ABSTRACT
An appreciation of the communal politics in Cyprus is necessary in order to evaluate the relative importance of local and external forces in the development of the Cyprus dispute. The event with the greatest consequence for both communities was the Greek War of Independence. Before analysing the interests and involvement of Greece and Turkey during the various stages of the island's discord, it will be useful to examine the conflict at another level of paramount importance: that of the Greek and Tuikish-Cypriot communities In spite of the post-war improvements in Greek-Turkish relations, Turkish leaders' strategic concerns vis-a-vis Greece remained. The replacement of Ottoman with British rule in 1878 encouraged those Greek-Cypriots who looked to Greece as the motherland. In the aftermath of the Lausanne Treaty of 1923, Greece and Turkey sought to develop close relations with Britain. A Pan-Hellenic Committee for the Cyprus Struggle formed under the chairmanship of the Archbishop of Greece.
