Cyprus has played an important role in the history of the Eastern Mediterranean due to its privileged geographical position.

The island’s prehistory runs as far back as the 8th millennium BC. Subsequent cultural phases developed during the Neolithic (8200-3900 BC), Chalcolithic (3500-2500 BC) and Bronze Age (2500-1050 BC) periods until the end of the 2nd millennium BC.

The most important event in the history of Cyprus is considered to be the arrival of the Achaean settlers at the end of the 12th and during the 11th century BC. The new Greek settlers brought a new vigour to the flourishing culture of the island by establishing new towns and by introducing the Greek language, new techniques in metallurgy, new artistic styles and even religious elements from the Greek world.

In the subsequent Geometric period (1050-700 BC) the Hellenisation of Cyprus was completed and this is, most probably, the period of the establishment or city kingdoms, in the following Archaic (700-530 BC) and Classical periods (530-330 BC). Cyprus was well known to the ancients for its copper mines and forests. The Assyrians, the Egyptians and the Persians occupied the island at various stages of antiquity.

During the 5th century BC Athens played an important role in Cyprus, cooperating with the main cities of the island against the Persians. It was during this time that Evagoras of Salamis rose to power, a figure of worldwide radiance at the time. On the partition of the empire of Alexander the Great, who finally liberated the island from the Persians, Cyprus became one of the most significant parts of the empire of the Ptolemies of Egypt; later it came under the dominion of the Romans in 58 BC.

Both during the Ptolemies and later under the Romans, the Sanctuary of Aphrodite at Paphos was the centre of the national, religious and cultural life of the island. In 330 AD Cyprus became a province of the Byzantine Empire. During the Crusades period, Richard the Lionheart of England, on his way to the Holy Land, conquered the island. Richard passed Cyprus onto the Knights Templar and they, in their turn, to the Lusignans from France, who established a Kingdom on the western feudal model (1192-1489). The last Lusignan queen, Caterina Cornaro, was forced to pass her rights onto the Republic of Venice, which ruled the island until 1571, when it was conquered by the Ottomans.

The Ottoman period lasted until 1878 when the expansionist policy of Russia led the Turks to cede Cyprus to Britain, which promised to help Turkey in the event of an attack by Russia. British rule lasted until August 1960 when, after a four-year liberation struggle, the island became independent and was proclaimed a republic.

The 1960 Constitution of the Cyprus Republic proved unworkable in many of its provisions. In 1963 the President of the Republic proposed some amendments to facilitate the functioning of the state, the Turkish Cypriot community responded with rebellion (December 1964), the Turkish Cypriot Ministers withdrew from the Cabinet and the Turkish Cypriot public servants ceased attending their offices.

On July 15, 1974 a coup was staged in Cyprus by the military junta, then in power in Greece, for the overthrow of the then President of Cyprus, Archbishop Makarios. Turkey used this pretext to launch an invasion, on July 20, 1974. The invasion was carried out in two stages (July 20-22 and August 14-16), and the Turkish troops eventually occupied 37 per cent of the island’s territory.

Nearly two hundred thousand Greek Cypriots, 40 per cent of the total Greek Cypriot population of the time, were forced to leave their homes in the occupied area and became refugees in their own country. The few thousand Greek Cypriots who remained in their homes after the invasion were gradually forced, through harassment, to leave their homes and move to the south. Now, only about six hundred have remained in their homes in the north, mainly in the Karpass area. Hundreds of people were reported missing after the invasion and their fate has still not been ascertained. The island’s rich cultural and religious heritage in the occupied areas has been looted and/or destroyed.

International bodies, such as the UN Security Council, the European Parliament, the Non-Aligned Movement, the Commonwealth and the Council of Europe, have condemned these ongoing violations. Also, despite international condemnation and repeated UN Security Council Resolutions calling for the respect of the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Cyprus, as well as the withdrawal of all foreign troops from its territory, the Cyprus issue remains unresolved. In November 1983, the occupying forces proclaimed the foundation of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus a self-declared state that comprises the occupied northeastern part of the island.

This ‘state’ is recognised only by Turkey, since Northern Cyprus is considered by the international community as occupied territory of the Republic of Cyprus. Several rounds of intercommunal talks between the island’s two main communities (Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots) have not led to any positive development. A referendum on the Annan Plan was held in the Republic of Cyprus and the breakaway ‘Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus’ on 24 April 2004. The two communities were asked whether they approved of the fifth revision of the United Nations General Secretary proposal for reuniting the island. The referendum proposal was approved by 65 per cent of Turkish Cypriots and was rejected by 76 per cent of Greek Cypriots.

Thirty nine years after the invasion of Cyprus, Turkey still maintains an occupation army of 40,000 soldiers on the island, whilst it has colonised the occupied part with over 80,000 settlers from Anatolia.