ABSTRACT
The outbreak of the First World War was hardly felt in Cyprus. High Commissioner Sir Hamilton Goold-Adams continued to govern the island from his summer headquarters at Mount Troodos instead of rushing back to Nicosia. However, a few months later, especially after Turkey’s entry into the war on 5 November 1914, things became more complicated. Although under British administration since 1878, the island nevertheless remained part of the decaying Ottoman Empire with which Britain was now at war. With the Cyprus Convention of 1878, Great Britain was engaged to join Turkey in defending the provinces of Batum, Ardahan and Kars should those be retained by Russia, and in return was assigned the occupation and administration of Cyprus.1 Given the circumstances that now pertained, however, Cyprus could not remain under Ottoman suzerainty. The island’s proximity to the Middle East placed it on the front line and enhanced its strategic value as a wartime refuelling station, so its status had to be clarified (Morgan, 2010, p. 70). On 5 November, three months following the declaration of war on Germany, Britain unilaterally annexed Cyprus, stating that ‘by reason of the outbreak of war between His Majesty and His Imperial Majesty the Sultan, the Cyprus Convention was invalid’.2
