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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Nicosia, also known as Lefkosia and Lefkoşa, is the capital and largest city of Cyprus. It is the southeasternmost of all EU member states' capital cities.

Nicosia has been continuously inhabited for over 4,500 years and has been the capital of Cyprus since the 10th century. It is the last divided capital in Europe; three years after Cyprus gained independence from British rule in 1960, the Bloody Christmas conflict between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots triggered island-wide intercommunal violence, and Nicosia's Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities segregated into its south and north respectively in 1964. A decade later, Turkey invaded Cyprus following Greece's successful attempt to take over the island. The leaders of the takeover would later step down, but the dividing line running through Nicosia (and the rest of the island, interrupted only briefly by British military bases) became a demilitarised zone that remains under the control of Cyprus while heavily policed by the United Nations; it is now known as the United Nations Buffer Zone in Cyprus between the Republic of Cyprus, which is internationally recognised, and Northern Cyprus, which is recognised only by Turkey. The ongoing dispute between the two communities is known as the Cyprus problem. (Full article...)

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General images

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

Image 1The entrance of the historic Pancyprian Gymnasium (from Cyprus)
Image 2Atatürk Square, North Nicosia in 2006 (from Cyprus problem)
Image 3
  Under the control of the Republic of Cyprus
  The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
  Turkey
  Greece
(from Cyprus problem)
Image 4Zeus Keraunios, 500–480 BC, Nicosia museum (from Cyprus)
Image 5Foreign Ministers of the European Union countries in Limassol during Cyprus Presidency of the EU in 2012 (from Cyprus)
Image 6The Troodos Mountains experience heavy snowfall in winter. (from Cyprus)
Image 7The north–south checkpoint has been open since 2003. (from Cyprus problem)
Image 82010 population by age and gender (from Cyprus)
Image 9"TAKSİM" (division) graffiti on a wall in Nicosia in the late 1950s (from Cyprus problem)
Image 10Presidential Palace, Nicosia (from Cyprus)
Image 11Kyrenia Castle was originally built by the Byzantines and enlarged by the Venetians. (from Cyprus)
Image 12Cyprus in 1482 (from History of Cyprus)
Image 13Faneromeni School is the oldest all-girl primary school in Cyprus. (from Cyprus)
Image 14Spyros Kyprianou Athletic Centre in Limassol (from Cyprus)
Image 15Cypri insvla nova descript 1573, Ioannes á Deutecum f[ecit]. Map of Cyprus newly drawn by Johannes van Deutecom, 1573. (from Cyprus)
Image 16Dhekelia Power Station (from Cyprus)
Image 17Cypriot demonstrations for Enosis (Union) with Greece. (from History of Cyprus)
Image 18Population growth, 1961–2003 (numbers for the entire island, excluding Turkish settlers residing in Northern Cyprus) (from Cyprus)
Image 19Typical Cypriot architecture in old part of Nicosia, Cyprus (from Cyprus)
Image 20A Sentinel-2 image of Cyprus taken in 2022 (from Cyprus)
Image 21Former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan was the creator of the Annan plan. (from Cyprus problem)
Image 22Cypriot style café in an arcade in Nicosia (from Cyprus)
Image 23A map showing the division of Cyprus (from Cyprus)
Image 24Supreme Court of Justice (from Cyprus)
Image 25Ethnic map of Cyprus according to the 1960 census (from Cyprus)
Image 26Central Bank of Cyprus (from Cyprus)
Image 27Welcoming ceremony of the former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev by the soldiers of the Cypriot National Guard (from Cyprus)
Image 28Street close to the Nicosia border (from Cyprus problem)
Image 29Kouris Dam overflow in April 2012 (from Cyprus)
Image 30Zeno of Citium, founder of the Stoic school of philosophy (from Cyprus)
Image 31Ayia Paraskevi Byzantine church in Yeroskipou, Cyprus (from History of Cyprus)
Image 32A British soldier facing a crowd of Greek Cypriot demonstrators in Nicosia (1956) (from Cyprus)
Image 33Ottoman admiral, geographer and cartographer Piri Reis' historical map of Cyprus (from Cyprus problem)
Image 34Sea caves at Cape Greco (from Cyprus)
Image 35Turkish Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs Feridun Sinirlioğlu (Left) and the Greek Cypriot negotiator Andreas Mavroyiannis (Right), in Ankara, within the scope of the 2014 Cyprus talks (from Cyprus problem)
Image 36A copper mine in Cyprus. In antiquity, Cyprus was a major source of copper. (from Cyprus)
Image 37Cypriot cult image. 'Red Polished Ware', 2100–2000 BC. Museum zu Allerheiligen (from History of Cyprus)
Image 38Greek Cypriot demonstrations for Enosis (union with Greece) in 1930 (from Cyprus)
Image 39Proposed flag of the United Republic of Cyprus (from Cyprus problem)
Image 40Limassol General Hospital (from Cyprus)
Image 41UN tower in the buffer zone (from Cyprus)
Image 42The Armenian Alphabet at the Melkonian Educational Institute. Armenian is recognised as a minority language in Cyprus. (from Cyprus)
Image 43Ioannis 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 44Zeus Keraunios, 500-480 BC, Nicosia museum (from History of Cyprus)
Image 45Cyprus is part of a monetary union, the eurozone (dark blue) and of the EU single market. (from Cyprus)
Image 46Statue of Liberty symbolising the independence of Cyprus. (from History of Cyprus)
Image 47Cypriot meze (from Cyprus)
Image 48Street in the divided capital of Nicosia (from Cyprus)
Image 49Hoisting the British flag at Nicosia (from Cyprus)
Image 50Varosha (Maraş), a suburb of Famagusta, was abandoned when its inhabitants fled in 1974 and remains under Turkish military control. (from Cyprus)
Image 51The Walls of Nicosia were built by the Venetians to defend the city in case of an Ottoman attack. (from Cyprus)
Image 52Büyük Han, a caravanserai in Nicosia, is an example of the surviving Ottoman architecture in Cyprus. (from Cyprus)
Image 53The "Green Line" in Nicosia, Cyprus (from Cyprus problem)
Image 54Opening of Ledra Street in April 2008 (from Cyprus problem)
Image 55Cathedral 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 56
Accession of Cyprus to the European Union in 2004
(from Cyprus problem)
Image 57Khirokitia archeological site. (from History of Cyprus)
Image 58Red-polished ceramics from Enkomi, 1900–1725 BC. St. Barnabas Archaeological Museum, Salamis, Cyprus (from History of Cyprus)
Image 59Base ring vessel of Late Bronze Age (from History of Cyprus)
Image 60Turkish rally in Nicosia in January 1958 (from Cyprus problem)
Image 61A Greek Cypriot demonstration in the 1930s in favour of Enosis (union) with Greece (from Cyprus problem)
Image 62Nikos Christodoulides, President of Cyprus since February 2023 (from Cyprus)
Image 63Laouto, dominant instrument of the Cypriot traditional music (from Cyprus)
Image 64Archaeological site of Khirokitia with early remains of human habitation during the Aceramic Neolithic period (reconstruction) (from Cyprus)
Image 65Cypriot Halloumi (from Cyprus)