Cyprus

Will Pakistan recognize Northern Cyprus?

12 Jul 2021

UN-led Cyprus talks commence: Can a solution be found on the disputed Island?

27 Apr 2021

Turkey’s Drilling in Cyprus Raises Alarms

From 1925 to the declaration of the Republic in 1960, the island of Cyprus has a Crown colony of the United Kingdom, but its geopolitical significance has always been paramount in a region of intense upheaval. Currently, Cyprus is divided between the government of Turkish Cypriot north controlling the northern third, the Greek Cypriot Republic of Cyprus controlling the southern two thirds, a UN buffer zone, and two British sovereign base areas. Cyprus has been invaded and controlled by many powers over the millennia as part of strategic control over the eastern Mediterranean, by many powers whether it was Alexander the Great, Greek Ptolemaic Egypt, the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, the Arab Caliphate, the French Lusignans, the Venetians from 1473 to 1571, and then the 300 years of Ottoman rule between 1571 and 1878. The Ottomans gave Cyprus to the British, who placed Cyprus under the UK’s administration based on the Cyprus Convention in 1878. In 1914, the UK formally annexed Cyprus. In the late 20th century, Cypriot history has been unsettled with its independence movement, communal violence and conflict, an invasion by Turkey in 1974, and a divided island. With the reunification of Germany in 1990, Cyprus bears the unfortunate title of being the only remaining capital city in the world which is divided.

29 May 2019