Northern Cyprus

Cyprus, the third-largest island in the Mediterranean, lies at a crossroads between Anatolia, the Levant, and Egypt, a position that made it a prize for successive powers. From Bronze Age city-kingdoms enriched by copper, through Greek settlement, the island passed under Assyrian, Egyptian, Persian, Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine rule. Its predominantly Greek-speaking, Orthodox Christian population endured later periods of Frankish (Lusignan) and Venetian control during the medieval and early-modern centuries, leaving a deep Hellenic and Christian character to the island's society and culture.

In 1570 to 1571 an Ottoman army conquered Cyprus from Venice, taking Nicosia and, after a long siege, Famagusta. More than three centuries of Ottoman rule followed. The conquest brought thousands of Muslim settlers, many from Anatolia, and over time a distinct Turkish-Cypriot community took shape alongside the Greek-Cypriot majority. Under the Ottoman millet system the Orthodox Church regained authority over the Greek-Cypriot community, while the two communities, differing in language and religion, lived intermixed across the island in villages and towns.

By the nineteenth century Cyprus held two principal communities whose coexistence would shape its later conflicts: a Greek-Cypriot Christian majority and a Turkish-Cypriot Muslim minority. The Ottoman centuries thus laid the demographic foundation of the island's modern division, establishing the Turkish-Cypriot presence whose security and political status would become central to the formation, much later, of a separate northern entity. Ottoman administration of Cyprus ended in 1878, when, by agreement with Britain, the island's administration was transferred to the British Crown.

Turning points

1. 1570-1571War & Rupture

   Ottoman conquest of Cyprus

   An Ottoman army took Cyprus from Venice, capturing Nicosia and Famagusta and beginning more than three centuries of Ottoman rule that settled a Muslim Turkish-Cypriot community on the island.

   ↗See the data

   [3] [11]

2. 16th-17th centuriesPeoples & Migration

   Emergence of the Turkish-Cypriot community

   Muslim settlers, many from Anatolia, established a distinct Turkish-Cypriot community alongside the Greek-Cypriot majority, while the Orthodox Church regained authority over Greek Cypriots under the millet system.

   ↗See the data

   [3] [11]

By the Cyprus Convention of 1878 the Ottoman sultan agreed that Britain should administer Cyprus while nominal Ottoman sovereignty continued, an arrangement reflecting the island's strategic value near the routes to the Suez Canal. When the Ottoman Empire entered the First World War against Britain in 1914, Britain annexed Cyprus outright; the Republic of Turkey recognised British sovereignty in the Treaty of Lausanne of 1923, and in 1925 Cyprus was declared a Crown colony. The two communities entered the colonial era with sharply differing aspirations for the island's future.

Among many Greek Cypriots the dominant aspiration was enosis, union with Greece, an idea championed by the Orthodox Church and rooted in a sense of Hellenic identity. From 1955 the guerrilla organisation EOKA, led by Colonel Georgios Grivas and supported politically by Archbishop Makarios III, waged an armed campaign against British rule in pursuit of enosis. Turkish Cypriots, fearing absorption into a Greek state in which they would be a vulnerable minority, opposed enosis and increasingly advocated taksim, the partition of the island between the two communities.

Britain, Greece, and Turkey negotiated a settlement at Zürich and London in 1959 that ruled out both enosis and partition, providing instead for an independent, bicommunal republic. Archbishop Makarios and the Turkish-Cypriot leader Dr Fazıl Küçük accepted the compromise on behalf of their communities. The agreements set the terms of independence and bound Greece, Turkey, and Britain as guarantors of the new state's constitutional order, a guarantor role that Turkey would later invoke in 1974.

Turning points

1. 1878Colonisation

   British administration of Cyprus begins

   Under the Cyprus Convention the Ottoman Empire transferred the administration of Cyprus to Britain, which annexed the island in 1914 and made it a Crown colony in 1925.

   ↗See the data

   [2] [11]

2. 1955-1959War & Rupture

   EOKA campaign for enosis

   The guerrilla organisation EOKA, backed by Archbishop Makarios, fought British rule in pursuit of enosis (union with Greece); Turkish Cypriots opposed enosis and called for taksim (partition).

   ↗See the data

   [2] [4]

3. February 1959Politics & Power

   Zürich and London agreements

   Britain, Greece, and Turkey, with Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot leaders, agreed terms for an independent bicommunal republic, barring both enosis and partition and naming the three powers as guarantors.

   [2] [11]

On 16 August 1960 Cyprus became an independent republic under a constitution designed to share power between the two communities. The Greek-Cypriot Makarios III was president and a Turkish Cypriot, Fazıl Küçük, vice-president, each community holding fixed proportions of seats in the legislature, the cabinet, the civil service, and the security forces, with vice-presidential veto rights over key matters. Britain retained sovereignty over two military base areas. The arrangement was intended to protect the Turkish-Cypriot minority, but its rigidity made the new state difficult to govern from the outset.

In November 1963 President Makarios proposed thirteen constitutional amendments that would have reduced Turkish-Cypriot safeguards; the Turkish-Cypriot leadership rejected them as destroying the agreed partnership. Intercommunal violence erupted in December 1963. Turkish Cypriots withdrew or were forced from the organs of the bicommunal state and many gathered into defended enclaves, while the government continued to operate, in practice, as a Greek-Cypriot administration. The two communities increasingly lived apart, and a 'Green Line' was drawn through Nicosia to separate them.

On 4 March 1964 the UN Security Council, by Resolution 186, established the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) to help prevent a recurrence of fighting and restore normal conditions; the force has remained on the island ever since. Further bouts of violence followed in 1964 and 1967, and Turkish Cypriots formed a separate communal administration for the enclaves. By the early 1970s the bicommunal republic of 1960 had effectively ceased to function as designed, even before the events of 1974 partitioned the island geographically.

Turning points

1. 16 August 1960Independence

   Independence of the Republic of Cyprus

   Cyprus became an independent bicommunal republic under a power-sharing constitution, with Makarios III as president and Fazıl Küçük as Turkish-Cypriot vice-president, and Britain retaining sovereign base areas.

   ↗See the data

   [2] [11]

2. December 1963War & Rupture

   Breakdown of power-sharing and intercommunal violence

   After President Makarios proposed constitutional amendments curtailing Turkish-Cypriot safeguards, the partnership collapsed and intercommunal violence broke out; Turkish Cypriots withdrew from the bicommunal state into enclaves.

   ↗See the data

   [2] [12]

3. 4 March 1964Politics & Power

   UN peacekeeping force (UNFICYP) established

   By Resolution 186 the UN Security Council created UNFICYP to prevent renewed fighting and restore normal conditions; the force has remained deployed in Cyprus ever since.

   [9] [8]

On 15 July 1974 the Cypriot National Guard, led by Greek officers and acting on orders from the military junta then ruling Greece, staged a coup against President Makarios, who fled the island, and installed Nikos Sampson, a hardline advocate of enosis. The coup alarmed the Turkish-Cypriot community and the government of Turkey, which regarded the prospect of union with Greece as a direct threat. Invoking its status as a guarantor power under the 1960 Treaty of Guarantee, Turkey launched a military operation in Cyprus on 20 July 1974.

Turkish forces landed near Kyrenia and, in a first phase and then a second offensive in mid-August, took control of the northern part of the island, roughly its northern third. The fighting and its aftermath produced large population movements in both directions: most Greek Cypriots fled or were displaced from the north to the south, and most Turkish Cypriots moved from the south to the north, hardening a territorial separation along a ceasefire line. The Greek junta collapsed within days of the intervention, and constitutional government was restored in the south.

The events of 1974 are remembered and named very differently by the parties. The Turkish-Cypriot side and Turkey describe the operation as a peace operation or intervention, a lawful and necessary act to protect the Turkish-Cypriot community and prevent enosis after the coup. The Republic of Cyprus and the international community describe it as an invasion that led to the continuing occupation of the island's north. In February 1975 the Turkish-Cypriot leadership proclaimed the area a 'Turkish Federated State of Cyprus' under Rauf Denktaş, presenting it as the Turkish-Cypriot component of a hoped-for federal settlement rather than a separate sovereign state.

Turning points

1. 15 July 1974Politics & Power

   Coup against Makarios

   Greek-Cypriot nationalists in the National Guard, backed by the military junta in Athens, overthrew President Makarios in pursuit of enosis and installed Nikos Sampson.

   [2] [10]

2. 20 July 1974War & Rupture

   Turkish military intervention

   Invoking its guarantor role under the 1960 treaty, Turkey landed forces in Cyprus; described by Turkey as a peace operation and by the Republic of Cyprus as an invasion, it ended with Turkish control of the northern third of the island.

   ↗See the data

   [2] [10]

3. 13 February 1975Politics & Power

   Turkish Federated State of Cyprus proclaimed

   The Turkish-Cypriot leadership under Rauf Denktaş proclaimed a 'Turkish Federated State of Cyprus' in the north, presented as a building block for a future federation rather than a separate sovereign state.

   [2] [11]

Figures of the era

When years of negotiation failed to restore a single working state, the Turkish-Cypriot assembly under Rauf Denktaş moved from federated status to a claim of full sovereignty. On 15 November 1983 it issued a unilateral declaration of independence proclaiming the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in the area held by Turkish forces. Turkish Cypriots framed the declaration as an exercise of self-determination and a guarantee of security for their community after the violence of 1963 to 1974, while stressing a continued willingness to seek a federal settlement.

The response of the international community was immediate and firm. On 18 November 1983 the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 541, which deplored the declaration, considered it legally invalid, called for its withdrawal, and called upon all states not to recognise any Cypriot state other than the Republic of Cyprus. In 1984 Resolution 550 reaffirmed this stance, condemning further secessionist steps such as the exchange of ambassadors between Turkey and the Turkish-Cypriot leadership, and addressing the fenced-off town of Varosha. Turkey alone recognised the new entity; no other state did so.

From its declaration the TRNC functioned as a de facto state with its own president, parliament, and institutions, Rauf Denktaş serving as its long-time president, but it remained outside the international system, dependent economically and militarily on Turkey and barred from most international organisations and direct trade. The Republic of Cyprus continued to be recognised worldwide as the sole legitimate government of the whole island. Nicosia remained a divided capital, split by the UN buffer zone, and the line between north and south, sealed for many years, separated the two communities almost completely.

Turning points

1. 15 November 1983Independence

   Declaration of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus

   The Turkish-Cypriot assembly under Rauf Denktaş unilaterally declared the independent Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in the island's north, presenting it as an act of self-determination.

   ↗See the data

   [2] [5]

2. 18 November 1983Politics & Power

   UN Security Council Resolution 541

   The Security Council deplored the declaration, considered it legally invalid, called for its withdrawal, and called on all states not to recognise any Cypriot state other than the Republic of Cyprus.

   [5] [6]

3. 11 May 1984Politics & Power

   UN Security Council Resolution 550

   The Security Council reaffirmed Resolution 541, condemned secessionist actions including the exchange of ambassadors with Turkey, and addressed the status of the fenced town of Varosha.

   [7]

Figures of the era

Through the 1990s and 2000s the United Nations sponsored successive rounds of negotiation aimed at a bicommunal, bizonal federation. The most far-reaching attempt was the plan associated with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, put to simultaneous referendums in both communities on 24 April 2004. A majority of Turkish Cypriots voted in favour, but a large majority of Greek Cypriots voted against, and the plan failed. Days later, on 1 May 2004, the Republic of Cyprus joined the European Union; in legal terms the whole island acceded, but EU law is suspended in the north pending a settlement.

The partial opening of crossing points along the buffer zone from 2003 allowed Cypriots to move between north and south for the first time in decades, easing daily separation without resolving the political dispute. Further negotiations, including talks at Crans-Montana in 2017, failed to produce a settlement, and Turkish-Cypriot leaders increasingly pressed for recognition of a two-state outcome, which the Republic of Cyprus and the United Nations reject in favour of the agreed federal framework. The fenced district of Varosha and the status of property, security, and guarantees remained among the hardest issues.

Into the 2020s the island remains divided. The Republic of Cyprus, a member of the European Union, is recognised internationally as the government of the whole island; the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus continues as a de facto state recognised only by Turkey and, in the view of the United Nations and the wider community, as territory under Turkish occupation. UNFICYP still patrols the buffer zone, its mandate renewed by the Security Council each year, most recently into 2027. The Cyprus question endures as one of the world's longest-running unresolved disputes, its core characterisations still contested between the parties.

Turning points

1. April 2003Politics & Power

   Crossing points open along the Green Line

   For the first time in decades, crossing points in the UN buffer zone were opened, allowing movement between north and south and easing the communities' separation without settling the dispute.

   [2] [9]

2. 24 April 2004Politics & Power

   Annan Plan referendums fail

   The UN reunification plan was approved by a majority of Turkish Cypriots but rejected by a large majority of Greek Cypriots in simultaneous referendums, so it was not implemented.

   [2]

3. 1 May 2004Politics & Power

   Republic of Cyprus joins the European Union

   Cyprus acceded to the EU as a divided island; EU law applies in full only in the south and is suspended in the north pending a political settlement.

   [2]

4. 2017Politics & Power

   Crans-Montana talks collapse

   UN-brokered reunification negotiations at Crans-Montana ended without agreement, after which Turkish-Cypriot leaders increasingly pressed for a two-state solution rejected by the Republic of Cyprus and the UN.

   [2] [9]