Prehistory of Cyprus:

Alashiya

(Alashiya or Alasiya was an important state during the Middle and Late Bronze Ages and was situated somewhere in the Eastern Mediterranean. It was a major source of goods, especially copper, for Ancient Egypt and other states in the Ancient Near East. It is referred to in a number of the surviving texts and is now thought to be the ancient name of Cyprus, or an area of Cyprus.)

Ancient Cyprus:

Medieval Cyprus:

Modern Cyprus:

1878 – Britain rents the island from the Ottomans
1914 - Cyprus annexed by Britain, after more than 300 years of Ottoman rule.
1923 – Greece and Turkey recognize British sovereignty under Treaty of Lausanne.
1925 – Cyprus becomes a British crown colony.
1931 – Greek Cypriots riot for enosis(union of the island with Greece) with Greece.
1939 – 1945 – World War II, desire for enosis subsides and resumes after the war.
1955 – Greek Cypriots created the National Organisation of Cypriot Combatants (EOKA), in order to achieve enosis. They launch campaigns against the British rule, thus period of emergency ensued.
1958 – Turkish Cypriots created the Turkish Resistance Organization (TMT) to prevent the unification of the island with Greece.
1959 – London – Zurich agreements pave way for Cyprus independence. Archbishop Makarios, a Greek Cypriot religious leader, became the first president.
1960 – Republic of Cyprus was created. The treaties forming the Republic established Greece, Turkey and Britain as the guarantors of Cyprus independence. Britain retains sovereignty over two base areas.
1963 – 1964 – Intercommunal fighting began as a result of Greek Cypriot demands for enosis. UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) was set up to stop the fighting.
1967 – Continued violence leads to major confrontation between Greece and Turkey. US mediation difuses the crisis.
1970 – Makarios claims union with Greece no longer feasible.
1974 - Greece engineers coup on the island, attacking the Greek Cypriots who did not want unification with Greece (at least in the short term), and the Turkish Cypriots. As a guarantor power, Turkey requested they should do something together with the British to stop the killings. Britain called Turkey for talks and after few talks between them, still the killings continued, and Turkey invaded the island and seized the northern third of the island. Turkish Cypriots in the south migrated to the north and the Greek Cypriots in the north migrated to the south.
1975 – The de facto state of Northern Cyprus was proclaimed under the name “Turkish Federated State of Northern Cyprus”.
1983 – Turkish Cypriot community declared itself the independent “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus,” recognized only by Turkey and is isolated with lots of embargoes. Today, the island remains divided into two areas seperated by a UN buffer zone.
2004 – After twin referendums on whether to accept UN reunification plan in last-minute bid to achieve united European Union(EU) entry, the plan was endorsed by the Turkish Cypriots but overwhelmingly rejected by the Greek Cypriots. The EU, although warned Greek Cypriots with the posibility that if they rejected they might not be accepted to the union, accepted the Greek Cypriots to the EU as “ The Republic of Cyprus.”

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