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Terminology
The name Cyprus has a somewhat uncertain etymology. One suggestion is that it
comes from the Greek word "κυπάρισσος (kypa'rissos)" meaning "cypress" (Cupressus sempervirens) or even from the
Greek name of the plant Lawsonia alba (henna), "κύπρος (kypros)". Another school suggests that it stems from the
eterocyprian word for copper. Dossin, for example, suggests that it has roots to the Sumerian word for copper, "zubar"
or even the word "kubar" (bronze), due to the large deposits of copper ore found on the island. Through overseas
trade, the island has already given its name to the Classical Latin word for the metal, which appears in the
phrase aes Cyprium, "metal of Cyprus", later shortened to cuprum. From there the word passed into European
languages as "copper" in the English language, "cuivre" in French, "Kupfer" in German and "cobre" in Portuguese
and in Spanish.
Another probable suggestion is that it was named after the Greek goddess Aphrodite which was also called "Κυπρίς
(kipris)". Note that Cyprus was the mythical birthplace of Aphrodite. Homer in his epics Iliad and Odyssey
refers to the island of "Kύπρον (kypron)": “Μούσα μοι έννεπε έργα πολυχρύσου Αφροδίτης Κύπριδος” – “Muse sing to
me the works of golden haired Aphrodite Cypridos”. It is also characteristic that in ancient times the name "Κύπρος
(Cyprus)" in Greek was the first or second synthetic of names, such as: Αριστόκυπρος, Φιλόκυπρος, Κυπράνορας,
Κυπροθέμης.
History
Prehistoric and Ancient Cyprus
There are but scanty traces of the Stone Age, but the Bronze Age is characterized by a well-developed and
clearly marked civilization. The people quickly learned to work the rich copper mines of the island. The
Mycenĉan civilization seems to have reached Cyprus at around 1600 B.C. and several Greek and Phœnician
settlements that belong to the Iron Age can be found on the island. Cyprus was invaded by Thothmes III of Egypt
about 1500 B.C., and was forced to pay tribute.
Around 1200 B.C. begins the massive arrival of the Mycenĉan Greeks as permanent settlers to Cyprus, a process
which lasted for more than a century. This migration is remembered in many sagas concerning how some of the
Greek heroes that participated in the Trojan war came to settle in Cyprus. The newcomers brought with them their
language, their advanced technology and introduced a new outlook for visual arts. Thus from 1220 B.C. Cyprus has
remained predominantly Greek in culture, language and population despite various influences resulting from
successive conquests. In times Cyprus supplied the rest of the Greeks with timber for their fleets.
In the 6th century B.C., Amasis of Egypt conquered Cyprus, which soon fell under the rule of the Persians when
Cambyses conquered Egypt. In the Persian Empire, Cyprus formed part of the fifth satrapy and in addition to
tribute it had to supply the Persians with ships and crews. In their new fate the Greeks of Cyprus had as
companions the Greeks of Ionia (west coast of Anatolia) with whom they forged closer ties. When the Ionian
Greeks revolted against Persia (499 BC) the Cypriots except for the city of Amathus, joined in at the
instigation of Onesilos, brother of the king of Salamis, whom he dethroned for not wanting to fight for
independence. The Persians reacted quickly sending a considerable force against Onesilos. The Persians finally
won despite Ionian help.
After their defeat, the Greeks mounted various expeditions in order to liberate Cyprus from the Persian rule,
but all their efforts bore only temporary results. Eventually, Alexander the Great (356-323 B.C.) took the
island from the Persians. Later, the Ptolemies of Egypt controlled it; finally Rome annexed it in 58-57 BC. No
doubt the most important event that occurred in Roman Cyprus was the visit by Apostles Paul and Barnabas
accompanied by St Mark who came to the island at the outset of their first missionary journey in 45 AD. After
their arrival at Salamis they proceeded to Paphos where they converted the Roman Governor Sergius Paulus to
Christianity. In this way Cyprus became the first country in the world to be governed by a Christian ruler.
Cyprus in ancient myth
Cyprus is the legendary birthplace of the goddess of beauty, love, sex and passion, the beautiful Aphrodite.
According to Hesiod's Theogony, the goddess, who was also known as Kypris or the Cyprian, emerged fully grown
from the sea where the severed genitals of the god Uranus were cast by his son, Kronos, causing the sea to foam
(Greek: Aphros). The legendary site of Aphrodite's birth from the foam is at 'Petra tou Romiou' ('Aphrodite's
Rock'), a large stack in the sea close to the coastal cliffs near Paphos. Throughout ancient history, Cyprus was
a flourishing centre for the cultic worship of Aphrodite.
Her birth was famously depicted by the artist Botticelli in The Birth of Venus.
Post-Classical and Modern Cyprus
Cyprus became part of the Byzantine Empire after the partitioning of the Roman Empire in 395, and remained so
for almost 800 years, though with brief perdiod of Arab domination and influence. After the rule of the
rebelious Byzantine Emperor Isaac Comnenus, King Richard I of England captured the island in 1191 during the
Third Crusades. Guy of Lusignan purchased the island from Richard in 1192. The Republic of Venice took control
in 1489 after the death of the last Lusignan Queen, after which the Ottoman Empire conquered the Island in 1570.
Cyprus was placed under British control on 4 June 1878 as a result of the Cyprus Convention, which granted
control of the island to Britain in return for British support of the Ottoman Empire in the Russian-Turkish War.
Famagusta harbour was completed in June 1906; by this time the island was a strategic naval outpost for the
British Empire, shoring up influence over the Eastern Mediterranean and Suez Canal, the crucial main route to
India.
Cyprus was formally annexed by the United Kingdom in 1913 in the run-up to the First World War. Many Cypriots,
now British subjects, signed up to fight in the British Army, in this and in the Second World War.
During the 1940s and 1950s, Cypriots began to demand union with Greece. The Greek community held referenda in
support of annexation, while the British sought to quell any movement which could threaten their possession of
the island. In 1955 the struggle erupted into guerrilla activity with the foundation of EOKA, and in the closing
years of the 1950s the political and intercommunal atmosphere on the island became increasingly fraught.
Independence was attained in 1960 after exhaustive negotiations between the United Kingdom, as the colonial
power, and Greece and Turkey, the cultural 'motherlands' for the two communities on Cyprus. The constitution
produced by the negotiations was a binding document allocating government posts and public offices by ethnic
quota. The constitution did not promote a healthy relationship between the residents of the island. The first
President was the Greek Cypriot leader Archbishop Makarios III, and his Vice President was the leading Turkish
Cypriot politician Dr Fazıl Küçük.
Post-independence
During the 1960s, Makarios and Küçük pursued a non-aligned foreign policy, cultivating good relations with the
Britain, Greece and Turkey and taking a leading role in developing the Non-Aligned Movement.
In 1963, after the Turkish members of the House of Representatives had rejected the budget, President Makarios
decided to submit to the Turkish Cypriot Vice-President for consideration, proposals for constitutional
amendment. Despite the fact that his proposals aimed toward removing certain causes of friction between the two
communities and of the obstacles to the smooth functioning and development of the state, the Government of
Ankara opposed the amendments outright, even before their consideration by the Turkish Cypriots. The Turkish
Cypriot leadership followed suit. In December 1963 tensions rose when police cars used by Turkish Cypriot
policemen suspected of engaging in the distribution of weapons refused to submit to government inspection.
Meanwhile Greek ultra-nationalist forces were massacring Turkish minority. These widespread massacres by the
paramilitary Greek forces borught Turkey to intervene several times.
In December 1963 armed clashes broke out in Cyprus. Immediately the Turkish Cypriot leadership openly called for
partition, Turkish policemen and civil servants withdrew from their posts en masse and Ankara threatened to
invade. Facing a very grave threat to the Republic’s existence the Government tried to contain the revolt but
could do little to prevent armed civilians from both sides from taking part in the clashes. The instances when
these irregulars failed to distinguish between combatants and non-combatants tainted the conflict with sectarian
violence and loss of innocent lives in both communities.
These tragic but isolated events were utilised by the Turkish Cypriot nationalist leaders in their propaganda
that the two communities could not live together, in spite of the fact that this leadership bore a heavy
responsibility for the political situation. A large number of Turkish Cypriots withdrew into the enclaves,
partly as a consequence of the hostilities that had taken place but mostly due to the efforts of their
nationalist leadership to enforce a de-facto partition of the island. In doing so the Turkish Cypriot
nationalist leadership had turned against members of their community who stood for co-operation between the two
communities.
Even before the crisis of Christmas 1963, in April 1962, the two editors of “Chumhuriet”, a Turkish language
newspaper advocating co-operation between the two communities, had been gunned down in circumstances pointing
the finger at the TMT. In April 1965 another prominent Turkish Cypriot, in charge of the Turkish section of the
bi-communal trade unions, was ambushed and murdered by the TMT. This policy of murderous intimidation against
supporters of intercommunal co-operation continued through the years of independence.
The pattern of establishment of the enclaves did not necessarily follow the distribution of the Turkish
population. The Turks attempted, with some success, to occupy strategic positions, such as the Kokkina enclave
on the northern coast, through which military personnel and hardware were transported to the island from Turkey,
and the medieval St Hilarion castle, commanding the road linking the capital to the coastal town of Kyrenia. The
largest enclave was set up by the Turkish military contingent, which, in open violation of the Treaty of
Guarantee, abandoned their camp and established themselves north of the capital, thus cutting the road between
Nicosia and Kyrenia. It has been cited by the Cypriot government that these enclaves were primarily bridgeheads
for facilitating a planned invasion by Turkey. When in August 1964 the Government attempted to contain the
Kokkina bridgehead, Turkey’s air force bombed the National Guard and neighbouring Greek villages with napalm and
threatened to invade.
The other major purpose served by the enclaves was the political and physical separation of the two communities.
Despite the Turkish leadership’s claims to be motivated by concern for their community, the policy of forced
segregation created very considerable economic and social hardship for the mass of the Turkish Cypriots. This
fact was noted in the UN Secretary General’s reports on Cyprus:
“Indeed, since the Turkish Cypriot leadership is committed to physical and geographical separation of the
communities as a political goal, it is not likely to encourage activities by Turkish Cypriots which may be
interpreted as demonstrating the merits of an alternative policy. The result has been a seemingly deliberate
policy of self-segregation by the Turkish Cypriots (S/6426, Report of 10.6.1965, p. 271)”.
Thus, a large number of Turkish Cypriots withdrew into the enclaves, partly as a consequence of the hostilities
that had taken place but mostly due to the efforts of their nationalist leadership to enforce a de-facto
partition of the island. In doing so the Turkish Cypriot nationalist leadership had turned against members of
their community who stood for co-operation between the two communities.
By 1974 dissatisfaction among Greek nationalist right-wing elements in favour of the long-term goal of Enosis -
union with Greece - precipitated a coup d'etat against President Makarios which was sponsored by the military
government of Greece and led by the Cypriot National Guard. The new regime replaced Makarios with Nikos
Giorgiades Sampson as president, and Bishop Gennadios as head of the Cypriot Orthodox Church. Seven days after
these events, Turkey invaded Cyprus by sea and air on 20 July, 1974, presenting the invasion as an act of
protection for the island's 18% Turkish Cypriot minority. Talks in Geneva involving Greece, Turkey, the United
Kingdom and the two Cypriot factions failed in mid-August, and Turkish forces subsequently moved from the agreed
cease-fire lines to gain control of 37% of the island's territory. About 160,000 Greek Cypriots were uprooted,
with Greek Cypriots forced to flee to the south, while approximately 50,000 Turkish Cypriots moved north. Greek
Cypriot soldiers were taken prisoners, with a number of 1,619 of those still missing and their fate is still
unaccounted for. The Greek Junta made no armed response to the Turkish forces but collapsed days after. Greece,
with the restoration of democratic rule, suspended military participation in the NATO alliance. The tension
continued after Makarios returned to the presidency on December 7, 1974. He accepted a bizonal bicommunal
federation as the form of a future state, but rejected any solution "involving transfer of populations and
amounting to partition of Cyprus." The events of the summer of 1974 have dominated Cypriot politics ever since
and have been a major point of contention between Greece and Turkey.
After 1974 there were near-continual efforts to negotiate a settlement, which met with varying levels of
hostility from either side.
Turkish Cypriots proclaimed a separate state under Rauf Denktaş on November 15, 1983. The UN Security Council,
in its Resolution 541 of November 18, 1983, declared the action illegal and called for withdrawal. Turkey is to
date the only country to recognise the "government" of the occupied part of Cyprus. Conversely, it continues to
reject calls to recognise the Republic of Cyprus as the sole legitimate government of Cyprus, and this political
point has caused strained relations with the European Union.
Relations in the eastern Mediterranean were particularly frayed in the mid-1990s, especially after the
acquisition by the Cypriot government of Russian missiles in 1997 which were capable of reaching the Turkish
coast. The S-300 missiles, in fact, never arrived in Cyprus but stayed on the neighbouring island of Crete. The
United States set an embargo on sale of arms to Turkey which was voted down a few years later after the
invasion. Since then, the Turkish occupying force in Cyprus has been fortified with US weapons.
Cyprus has joined the European Union as a full member since January 2005. Since the invasion, the southern part
of Cyprus has greatly grown economically, and the country enjoys a high standard of living. The north maintains
a lower standing of living due to the economic embargoes placed since its unilateral declaration of
independence.
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