Portal:Cyprus

The Cyprus Portal

Cyprus (/ˈsaɪprəs/ ^ⓘ), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. It is geographically a part of West Asia, but its cultural ties and geopolitics are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the third largest and third-most populous island in the Mediterranean. It is east of Greece, north of Egypt, south of Turkey, and west of Lebanon and Syria. Its capital and largest city is Nicosia. The northeast portion of the island is de facto governed by the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which like Turkey refers to the internationally recognised government of Cyprus as the Greek Cypriot Administration of Southern Cyprus (Turkish: Güney Kıbrıs Rum Yönetimi) or simply the Greek Cypriot Administration.

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, known in contemporary sources as Alashiya, developed an urbanized 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 major powers, including the empires of the Assyrians, 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 for a short period, the French Lusignan dynasty 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 the continuation of the British rule, then demanded the annexation of the island to Turkey, and in the 1950s, together with Turkey, established a policy of taksim, the partition of Cyprus and the creation of a Turkish polity in the north. 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; the move was widely condemned by the international community, with Turkey alone recognising the new state. These events and the resulting political situation are matters of a continuing dispute. Cyprus is a major tourist destination in the Mediterranean. The country has an advanced high-income economy. The Republic of Cyprus has been a member of the Commonwealth since 1961 and was a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement until it joined the European Union on 1 May 2004. On 1 January 2008, Cyprus joined the eurozone. (Full article...)

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Several distinct periods of Cypriot intercommunal violence involving the two main ethnic communities, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, marked mid-20th century Cyprus. These included the Cyprus Emergency of 1955–59 during British rule, the post-independence Cyprus crisis of 1963–64, and the Cyprus crisis of 1967. Hostilities culminated in the 1974 de facto division of the island along the Green Line following the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. The region has been relatively peaceful since then, but the Cyprus dispute has continued, with various attempts to solve it diplomatically having been generally unsuccessful. (Full article...)

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19 June 2024 – Israel–Hezbollah conflict: Hezbollah secretary general Hassan Nasrallah threatens Cyprus if it allows Israel to use its airports and bases for military exercises which Cypriot president Nikos Christodoulides denies as well as announcing the possibility of a ground invasion of Galilee. (Reuters)

General images

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

Image 1Foreign Ministers of the European Union countries in Limassol during Cyprus Presidency of the EU in 2012 (from Cyprus)
Image 2The north–south checkpoint has been open since 2003. (from Cyprus problem)
Image 3Nikos Christodoulides, President of Cyprus since February 2023 (from Cyprus)
Image 4Base ring vessel of Late Bronze Age (from History of Cyprus)
Image 5A Sentinel-2 image of Cyprus taken in 2022 (from Cyprus)
Image 6Zeus Keraunios, 500-480 BC, Nicosia museum (from History of Cyprus)
Image 7Limassol General Hospital (from Cyprus)
Image 8A copper mine in Cyprus. In antiquity, Cyprus was a major source of copper. (from Cyprus)
Image 9
  Under the control of the Republic of Cyprus
  The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
  Turkey
  Greece
(from Cyprus problem)
Image 10Greek 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 11Street in the divided capital of Nicosia (from Cyprus)
Image 12Zeno of Citium, founder of the Stoic school of philosophy (from Cyprus)
Image 13Cyprus in 1482 (from History of Cyprus)
Image 14Archaeological site of Khirokitia with early remains of human habitation during the Aceramic Neolithic period (reconstruction) (from Cyprus)
Image 15Ioannis 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 16Proposed flag of the United Republic of Cyprus (from Cyprus problem)
Image 17A British soldier facing a crowd of Greek Cypriot demonstrators in Nicosia (1956) (from Cyprus)
Image 18Turkish rally in Nicosia in January 1958 (from Cyprus problem)
Image 19
Accession of Cyprus to the European Union in 2004
(from Cyprus problem)
Image 20Welcoming ceremony of the former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev by the soldiers of the Cypriot National Guard (from Cyprus)
Image 212010 population by age and gender (from Cyprus)
Image 22Former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan was the creator of the Annan plan. (from Cyprus problem)
Image 23The Walls of Nicosia were built by the Venetians to defend the city in case of an Ottoman attack. (from Cyprus)
Image 24Opening of Ledra Street in April 2008 (from Cyprus problem)
Image 25Kouris Dam overflow in April 2012 (from Cyprus)
Image 26Ethnic map of Cyprus according to the 1960 census (from Cyprus)
Image 27Cathedral 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 28Varosha (Maraş), a suburb of Famagusta, was abandoned when its inhabitants fled in 1974 and remains under Turkish military control. (from Cyprus)
Image 29Khirokitia archeological site. (from History of Cyprus)
Image 30Cypriot meze (from Cyprus)
Image 31The Armenian Alphabet at the Melkonian Educational Institute. Armenian is recognised as a minority language in Cyprus. (from Cyprus)
Image 32Greek Cypriot demonstrations for Enosis (union with Greece) in 1930 (from Cyprus)
Image 33Zeus Keraunios, 500–480 BC, Nicosia museum (from Cyprus)
Image 34UN tower in the buffer zone (from Cyprus)
Image 35Presidential Palace, Nicosia (from Cyprus)
Image 36Cypriot style café in an arcade in Nicosia (from Cyprus)
Image 37The Troodos Mountains experience heavy snowfall in winter. (from Cyprus)
Image 38Street close to the Nicosia border (from Cyprus problem)
Image 39Supreme Court of Justice (from Cyprus)
Image 40Dhekelia Power Station (from Cyprus)
Image 41A map showing the division of Cyprus (from Cyprus)
Image 42The "Green Line" in Nicosia, Cyprus (from Cyprus problem)
Image 43Cypri insvla nova descript 1573, Ioannes á Deutecum f[ecit]. Map of Cyprus newly drawn by Johannes van Deutecom, 1573. (from Cyprus)
Image 44Hoisting the British flag at Nicosia (from Cyprus)
Image 45Statue of Liberty symbolising the independence of Cyprus. (from History of Cyprus)
Image 46Faneromeni School is the oldest all-girl primary school in Cyprus. (from Cyprus)
Image 47Atatürk Square, North Nicosia in 2006 (from Cyprus problem)
Image 48Laouto, dominant instrument of the Cypriot traditional music (from Cyprus)
Image 49Spyros Kyprianou Athletic Centre in Limassol (from Cyprus)
Image 50The entrance of the historic Pancyprian Gymnasium (from Cyprus)
Image 51Central Bank of Cyprus (from Cyprus)
Image 52Typical Cypriot architecture in old part of Nicosia, Cyprus (from Cyprus)
Image 53Cypriot Halloumi (from Cyprus)
Image 54A Greek Cypriot demonstration in the 1930s in favour of Enosis (union) with Greece (from Cyprus problem)
Image 55Cypriot cult image. 'Red Polished Ware', 2100–2000 BC. Museum zu Allerheiligen (from History of Cyprus)
Image 56Ayia Paraskevi Byzantine church in Yeroskipou, Cyprus (from History of Cyprus)
Image 57Cypriot demonstrations for Enosis (Union) with Greece. (from History of Cyprus)
Image 58Kyrenia Castle was originally built by the Byzantines and enlarged by the Venetians. (from Cyprus)
Image 59Büyük Han, a caravanserai in Nicosia, is an example of the surviving Ottoman architecture in Cyprus. (from Cyprus)
Image 60Ottoman admiral, geographer and cartographer Piri Reis' historical map of Cyprus (from Cyprus problem)
Image 61"TAKSİM" (division) graffiti on a wall in Nicosia in the late 1950s (from Cyprus problem)
Image 62Cyprus is part of a monetary union, the eurozone (dark blue) and of the EU single market. (from Cyprus)
Image 63Sea caves at Cape Greco (from Cyprus)
Image 64Population growth, 1961–2003 (numbers for the entire island, excluding Turkish settlers residing in Northern Cyprus) (from Cyprus)
Image 65Red-polished ceramics from Enkomi, 1900–1725 BC. St. Barnabas Archaeological Museum, Salamis, Cyprus (from History of Cyprus)