Editing Cyprus (section)

===British Cyprus===
{{Main|British Cyprus|Modern history of Cyprus|Cyprus Emergency}}
[[File:Hosting the British flag at Nicosia.jpg|thumb|upright|Hoisting the British flag at Nicosia]]

In the aftermath of the [[Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878)]] and the [[Congress of Berlin]], Cyprus was [[Cyprus Convention|leased]] to the [[British Empire]] which de facto took over its administration in 1878 (though, in terms of sovereignty, Cyprus remained a ''[[de jure]]'' Ottoman territory until 5 November 1914, together with [[Khedivate of Egypt|Egypt and Sudan]])<ref name="Lausanne"/> in exchange for guarantees that Britain would use the island as a base to protect the Ottoman Empire against possible Russian aggression.<ref name="lcweb2.loc.gov" />

[[File:Cypriot demonstration 1930.jpg|thumb|[[Greek Cypriots|Greek Cypriot]] demonstrations for [[Enosis]] (union with Greece) in 1930]]
The island would serve Britain as a key military base for its colonial routes. By 1906, when the Famagusta harbour was completed, Cyprus was a strategic naval outpost overlooking the [[Suez Canal]], the crucial main route to India which was then Britain's most important overseas possession. Following the outbreak of the [[First World War]] and the decision of the Ottoman Empire to join the war on the side of the [[Central Powers]], on 5 November 1914 the British Empire formally annexed Cyprus and declared the Ottoman ''[[Khedive|Khedivate]]'' of [[Khedivate of Egypt|Egypt and Sudan]] a [[Sultanate of Egypt|''Sultanate'' and British protectorate]].<ref name="Lausanne"/><ref name="lcweb2.loc.gov"/>

In October 1915, Britain offered Cyprus to Greece, ruled by King [[Constantine I of Greece]], on the condition that Greece join the war on the side of the British and went to [[Kingdom of Serbia|Serbia]]’s assistance, in order to fulfill her Treaty obligations under the [[Greek–Serbian Alliance of 1913|Serbo-Greek pact]] of May 1913.<ref name=Stavridis>Stavridis, Stavros Terry (31 July 1993),
''Greek-Cypriot Enosis of October 1915: “A Lost Opportunity?”''. [[La Trobe University]]. p. 289. Retrieved 5 August 2024.</ref> It gave Greece a golden 
“opportunity” in achieving ''[[enosis]]'' with Cyprus.<ref name=Stavridis/> Alternatively it was a
“lost opportunity” when the [[Alexandros Zaimis|Zaimis]] administration declined the British proposal.<ref name=Stavridis/>

In 1923, under the [[Treaty of Lausanne (1923)|Treaty of Lausanne]], the nascent Turkish republic relinquished any claim to Cyprus,<ref>{{cite journal |last=Xypolia |first=Ilia |title='Cypriot Muslims among Ottomans, Turks and British |journal=Bogazici Journal |year=2011 |volume=25 |issue=2 |pages=109–120 |doi=10.21773/boun.25.2.6 |doi-access=free| issn = 1300-9583}}</ref> and in 1925 it was declared a British [[crown colony]].<ref name="lcweb2.loc.gov" /> During the [[Second World War]], many Greek and Turkish Cypriots enlisted in the [[Cyprus Regiment]].

The Greek Cypriot population, meanwhile, had become hopeful that the British administration would lead to ''enosis''. The idea of ''enosis'' was historically part of the ''[[Megali Idea]]'', a greater political ambition of a Greek state encompassing the territories with large Greek populations in the former Ottoman Empire, including Cyprus and [[Asia Minor]] with a capital in [[Constantinople]], and was actively pursued by the [[Cypriot Orthodox Church]], which had its members educated in Greece. These religious officials, together with Greek military officers and professionals, some of whom still pursued the ''Megali Idea'', would later found the guerrilla organisation [[EOKA]] ''(Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston'' or National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ker-Lindsay |first1=James |title=The Cyprus Problem: What Everyone Needs to Know |date=2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-975716-9 |pages=14–5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xTL382g5sWwC |quote=They hoped that the transfer of administration would pave the way for the island to be united with Greece—an aspiration known as 'enosis.' At the time, these calls for enosis were not just limited to Cyprus. Instead, Cyprus was part of a wider political movement&nbsp;... This overarching political ambition was known as the Megali Idea (Great Idea).}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Lange |first1=Matthew |title=Educations in Ethnic Violence: Identity, Educational Bubbles, and Resource Mobilization |date=2011 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-139-50544-4 |page=88 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ac2NRpHoY3EC}}</ref> The Greek Cypriots viewed the island as historically Greek and believed that union with Greece was a natural right.<ref name="Diez 2002" /> In the 1950s, the pursuit of ''enosis'' became a part of the Greek national policy.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Huth |first1=Paul |title=Standing Your Ground: Territorial Disputes and International Conflict |date=2009 |publisher=University of Michigan Press |isbn=978-0-472-02204-5 |page=206 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NIAc-R5fgQoC |quote=From early 1950s onward Greece has favored union with Cyprus through a policy of enosis}}</ref>

[[File:Street riot in Nicosia 1956.jpg|thumb|A British soldier facing a crowd of Greek Cypriot demonstrators in Nicosia (1956)]]

Initially, the Turkish Cypriots favoured the continuation of the British rule.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Papadakis |first1=Yiannis |last2=Peristianis |first2=Nicos |last3=Welz |first3=Gisela |title=Divided Cyprus: Modernity, History, and an Island in Conflict |date=18 July 2006 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0-253-11191-3 |page=2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wzPG7b_m4swC&pg=PA2}}</ref> However, they were alarmed by the Greek Cypriot calls for ''enosis'', as they saw the union of [[Cretan State|Crete]] with Greece, which led to the exodus of [[Cretan Turks]], as a precedent to be avoided,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Isachenko |first1=Daria |title=The Making of Informal States: Statebuilding in Northern Cyprus and Transdniestria |date=2012 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-0-230-39207-6 |page=37 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FQeVnXmjBzYC&pg=PA37}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Pericleous |first1=Chrysostomos |title=Cyprus Referendum: A Divided Island and the Challenge of the Annan Plan |date=2009 |publisher=I.B. Tauris |isbn=978-0-85771-193-9 |pages=135–6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PHQAAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA135}}</ref> and they took a pro-partition stance in response to the militant activity of EOKA.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mirbagheri |first1=Farid |title=Historical Dictionary of Cyprus |date=2009 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-0-8108-6298-2 |page=xiv|quote=Greek Cypriots engaged in a military campaign for enosis, union with Greece. Turkish Cypriots, in response, expressed their desire for taksim, partition of the island.}}</ref> The Turkish Cypriots also viewed themselves as a distinct ethnic group of the island and believed in their having a separate right to [[self-determination]] from Greek Cypriots.<ref name="Diez 2002">{{cite book |last1=Diez |first1=Thomas |title=The European Union and the Cyprus Conflict: Modern Conflict, Postmodern Union |date=2002 |publisher=Manchester University Press |isbn=978-0-7190-6079-3 |page=83 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A4QTUWBEC2kC&pg=PA83}}</ref> Meanwhile, in the 1950s, Turkish leader [[Adnan Menderes|Menderes]] considered Cyprus an "extension of Anatolia", rejected the partition of Cyprus along ethnic lines and favoured the annexation of the whole island to Turkey. Nationalistic slogans centred on the idea that "Cyprus is Turkish" and the ruling party declared Cyprus to be a part of the Turkish homeland that was vital to its security. Upon realising that the fact that the Turkish Cypriot population was only 20% of the islanders made annexation unfeasible, the national policy was changed to favour partition. The slogan "Partition or Death" was frequently used in Turkish Cypriot and Turkish protests starting in the late 1950s and continuing throughout the 1960s. Although after the Zürich and London conferences Turkey seemed to accept the existence of the Cypriot state and to distance itself from its policy of favouring the partition of the island, the goal of the Turkish and Turkish Cypriot leaders remained that of creating an independent Turkish state in the northern part of the island.<ref>{{cite book |author=Behlul (Behlul) Ozkan (Ozkan) |title=From the Abode of Islam to the Turkish Vatan: The Making of a National Homeland in Turkey |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kCArlsRcHUMC&pg=PA199 |date=26 June 2012 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-18351-1 |page=199 |quote=In line with the nationalist rhetoric that "Cyprus is Turkish", Menderes predicated his declaration upon the geographic proximity between Cyprus and Anatolia, thereby defining "Cyprus as an extension of Anatolia". It was striking that Menderes rejected partitioning the island into two ethnic states, a position that would define Turkey's foreign policy regarding Cyprus after 1957|access-date=20 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150915212612/https://books.google.com/books?id=kCArlsRcHUMC&pg=PA199 |archive-date=15 September 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Bellingeri 2005">{{cite book |author1=G. Bellingeri |author2=T. Kappler |title=Cipro oggi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pUcSji-f1zYC&pg=PA27 |year=2005 |publisher=Casa editrice il Ponte |isbn=978-88-89465-07-3 |pages=27–29 |quote=The educational and political mobilisation between 1948–1958, aiming at raising Turkish national consciousness, resulted in the involving Turkey as motherland in the Cyprus Question. From then on, Turkey, would work hand in hand with the Turkish Cypriot leadership and the British government to oppose the Greek Cypriot demand for Enosis and realise the partition of Cyprus, which meanwhile became the national policy. |access-date=20 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150911010743/https://books.google.com/books?id=pUcSji-f1zYC&pg=PA27 |archive-date=11 September 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref>

In January 1950, the Church of Cyprus organised a [[Cypriot enosis referendum, 1950|referendum]] under the supervision of clerics and with no Turkish Cypriot participation,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Grob-Fitzgibbon |first1=Benjamin |title=Imperial Endgame: Britain's Dirty Wars and the End of Empire |date=2011 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-0-230-30038-5 |page=285}}</ref> where 96% of the participating Greek Cypriots voted in favour of ''enosis''.<ref>{{cite book|author=Dale C. Tatum |title=Who Influenced Whom?: Lessons from the Cold War |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=70NxlYekQIgC&pg=PA43 |access-date=21 August 2013 |date=1 January 2002 |publisher=University Press of America |isbn=978-0-7618-2444-2 |page=43 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131012220734/http://books.google.com/books?id=70NxlYekQIgC&pg=PA43 |archive-date=12 October 2013 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Kourvetaris, George A. |title=Studies on modern Greek society and politics |publisher=East European Monographs |year=1999 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bE5oAAAAMAAJ&q=90%25 |page=347 |isbn=978-0-88033-432-7 |access-date=10 November 2020 |archive-date=17 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240517125913/https://books.google.com/books?id=bE5oAAAAMAAJ&q=90%25 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Hoffmeister 2006" />{{rp|9}} The Greeks were 80.2% of the total island's population at the time ([[Demographics of Cyprus|census 1946]]). Restricted autonomy under a constitution was proposed by the British administration but eventually rejected. In 1955 the EOKA organisation was founded, seeking union with Greece through armed struggle. At the same time the [[Turkish Resistance Organisation]] (TMT), calling for Taksim, or partition, was established by the Turkish Cypriots as a counterweight.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cyprus-conflict.net/www.cyprus-conflict.net/mavratsas.html |title=Politics, Social Memory, and Identity in Greek Cyprus since 1974 |author=Caesar V. Mavratsas |publisher=cyprus-conflict.net |access-date=13 October 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080605233259/http://www.cyprus-conflict.net/www.cyprus-conflict.net/mavratsas.html |archive-date=5 June 2008}}</ref> British officials also tolerated the creation of the Turkish underground organisation TMT The Secretary of State for the Colonies in a letter dated 15 July 1958 had advised the Governor of Cyprus not to act against TMT despite its illegal actions so as not to harm British relations with the Turkish government.<ref name="Bellingeri 2005" />