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Country : Cyprus Official name: Kypriaki Dimokratia-Kibris Cumhuriyeti (Republic of Cyprus) |
Historical profile
1878 After three centuries of rule, a weakening Ottoman Empire ceded the island to the British in return for security guarantees against possible Russian expansion in the area. The origins of future problems lay in the composition of Cyprus' population – approximately 80 per cent Greek-speaking Christians, 18 per cent Turkish-speaking Muslims and 2 per cent others (Armenian, Latin and Maronite).
1925 Cyprus became a British crown colony.
1955 The Greek Cypriots of the Ethniki Organosis Kipriakou Agonos (Eoka) (National Organisation of Cypriot Combatants) launched a guerrilla war against the British. The Eoka wanted Cyprus to unify with mainland Greece.
1960 Cyprus was granted independence under President Makarios. Independence followed a compromise agreement between Greek and Turkish Cypriots, with Britain retaining sovereignty over two military bases.
1961 Cyprus joined the IMF and World Bank.
1963 The Turkish Cypriot community withdrew from the central government following intercommunal fighting.
1964 A UN peace-keeping force was sent to the island.
1968–74 Talks on constitutional reform were inconclusive, as Turkish Cypriots sought separate municipalities in the five main towns.
1974 President Makarios was toppled by a coup of Eoka elements of the Greek-officered National Guard. In July, Turkey invaded Cyprus. Thirty-seven per cent of the island in the north came under Turkish control.
1975 Northern Cyprus declared the formation of the 'Turkish Federated State of Cyprus', with the aim of eventually gaining independence.
1977–88 Under the presidency of Spyros Kyprianou (following the death of Makarios), a series of UN-sponsored talks with the leader of northern Cyprus, Rauf Denktash, failed. In 1983, northern Cyprus officially declared its independence as the Kuzey Kýbrýs Türk Cumhuriyeti (KKTC) (Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus) and introduced its own government and legal system. The independence move was rejected by the international community and only Turkey recognised it as a state.
1992–93 Additional UN-sponsored talks with Rauf Denktash failed when the UN Security Council rejected Turkish demands for the recognition of separate sovereignty for the KKTC, including a right to secession.
1993 Glafcos Clerides defeated George Vassiliou (president since 1988) in the presidential election.
1994–95 Talks continued between north and south with little progress. The Greek Cypriots and the UN pushed for a federal system, but this was rejected by the KKTC.
1998 Clerides was narrowly re-elected as president. At elections to the 50-member KKTC parliament, the Ulusal Birlik Partisi (UBP) (National Unity Party) retained power in a coalition government with the Topumucu Kurtulus Partisi (TPK) (Communal Liberation Party).
1999 Further peace talks in the US failed to find a solution to Cyprus' division.
2000 Rauf Denktash was elected for a fourth five-year term as the KKTC president.
2001 The parliamentary elections were won by the Communist Anorthotikon Komma Ergazemenou Laou (AKEL) (Progressive Party of the Working People). The leaders of the two Cypriot communities held their first direct talks in four years and agreed to restart peace talks to pave the way for EU membership.
2002 The leaders of the Cypriot communities began reunification talks.
2003 In March, the UN reunification plan collapsed following demands for international recognition of the KKTC. Tassos Papadopoulos won the February presidential elections.
Crossing points between the two zones were temporarily opened in April.
President Papadopoulos signed an agreement with the EU on 16 April, allowing accession in 2004.
On 30 June, the government lifted 20-year-old trade sanctions against the KKTC; this allows farmers in the north to sell produce in the south and export to the EU, and permits Turkish Cypriots to work in the south.
In July, parliament voted unanimously to join the EU.
The Republican Turkish Party won the 14 December KKTC parliamentary elections; Prime Minister Dervis Eroglu resigned on 16 December; on 29 December, President Rauf Denktas asked Mehmet Ali Talat of the Republican Turkish Party to form a government.
2004 On 24 April, Greek Cypriots voted against unification with the north by 76 per cent, while in the north, 65 per cent voted in favour of the proposal. Cyprus joined the EU on 1 May.
The KKTC government of Prime Minister Mehmet Ali Talat resigned on 20 October.
2005 KKTC parliamentary elections were held on 20 February, in which Mehmet Ali Talat's Republican Turkish Party-United Forces was re-elected. On 1 July, Cyprus became the eleventh EU member to ratify the EU constitution.
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