Turkey invaded the north of the island in 1974, establishing the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and dividing it into two halves
Cyprus is a country known as a popular tourist destination for its white sandy beaches, crystal clear waters and Mediterranean climate. However, its past and even its present are far from idyllic. Politically, the island is divided between the Republic of Cyprus, a member of the United Nations (UN) and the European Union (EU), and Northern Cyprus, a self-proclaimed Turkish republic, recognized only by Turkey and considered by the rest of the international community as an occupied territory.
HISTORY OF THE CONFLICT
In 1571, the island was conquered by the Ottoman Empire and, for the first time in a thousand years, its demographic composition changed from a predominantly Greek population to one with a Greek majority and a significant Turkish minority. Cyprus was part of the Ottoman Empire for centuries and the Greeks and Turks who inhabited it, rarely lived together in harmony.
In the 1820s, Greece -also under Ottoman control- fought a successful War of Independence. Multiple Greek Cypriots left to Greece to join the Greek army. In response, the Ottoman governor of Cyprus arrested and executed 486 prominent Greek Cypriots, including the Archbishop of Cyprus, Kyprianos, and four other bishops. In 1828, the first president of modern Greece, Ioannis Kapodistrias, demanded for the union of Cyprus with Greece, and numerous minor uprisings followed this event.
After the Russo-Turkish war, Cyprus came under British administration in 1878 through a secret treaty with the Ottomans. In this treaty it was agreed that the British would protect their territorial sovereignty from Russia, while gaining a strategic position to defend their trade routes to India via the Suez Canal. Although Cyprus would now be administered by the British, the Ottomans retained sovereignty over the island. However, during World War I, the Ottomans and British found themselves on opposite sides of the conflict, so the island was annexed by Britain. Since Greek independence, the majority of Greek Cypriots had been demanding what is known as enosis (unification with Greece).
After World War II, Britain found it increasingly difficult to morally justify its extensive empire. The British Empire went through a long period of decolonization, but with Cyprus there was a problem: geographically, it was too valuable to abandon, since from Cyprus the Royal Air Force could easily reach three continents. Cyprus is only 200 kilometers away from the Middle East and the Suez Canal is 200 nautical miles to the south. While the Greek majority in Cyprus was constantly rebelling against British rule, the Turkish minority was relatively happy with this arrangement, although the Turkish Cypriots definitely did not want enosis.
Map depicting the division between the Republic of Cyprus and Northern Cyprus.
In 1955, a nationalist guerrilla organization, called EOKA, was created to put an end to British rule in Cyprus and, as an ultimate goal, to unify with Greece. Three years later, the Turkish Resistance Organization (TMT) was created in response to EOKA, with the aim of achieving the partition of the island. After many years of practically no understanding, Cyprus declared independence in 1960, with a Greek president of the republic and a Turkish vice-president. Far from achieving peace between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, they continued to clash until 1964, when the UN intervened by sending a peacekeeping contingent to prevent a civil war and the involvement of two NATO members: Greece and Turkey. Finally, the two communities were physically separated by Nicosia, the capital of the country.
The mission of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus became more meaningful when on July 15, 1974 the Cypriot National Guard staged a coup d'état, which was supported from Athens by the Board of Colonels, since the aim of the coup d'état was the annexation of the island to Greece. Turkey could not allow it and the government of the social democrat Bülent Ecevit ordered the military landing. With the second largest army in NATO, the Turks had little trouble taking control of the northern third of the island. However, a large part of the hundreds of civilian dead were massacred by irregular groups of nationalist ideology such as the Greek Cypriot EOKA and the Turkish Cypriot TMT, in a macabre foreshadowing of what would later happen in Lebanon and the Balkans, two other territories inherited from the multi-ethnic Ottoman Empire.
Northen Cyprus flag.
THE GREEN LINE
When Turkey occupied northern Cyprus, with the deployment of some 30,000 troops, it marked a separation with what is known as the Green Line, a demilitarized zone of more than 160 km that divides the island, and its capital, Nicosia, into two halves. Until that time, the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot populations were spread across the island, but, at the time of the Turkish occupation, around 160,000 Greek Cypriots living in the north fled or were expelled to the south, and around 50,000 Turkish Cypriots from the south moved to the north and settled on property owned by displaced Greek Cypriots.
The two communities were completely separated by this Green Line. It was not until 2003 that the Turkish Cypriot authorities relaxed the Green Line restrictions and it could be crossed for the first time in 30 years.
Tourists visiting Cyprus can walk around the Green Line, which separates the two communities of Cyprus, as if it were the set of a Hollywood war movie. This Green Line acts as a border between two different cultures and ways of life. While in the Republic of Cyprus people use the Euro, speak Greek and live as in Greece, in the north they use the Turkish lira as its currency, speak Turkish and have a lifestyle similar to the Turkish one.
The green line in Nicosia separating the Republic of Cyprus and Northern Cyprus.
LIFE IN A COUNTRY WITH TWO PARALLEL REALITIES
Although the Republic of Northern Cyprus is totally different from the south and even has its own flag, being a territory only recognized by Turkey, has multiple impediments. Although it has its own airport, it only operates flights to and from Turkey, so there is no way to reach Northern Cyprus from a country other than Turkey. Tourists have two options: either they travel by plane from Turkey to northern Cyprus, or they travel from any country to the south of Cyprus and access the north by taxi. Another disadvantage is that Turkish Cypriot citizens do not have a direct postal service, they are totally dependent on Turkey.
For several years now, negotiations for the reunification of the island have been under the auspices of the United Nations. The main aim is to achieve some kind of federal government in Cyprus where power is shared between the two communities. The last attempt to bridge the divisions, in 2004, ended in failure when the agreement reached by politicians and diplomats was approved by the Turkish Cypriots, but overwhelmingly rejected by the Greek Cypriots.
According to the testimonies of some of the longest-lived Turkish Cypriot citizens, before the occupation they were second-class citizens, not enjoying a very high standard of living and used to be cleaners, for example. After the Turkish invasion in Northern Cyprus, they started to have a better life, being able to live in houses, work in factories, own businesses and even double their territory. The economy, however, has not worked and the territory lives with the support of Turkey, which covers their basic needs and has been their only protector for the past four decades.
The new generations of Cypriots, both from the north and the south, have known only one reality: mutual hatred. They have been brought up to distrust their neighbor and to accuse each other of being the cause of the constant -but peaceful- conflict in which the country lives. With the situation in Cyprus, it is becoming increasingly difficult to reach an understanding and resolve this situation, and the island's inhabitants themselves are becoming less and less optimistic. In addition, many Turkish Cypriots are worried about the day when the 30,000 troops, with which Turkey has protected them for the past decades, will be withdrawn and they wonder what will happen then. They fear for their safety and even for their identity, as the Greek Cypriots might try to retake the north of the island and the Turkish Cypriots would have no way to defend themselves without Turkish support.
There are too many questions and too few clues of how to resolve them. What is clear is that both sides, used to living in a peaceful division, are fearful of what the change of a reunification might bring.
Comentários