Here is Your Essay on Cyprus

The island of Cyprus (area: 3,572 sq. miles or 925 sq. km) and population 760,000) is located in the northeastern corner of the Mediterranean Sea, about 40 miles (60 km) south of Turkey, and 60 miles west of Syria. The coastline is rocky and indented with long sandy beaches. The highest alti­tude of 6,400 feet (c. 2,000 meters) is in the southern interior and the northern coast has a low range leaving a plain area in the middle and along the remaining coast.

The climate is typical Mediterranean with mild rainy winters and hot summers, and an­nual precipitation ranging between 10 inches (25 cm) in dry lowlands to over 40 inches in the highest mountains. Although the Republic of Cyprus was constituted as an independent state in 1960, after years of controversy and civil disorder between the Greek and Turkish populations, two de facto states currently exist on the island: the Republic of Cyprus (ROC), predominantly Greek in charac­ter, occupying the southern two-thirds of the island which is still the internationally recognized de jure government of the en­tire island; and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) proclaimed unilaterally in 1983 on territory secured by the Turkish Cypriot population by the 1974 intervention of Turkey, but the two ethnic communities have failed to establish a single state.

Predominantly Greek in its popula­tion since ancient times, the island has had a sizable Turkish minority ever since Turks conquered it in 1571 under whose control it remained until 1878. At the end of World War II Britain acquired rights to rule over it.

Of the two main ethnic groups, Greeks and Turkish, the Greeks constitute the majority, forming close to eighty per­cent of the population. They are descendants of a mixture of the aboriginal inhabitants and the largely Greek coloniz­ers from ancient times. The Turkish Cypriots are primarily the descendants of the soldiers of the Ottoman army that con­quered the island in 1571 and of later immigrants from Turkey.

In 1960, when Britain gave independence to the island, the Constitution granted the Turkish mi­nority a share of power in the new administration, but the power-sharing ar­rangement broke down soon after, and the Turkish-Greek fighting for the control of the island began that quickly engulfed the country.

The Greek element backed by the strong Greek Orthodox Church, de­manded “eno-sis”, that is, union of the island with Greece. The Turkish minority strongly opposed any move for incorpora­tion within Greece, and pressed for partition of Cyprus into Turkish and Greek sectors. After much civil war and bloodshed, the Turkish minority suc­ceeded in controlling the northern, nearly 40 percent of the island, with the armed in­tervention of the government of Turkey in 1974.

The remaining island became the de facto state of Cyprus (officially “Republic of Cyprus”). In the Civil War most Greeks, living in the northern part, moved to the south, and the Turks of the south­ern part moved to the northern, Turkish sector secured by the Turkish army. In 1983, the Turkish community declared the northern territory as independent Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC).

The two sectors are now more or less eth­nically homogeneous (minorities’ amount to less than 5 percent of the population in the two territories). The Turkish-Greek conflict, however, is far from over. Many of the Turk Cypriots’ desire reintegration, while there are several factions within the Greek community that resent the strong influence of Greece within the Republic of Cyprus.

The economic effects of partitioning of the island have been disastrous for the North, the TRNC. Before partition, the is­land had achieved a standard of living higher than most of its neighbors, with the exception of Israel. Based primarily on ag­riculture and trade, and assisted substantially by the various agencies of the United Nations, the free market economy had made notable progress.

Between 1960 and 1973 the domestic product grew at an annual rate of over 7 percent. Agricultural production nearly doubled and industrial production rose nearly three times. The civil war in 1973 and the Turkish occupa­tion of the northern section dealt a serious blow to economic progress of the island. Particularly hit was the Turkish-occupied sector, from where nearly 20,000 Greek Cypriots, mostly farmers, entrepreneurs, and skilled workers, moved to the south as refugees.

A much smaller return flow of Turkish Cypriots to the north was grossly inadequate to compensate for the loss of the Greek Cypriots. Following the un­equal transfer of people, the Turkish- occupied area of the north, which enjoyed a flourishing economy before partition, stagnated.

Trade between the two sectors ceased and their economies became almost entirely independent. By contrast, the southern Greek-occupied territory (Re­public of Cyprus) continued to prosper with economic aid from Greece, the United States, and the various agencies of the United Nations. Particular gains were made in tourist-related businesses, ship­ping, transit trades, international banking and insurance, and miscellaneous light in­dustries.

The Republic of Cyprus, capitalizing on its excellent location in the Mediterranean and a duty-free zone, has made a remarkable recovery since 1974. Most of the refugees have been settled. Economic prosperity is reflected in the per capita income of about $16,550 that is probably three times that of the economi­cally depressed north.