INTL101: Introduction to Global Politics

1. INTL101: Introduction to Global Politics Is a “Bi-communal, Bi-zonal, Federal Cyprus” a realistic possibility? (Part 1)

2. Cyprus: The Early Years • Cyprus was colonised by settlers from the Aegean more than 3,000 years ago and over time and in spite of other invasions became entirely Greek-speaking. • Later it became part of the Roman Empire and then of the Byzantine Empire. • By about the year 300 Orthodox Christianity had come to dominate the island.

3. Cyprus: The Early Years • Later the island came under the control of the French Catholic Lusignan Kings (who were crowned as Kings of Cyprus in the Cathedral in Famagusta). • In 1489 Venice took Cyprus from the Lusignans and continued Catholic control. • But throughout all this time the local people continued to be Orthodox Christians and to speak Greek.

4. Cyprus: The Early Years • In 1571 the Ottoman Empire invaded Cyprus and conquered the island. After the conquest they brought a Muslim and Turkish-speaking population which settled all over the island. • The Ottomans treated the Orthodox Christians as an official and largely self-governing religious group (millet in Turkish) in the same way as in the other parts of the Empire. • This made the Church very important and the Archbishop of Cyprus came to be seen as the leader of the Greek-speaking community.

5. Cyprus: The Early Years • The new Muslim and Turkish-speaking people and the original Christian Greek-speaking people generally lived in separate villages (or in separate parts of the cities) all across the island. • They didn’t really mix and for many years the two languages and cultures lived side-by-side reasonably peacefully.

6. Cyprus: The Early Years • However, in 1830 Greece became independentbut many Greek-speaking people were left out of the new state - including the ones in Cyprus - and the idea of a Greater Greece was born. • Naturally, the Greeks of Cyprus supported this idea but the Ottoman Empire reacted very harshly and the Archbishop, together with many other church leaders, was executed.

7. Cyprus: The Early Years • In 1878, Britain took over Cyprus from the Ottoman Empire and many Greek people in Cyprus thought Britain would help them achieve what they called Ενοσις (‘Enosis’ or ‘Union’, i.e. with Greece). • Naturally the Turkish-Cypriots, who until 1878 had been the masters in Cyprus, were very suspicious of this. • But the campaign for Enosis continued and over time became a campaign against the British.

8. Cyprus: The Early Years • In 1955 The National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters or EOKA was formed to fight for freedom from the British and for Enosis. • For the Greek-Cypriots EOKA were freedom-fighters; • … but for the British (and later for the Turkish Cypriots also) EOKA were terrorists.

9. Cyprus: The Early Years • The terrorist situation got steadily worse for the British and many British soldiers and their families were killed. • The great majority of Greek-Cypriots were demanding Enosis while the great majority of Turkish Cypriots were demanding partition (‘Taksim’ in Turkish). • There seemed be no solution that both sides could accept.

10. The 1960 Republic • In 1960 Greece and Turkey agreed that Cyprus should became an independent Republic. Britain accepted this provided it could keep two ‘Sovereign Base Areas’ for military purposes. • The new Republic was forbidden to join with any other country and Britain, Greece and Turkey were all given intervention rights to guarantee its integrity and constitutional system.