ABSTRACT
Throughout history Cyprus has been central to conflicts between East and West in the eastern Mediterranean, but it is only comparatively recently that the ugly spectre of ethnic conflict has emerged on the island. From Alexander the Great, Greek culture on the island, derived from the Mycenean Greeks, survived through the Ptolemaic period (325-30 BC) and Roman domination (30 BC-AD 330). With the transfer of half of the Roman Empire to the ancient Byzantium, Cyprus received more sympathetic administrators until the arrival of the Franks. Richard I, the Templars, the Lusignans and the Venetians then held sway over the island until 1571. Following them, the Ottoman Empire (1571-1878) introduced a
new ethnic element to the mixed but mainly Greek population — that of the Turks. These cultures made a lasting impact on the island; more importantly, such a long wave of external domination meant that Cypriots were never able to rule themselves. From the Ottoman period Greek and Turkish communities lived peacefully on the island despite the historical enmity of Greeks and Turks, often combining against the excesses of Ottoman rule, 4 which neglected its affairs for the most part.' In the eighteenth century the Greek Cypriot Archbishop steadily emerged as a powerful figure in Cyprus as were the Orthodox Patriarch and members of the Greek elite in Constantinople (the liberal attitude of the Sultan to the Orthodox Church enabled him to gain some control of the Greek population through it), although this was reversed in the early part of the nineteenth century as a result of the Turkish reaction to the Greek War of Independence. 6
In 1878 the island's administration was ceded to Britain by Turkey, while it still remained formally under Ottoman sovereignty. The announced intention of Prime Minister Disraeli was to use Cyprus as a place d'armes, where forces could be assembled to prop up the failing Ottoman Empire against a possible Russian advance. Cyprus was thus formally linked by the British government with the Russo-Turkish border: if Russia were ever to return its acquisitions there to Turkey, Cyprus would also be returned to Turkey.' In 1921 Russian possessions were in fact returned, but despite this Britain retained control. The significance of Cyprus as a naval base receded within a few years of 1878 when Egypt provided the British Empire with far better facilities.
