Portal:Cyprus

The Cyprus Portal

Cyprus (/ˈsaɪprəs/ ^ⓘ), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Although it is geographically located in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical make-up are overwhelmingly Southeast European. It is the third largest and third most populous island in the Mediterranean. It is located southeast of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and Lebanon, northwest of Israel and Palestine, and north of Egypt. Its capital and largest city is Nicosia. Cyprus hosts the British-controlled military bases Akrotiri and Dhekelia, whilst the northeast portion of the island is de facto governed by the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which is separated from the Republic of Cyprus by the United Nations Buffer Zone.

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 (then called Alashiya) developed an urbanised 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 empires, including the Assyrians, Ancient 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, the French Lusignans, 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 for the continuation of British rule, then demanded the annexation of the island to Turkey; in the 1950s, together with Turkey, they established a policy of taksim (the partition of Cyprus and the creation of a Turkish polity in the north of the island). 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, which was widely condemned by the international community and led to Turkey being the only country to recognise the new state. These events and the resulting political situation are matters of an ongoing dispute. (Full article...)

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Kyrenia is the second economic center of Northern Cyprus

The economy of Northern Cyprus is dominated by the services sector (69% of GDP in 2007), which includes the public sector, trade, tourism and education. Industry (light manufacturing) contributes 22% of GDP and agriculture 9%. Northern Cyprus's economy operates on a free-market basis, with a significant portion of administration costs funded by Turkey. Northern Cyprus uses the Turkish lira as its currency, which links its economic situation to the economy of Turkey.

As of 2014, the GDP per capita of Northern Cyprus was $15,109, and the GDP was $4.039 billion. The economy grew by 4.9% in 2014 and 2.8% in 2013, meaning that Northern Cyprus is growing faster than the Republic of Cyprus. Northern Cyprus has seen economic growth and declining unemployment throughout the 2010s; the unemployment rate in 2015 was at 7.4%, down from 8.3% in 2014. The inflation rate in June 2015 was at 3.18%. (Full article...)

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Cyprus news

3 October 2024 – Israel–Hezbollah conflict: A Hellenic Air Force plane evacuates Greek and Cypriot nationals from Beirut–Rafic Hariri International Airport in Lebanon. (Ekathimerini)

General images

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

Image 1
  Under the control of the Republic of Cyprus
  The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
  Turkey
  Greece
(from Cyprus problem)
Image 2The Troodos Mountains experience heavy snowfall in winter. (from Cyprus)
Image 3Kouris Dam overflow in April 2012 (from Cyprus)
Image 4Welcoming ceremony of the former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev by the soldiers of the Cypriot National Guard (from Cyprus)
Image 5Foreign Ministers of the European Union countries in Limassol during Cyprus Presidency of the EU in 2012 (from Cyprus)
Image 6Atatürk Square, North Nicosia in 2006 (from Cyprus problem)
Image 7Typical Cypriot architecture in old part of Nicosia, Cyprus (from Cyprus)
Image 8Limassol General Hospital (from Cyprus)
Image 9Spyros Kyprianou Athletic Centre in Limassol (from Cyprus)
Image 10A copper mine in Cyprus. In antiquity, Cyprus was a major source of copper. (from Cyprus)
Image 11Statue of Liberty symbolising the independence of Cyprus. (from History of Cyprus)
Image 12Archaeological site of Khirokitia with early remains of human habitation during the Aceramic Neolithic period (reconstruction) (from Cyprus)
Image 132010 population by age and gender (from Cyprus)
Image 14The north–south checkpoint has been open since 2003. (from Cyprus problem)
Image 15
Accession of Cyprus to the European Union in 2004
(from Cyprus problem)
Image 16Cypriot meze (from Cyprus)
Image 17A British soldier facing a crowd of Greek Cypriot demonstrators in Nicosia (1956) (from Cyprus)
Image 18Opening of Ledra Street in April 2008 (from Cyprus problem)
Image 19Ioannis 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 20Greek Cypriot demonstrations for Enosis (union with Greece) in 1930 (from Cyprus)
Image 21Khirokitia archeological site. (from History of Cyprus)
Image 22Presidential Palace, Nicosia (from Cyprus)
Image 23Street close to the Nicosia border (from Cyprus problem)
Image 24Zeus Keraunios, 500-480 BC, Nicosia museum (from History of Cyprus)
Image 25Büyük Han, a caravanserai in Nicosia, is an example of the surviving Ottoman architecture in Cyprus. (from Cyprus)
Image 26A Greek Cypriot demonstration in the 1930s in favour of Enosis (union) with Greece (from Cyprus problem)
Image 27Laouto, dominant instrument of the Cypriot traditional music (from Cyprus)
Image 28Ayia Paraskevi Byzantine church in Yeroskipou, Cyprus (from History of Cyprus)
Image 29Cyprus in 1482 (from History of Cyprus)
Image 30Cypriot demonstrations for Enosis (Union) with Greece. (from History of Cyprus)
Image 31The Walls of Nicosia were built by the Venetians to defend the city in case of an Ottoman attack. (from Cyprus)
Image 32UN tower in the buffer zone (from Cyprus)
Image 33Proposed flag of the United Republic of Cyprus (from Cyprus problem)
Image 34A Sentinel-2 image of Cyprus taken in 2022 (from Cyprus)
Image 35A map showing the division of Cyprus (from Cyprus)
Image 36Cyprus is part of a monetary union, the eurozone (dark blue) and of the EU single market. (from Cyprus)
Image 37Former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan was the creator of the Annan plan. (from Cyprus problem)
Image 38Base ring vessel of Late Bronze Age (from History of Cyprus)
Image 39Faneromeni School is the oldest all-girl primary school in Cyprus. (from Cyprus)
Image 40Supreme Court of Justice (from Cyprus)
Image 41Nikos Christodoulides, President of Cyprus since February 2023 (from Cyprus)
Image 42Greek 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 43Kyrenia Castle was originally built by the Byzantines and enlarged by the Venetians. (from Cyprus)
Image 44Cypriot cult image. 'Red Polished Ware', 2100–2000 BC. Museum zu Allerheiligen (from History of Cyprus)
Image 45Dhekelia Power Station (from Cyprus)
Image 46Ethnic map of Cyprus according to the 1960 census (from Cyprus)
Image 47Zeus Keraunios, 500–480 BC, Nicosia museum (from Cyprus)
Image 48Street in the divided capital of Nicosia (from Cyprus)
Image 49The Armenian Alphabet at the Melkonian Educational Institute. Armenian is recognised as a minority language in Cyprus. (from Cyprus)
Image 50Sea caves at Cape Greco (from Cyprus)
Image 51The entrance of the historic Pancyprian Gymnasium (from Cyprus)
Image 52The "Green Line" in Nicosia, Cyprus (from Cyprus problem)
Image 53Cypri insvla nova descript 1573, Ioannes á Deutecum f[ecit]. Map of Cyprus newly drawn by Johannes van Deutecom, 1573. (from Cyprus)
Image 54Cypriot style café in an arcade in Nicosia (from Cyprus)
Image 55Zeno of Citium, founder of the Stoic school of philosophy (from Cyprus)
Image 56Population growth, 1961–2003 (numbers for the entire island, excluding Turkish settlers residing in Northern Cyprus) (from Cyprus)
Image 57Cathedral 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 58Varosha (Maraş), a suburb of Famagusta, was abandoned when its inhabitants fled in 1974 and remains under Turkish military control. (from Cyprus)
Image 59"TAKSİM" (division) graffiti on a wall in Nicosia in the late 1950s (from Cyprus problem)
Image 60Hoisting the British flag at Nicosia (from Cyprus)
Image 61Ottoman admiral, geographer and cartographer Piri Reis' historical map of Cyprus (from Cyprus problem)
Image 62Central Bank of Cyprus (from Cyprus)
Image 63Red-polished ceramics from Enkomi, 1900–1725 BC. St. Barnabas Archaeological Museum, Salamis, Cyprus (from History of Cyprus)
Image 64Turkish rally in Nicosia in January 1958 (from Cyprus problem)
Image 65Cypriot Halloumi (from Cyprus)