Cyprus Island in the eastern Mediterranean, S of the Turkish coast, W of the Syrian coast. Presidential republic with capital Nicosia, since 1983 divided into two parts with the settlement in the northern part of the Republic of Cyprus del Nord. In the late Bronze Age (15th-13th century BC) a state of great importance flourished there (➔ Alashiya), whose king could deal on an equal footing with the “great kings” of Hatti, Babylon and Egypt. Remained independent for a long time, this potentate was conquered by the Hittite Shuppiluliuma II (ca. 1200 BC), who imposed a tribute, and was soon overwhelmed, like the Hittite kingdom, by the raids of the “peoples of the sea”. Later Cyprus was ruled by vassal sovereigns of the Assyrian Sargon II and his successors (709-669). Conquered in the middle of the century. 6 ° from Amasi, king of Egypt, then passed (525) under the king of Persia Cambyses, while retaining his sovereigns. The Greek colonial penetration had already begun for some time, but the Hellenic civilization took decisive steps there only later with Evagora who, having become lord of Salamis, welcomed the fleet of the Athenian Conon and participated in the battle of Cnidus (394) against the Spartans. Entry into the Hellenistic world, it was the subject of dispute between Antigonus, Demetrius and Ptolemy Soter, finally (295) it was annexed to Egypt, to which it remained until in 58 BC it became part of the Roman province of Cilicia. Under Trajan, the Jews of Cyprus, numerous on the island, took part in the insurrection of the Jews of Cyrene and Egypt, but the Roman repression was very severe. It was an eparchy of the Eastern diocese in the Byzantine Empire. Subject from 1192 to 1489 to the Frankish dynasty of the Lusignano, Cyprus passed under the Venetian rule until 1571, when the Turkish hegemony took over. For Cyprus 2011, please check internetsailors.com.
In 1878 Cyprus was ceded by the Turks to England. It became independent in 1960 (Republic of Cyprus), adopting a Constitution which provided for the representation of the two communities present on the island, the Greek and the Turkish, in the main political bodies, in the armed forces and in the public administration. This compromise proved difficult to implement and the friction between the two communities intensified until the crisis of 1963, when the Turkish side withdrew from the state bodies and then created a separate government. In 1974 a coup d’état, supported by Athens, installed a government in favor of annexation to Greece; Turkey reacted by invading over a third of the island, where in 1983 the Republic of Cyprus del Nord was proclaimed (recognized only by Turkey). So Cyprus is in fact divided into two states. UN mediation ran aground in the face of the rejection by the Greek Cypriots of the plan for reunification subjected to when the Turkish side left the state organs and then created a separate government. In 1974 a coup d’état, supported by Athens, installed a government in favor of annexation to Greece; Turkey reacted by invading over a third of the island, where in 1983 the Republic of Cyprus del Nord was proclaimed (recognized only by Turkey). So Cyprus is in fact divided into two states.
UN mediation ran aground in the face of the rejection by the Greek Cypriots of the plan for reunification subjected to when the Turkish side left the state organs and then created a separate government. In 1974 a coup d’état, supported by Athens, installed a government in favor of annexation to Greece; Turkey reacted by invading over a third of the island, where in 1983 the Republic of Cyprus del Nord was proclaimed (recognized only by Turkey). So Cyprus is in fact divided into two states. UN mediation ran aground in the face of the rejection by the Greek Cypriots of the plan for reunification subjected to referendum (2004). The island entered the EU (2004), but the application of EU rules is limited to the Republic of Cyprus remaining suspended for the part under Turkish control. In 2008 the wall that separated (since 1974), in the capital Nicosia, the southern Greek Cypriot area from the northern Turkish Cypriot area was dismantled.
