ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the international context and illustrates the interplay of events in Cyprus with those that were taking place at the same time in the former Ottoman space and the eastern Mediterranean. It draws on international events that were taking place during the period in question and focuses on the gradual change in the geostrategic importance of Cyprus, which had a direct impact on colonial rule and the administration's policies on the island. The chapter argues that after the First World War, Cyprus' geostrategic significance transformed the British strategy on Cyprus from a colonial to an imperial one. The strategic importance of the island is also indicated in the project for establishing a British university in the eastern Mediterranean. The chapter explores the way British perceptions of Italian imperial aspirations had an impact on British calculations of the geostrategic importance of Cyprus. As in Cyprus, Britain was keeping an eye on the development of a communist movement in Turkey.
