) with Greece (from Cyprus problem)
Image 20
Accession of Cyprus to the European Union in 2004
(from Cyprus problem)
Image 21Cyprus is part of a monetary union, the eurozone (dark blue) and of the EU single market. (from Cyprus)
Image 22Hoisting the British flag at Nicosia (from Cyprus)
Image 23Supreme Court of Justice (from Cyprus)
Image 24UN tower in the buffer zone (from Cyprus)
Image 25The Walls of Nicosia were built by the Venetians to defend the city in case of an Ottoman attack. (from Cyprus)
Image 26Turkish rally in Nicosia in January 1958 (from Cyprus problem)
Image 27Former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan was the creator of the Annan plan. (from Cyprus problem)
Image 28Zeno of Citium, founder of the Stoic school of philosophy (from Cyprus)
Image 29The Troodos Mountains experience heavy snowfall in winter. (from Cyprus)
Image 30Base ring vessel of Late Bronze Age (from History of Cyprus)
Image 31Zeus Keraunios, 500-480 BC, Nicosia museum (from History of Cyprus)
Image 32The north–south checkpoint has been open since 2003. (from Cyprus problem)
Image 33A copper mine in Cyprus. In antiquity, Cyprus was a major source of copper. (from Cyprus)
Image 34Khirokitia archeological site. (from History of Cyprus)
Image 35Foreign Ministers of the European Union countries in Limassol during Cyprus Presidency of the EU in 2012 (from Cyprus)
Image 36Zeus Keraunios, 500–480 BC, Nicosia museum (from Cyprus)
Image 37Street close to the Nicosia border (from Cyprus problem)
Image 38A map showing the division of Cyprus (from Cyprus)
Image 39The entrance of the historic Pancyprian Gymnasium (from Cyprus)
Image 40A Sentinel-2 image of Cyprus taken in 2022 (from Cyprus)
Image 41Ethnic map of Cyprus according to the 1960 census (from Cyprus)
Image 42Sea caves at Cape Greco (from Cyprus)
Image 43Welcoming ceremony of the former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev by the soldiers of the Cypriot National Guard (from Cyprus)
Image 44Laouto, dominant instrument of the Cypriot traditional music (from Cyprus)
Image 45The "Green Line" in Nicosia, Cyprus (from Cyprus problem)
Image 46Cypri insvla nova descript 1573, Ioannes á Deutecum f[ecit]. Map of Cyprus newly drawn by Johannes van Deutecom, 1573. (from Cyprus)
Image 47Kouris Dam overflow in April 2012 (from Cyprus)
Image 48Greek Cypriot negotiator Andreas Mavroyiannis and the Turkish Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs Feridun Sinirlioğlu, in Ankara, within the scope of the 2014 Cyprus talks (from Cyprus problem)
Image 49Nikos Christodoulides, President of Cyprus since February 2023 (from Cyprus)
Image 50The Armenian Alphabet at the Melkonian Educational Institute. Armenian is recognised as a minority language in Cyprus. (from Cyprus)
Image 51Opening of Ledra Street in April 2008 (from Cyprus problem)
Image 52Faneromeni School is the oldest all-girl primary school in Cyprus. (from Cyprus)
Image 53Cypriot meze (from Cyprus)
Image 54Ottoman admiral, geographer and cartographer Piri Reis' historical map of Cyprus (from Cyprus problem)
Image 55Statue of Liberty symbolising the independence of Cyprus. (from History of Cyprus)
Image 56
  Under the control of the Republic of Cyprus
  The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
  Turkey
  Greece
(from Cyprus problem)
Image 57Presidential Palace, Nicosia (from Cyprus)
Image 58Typical Cypriot architecture in old part of Nicosia, Cyprus (from Cyprus)
Image 59Varosha (Maraş), a suburb of Famagusta, was abandoned when its inhabitants fled in 1974 and remains under Turkish military control. (from Cyprus)
Image 60Red-polished ceramics from Enkomi, 1900–1725 BC. St. Barnabas Archaeological Museum, Salamis, Cyprus (from History of Cyprus)
Image 61Dhekelia Power Station (from Cyprus)
Image 62Cypriot Halloumi (from Cyprus)
Image 63Kyrenia Castle was originally built by the Byzantines and enlarged by the Venetians. (from Cyprus)
Image 64"TAKSİM" (division) graffiti on a wall in Nicosia in the late 1950s (from Cyprus problem)
Image 65Archaeological site of Khirokitia with early remains of human habitation during the Aceramic Neolithic period (reconstruction) (from Cyprus)