Publications

PREFACE

In this second edition of this book another Part was added, Part XII, dealing with the evolution of the Cyprus intercommunal talks. To the already existing Appendices nine more were added, setting-out the various proposals made for the solution of the Cyprus problem and certain statements and observations in connection therewith.

The intercommunal talks which were recessed in June 1979 was not found possible to be reactivated until the time when these lines are being written in spite of the resolutions of the General Assembly and the Security Council of the United Nations in this respect and the persistent efforts of the Secretary-General Dr. Waldheim in this direction. lt is hoped that wiser thoughts will prevail and that the intercommunal talks will be resumed in an effort to give a fair and viable solution to the Cyprus problem and relieve its most suffering people from all its afflictions.

Nicosia, 2nd of April, 1980.

CRITON G. TORNARITIS

ABBREVIATIONS

IA.C. Appeal Cases
A.J.I.L. American Journal International Law
B.Y.I.L. British Yearbook International Law
C.L.R. Cyprus Law Reports
K.B. Kings Bench
P.C.I.J. Publications of the Permanent Court of International Justice
Q.B. Queens Bench
R.I.A.A. Reports of International Arbitral Awards
R.S.C.C. Reports of the Supreme Constitutional Court
S.I. Statutory Instrument
S.R.O. Rev. 1904 Statutory Rules and Orders Revised 1904 (2nd edition)
S.R.O. Rev. 1948 Statutory Rules and Orders Revised 1948 (3rd edition)

SHORT GEOGRAPHICAL, GEOLOGICAL,
DEMOGRAPHIC AND HISTORICAL SURVEY

Cyprus, the third largest island, after Sicily and Sardinia, in the Mediterranean, lies at its eastern basin between lat. 300. 34′ and 350. 42′N. and long. 32o.16′ and 34o.6E. at the cross-road of routes from east to west and from north to south. Its greatest length from the coast of Paphos in the west to the Cape St. Andreas in the east is about 150 miles, its greatest breadth from Cape Kormakitis in the north to Cape Gata in the south is 60 miles and its whole area is 3,572 square miles (9,251 square kilometres) and is similar in size to that of Lebanon or of Norfolk and Suffolk combined in the United Kingdom or of Puerto Rico.

Cyprus is in close proximity to three continents.

The distances from the neighboring countries are 43 miles from Cape Anamur in Asia Minor to Cape Kormakitis, on the north of Cyprus, 76 miles from Cape St. Andreas in the east to Syria, 255 miles from Port Said to Limassol and 270 miles from Cape Akamas in the west to Rhodes.
Its shape has been described as oblong and parallel to the equator, like that of Crete, being the opposite of Rhodes, which is almost upright and vertical to the equators whilst another description represents Cyprus as having the shape of a wheel-barrow being pushed along, seen from the side. Its handles are represented by the long Karpass peninsula and the wheels by the Akrotiri peninsula.

The shape of Cyprus is determined by two parallel mountain ranges stretching from the west to the east. The northern range, the Kyrenia or Pendadaktylos range, with its very impressive jagged outline runs at a distance of a few miles from the coast for about sixty miles from above Vassilia-Lapithos on the west to Kantara castle on the east wherefrom it falls away along the Karpass peninsula, its highest peak being about 3,357 ft. at Kyparissovouno. The other range is that of Troodos to the south, the massif of which consists of very old rock its highest point, Chionistra, having a height of 6,403 ft. These mountains are mostly covered with forest trees mainly of the Aleppo pine and black pine and a variety of bushes. In the spring wild flowers of a variety of colors render the scenery more beautiful.

Between these two ranges lies the Messaoria plain (that is to say between the mountains) which has a breadth of 12 to 15 miles and extends from Morphou Bay, in the west, to the Famagusta Bay, in the east. The Messaoria plain is very fertile producing in most seasons fine crops of grain. But its cultivation depends almost entirely on the rainfall which usually occurs between the months of October and March but in years of drought the plain appears very arid.

Apart from those two mountain ranges there exist also an isolated mountain far to the east, the Stavrovouni, having a height of 2,258 feet from which on clear days Lebanon may be discernible.

From a geological point of view Cyprus is comparatively young dating back to about 150 million years. The oldest rocks are attributed to the Cretaceous of early Eocene period. They probably underlie the whole island. The Troodos mountain-range consists of igneous rocks (mainly plutonic, dyke and volcanic rocks) on top of which there is series of sedimentary rocks ranging from the Upper Cretaceous to the Pleistocene period. Regarding the Kyrenia range on the other hand its core consists mainly of highly tectonised metamorphosed limestones and dolomite forming blocks on top of the other.

It is considered that the structures found in the northern Cypriot range are typical of the Alpine orogenic movements. The conclusion, therefore, of Professor Alagoz that “1′île de Chypre, est physiquement dependante de la Turquie” owing to the similarity of the structure of the Taurus mountain in Asia Minor with the northern range of mountains in Cyprus does not seem to be well founded as it appears that such range is the most external part of the external zones of the Hellenic Alps which extend from New Yugoslavia, western Albania, western Greece, Peloponnesos Crete, Rhodes, Taurus and Amanus.

lt appear that geologically the island of Cyprus has been formed by the joining together of two small islands that of Troodos massif which appeared about 100 million years ago with that of Kyrenia which emerged later about 11 million years ago. These two islands became joined as the uplift continued thus forming the Messaoria plain.

Iron and copper pyrites are the principal minerals but there exist also chrome and asbestos as colored earth (terra-umbra).

The climate of Cyprus is mild in winter with plenty of sunshine and hot in the summer down in the plains though cool on the hills at about 40-50 miles away from the main towns. Its beautiful and variates scenery coupled with the temperance of its climate renders the island an ideal holiday centre and attracts great number of tourists all the year round, for whom now all modern. facilities are provided.

Cyprus is mainly an agricultural country and its wine and citrus fruit are exported to various countries. Its wine has been famous since ancient times and according to one version it was one of the reasons which contributed to the Turkish occupation of the island by Sultan Selim Il in 1571. Among the other goods exported from Cyprus are other agricultural products, such as fresh grapes, potatoes, carrots and other fresh vegetables, carobs (including kibbled carobs) and various minerals and of late various industrial products.

Cyprus is predominantly inhabited by Greeks, who own the greatest extent of land and bear the greater part of expenditure.

According to the last census of 1960 the population of Cyprus was 573,566, out of whom 441,656 were Greeks, I04,942 were Turks and 26,968 of other races. Thus the percentage was 77.0 % Greeks, 18.3 % Turks and 4.7 % other races.
Statistical calculations, however, made in 1975 show that the population of Cyprus has increased to 638,900 out of whom 492,000 are Greeks but the aforementioned percentages do not appear to be materially affected.
The inhabitants were, until the compulsory removal of the Turkish-Cypriots to the part occupied by the Turkish troops on the north, spread over the island intermingled in the various towns and villages and, with the exception of the purely Turkish enclaves artificially voluntarily and temporarily created after the intercommunal troubles in 1963, there were very few purely Turkish villages.
The land owing by area in 1957 (excluding Government land, roads, forests etc.), was 80.6 % by Greeks, 16.6 % by Turks and 2.8 % by others and as far as assessed value of such immovable property is concerned 86.5% by Greeks,13.1 % by Turks and 0.4% by Maronites.
The contribution to public expenditure in the form of direct taxation in respect of the year 1962 was 91.9 % by Greeks and 8.1 % by Turks.
The history of Cyprus begins with the Neolithic times going back to the 6th millennium.
There is no concrete evidence about the first settlers of the Neolithic period. One view is in favor of a distinct group not related to any neighboring region whilst another view suggests that the early settlers came from the Balkans, especially from Thessalia and Macedonia with another group from Cilicia.

It is not also clear to what extent Cyprus was connected commercially or otherwise with the culture of other neighboring countries during this period and it may be simply argued that the Neolithic culture which lasted 3,500 years was developed locally with little influence from abroad.
With the discovery of copper in Cyprus early in the third millennium B.e. the history of Cyprus enters into a new period the Bronze period 2500-1500 B.C.
During that period human settlements began to spread to the interior of the island and there was a change in the composition of the population by the arrival of foreigners from neighboring countries of Aryan race. Commercial and other relations with neighboring countries were maintained during the period.

The most important event during that period was the arrival of Achaean-Mycenaeans around the middle of the second millennium and the Achaean civilization which earlier was ftourishing in Crete now was introduced into Cyprus. The extent of the Mycenaean influence was been shown by the archaeological findings since the last century-tombs, vases and other remains as well as the recent excavation of a complete Mycenaean city in eastern Cyprus.

Before the end of the second millennium more Greek colonists arrived to live in Cyprus while others settled on the east and west of Asia Minor. Homer speaks of Cinyras, the King of Paphos, who gave Agamemnon, the Commader-in-Chief of the Greek forces against Troy, a decorated suit of armor and king Cinyras is praised by the Greek poet Tyrtaeous (seventh century s.c.) and Pindar (fifth century s.c.). Legends existed for the foundation of cities in Cyprus by the Greek heroes of the Trojan war such as Salamis by Teucer, brother of Ajax, Paphos by Agapenor from Arcadia, Idalium by Chalcanor, Lapithos by Praxandros of Laconia, Chytri (the present day Kythrea) by Chytrus, Aepeia, near Soli by Demophon and others.
The Greek colonization was very extensive and this is supported by Herodotus who says that the inhabitants of Cyprus had come from Athens, Argos, Arcadia, Salamis, etc. Even Kition, traditionally a Phoenician city, became Mycenaean. Besides the Greeks Phoenicians from Syria also came to Cyprus not earlier than 1000 s.c. and settled in the coasts particularly in Kition and Lapithos.
But as Professor Gjerstad points out, there exists a fundamental difference between the Greek and the Phoenician settlements in that the former were the result of mass migration aimed at political occupation and cultural penetration whilst the latter were of a strictly commercial character.
The Greek colonists brought with them not only the Greek civilization, culture and way of living but also the Greek political ideas and manner of administration. The Phoenicians settlers on the other hand were not numerous and their influence was negligible.
With the establishment of the Achaeans in Cyprus the composition of the population was changed and the autochthonous inhabitants, the Eteocyprians, though survived until. the Hellenistic period, especially in certain places such as Amathus, were in the minority and accepted the Greek civilization and culture.
The change in the life and character of Cypriots was rapid and was not limited to the coastal areas only but it spread to all regions of the island and the bonds with Greece were becoming closer and closer so as to be said that Cyprus became a Greek island.
A new era of wealth and prosperity began and the commercial and other relations of Cyprus with the neighboring countries were increased.
On the model of the Greek city-state and following the Mycenaean system of government many kingdoms have been established and maintained in Cyprus since the first millennium having replaced the previous system of one king reigning over the whole island. Diodoros Siceliotis, the historian, refers to nine such kingdoms in the middle of the fourth century B.C.
The Cyprus kings following the Mycenaean precedent, were at the same time high priests, judges and generals and the institution of Kingship was hereditary.
Gradually the institution of the assembly of the people, the ecclesia, was developed to which the king was referring matters of administration for consideration.
The Kings of Cyprus retained their internal autonomy during the Assyrian conquest of Cyprus about the eighth century B.C. and under the Egyptians and the Persians from the sixth century to the end of the fourth B.C. even after the heroic but unsuccessful revolt under king Onesilus in the fifth century s.c. who tried to unite the Cypriots against the Persian domination.
Next important king who united the cities of Cyprus under the leadership of Salamis was its king Evagoras the First. Evagoras carried a ten years war against the Persian yoke and during this struggle he was greatly assisted by the Athenians who made him a citizen of Athens. But when after the Treaty of Antalkidas in 368 s.c. had to carry on alone, in spite of some temporary successes such as the capture of Tyre in Phoenicia in 382 s.c., was forced to yield and acknowledged by a treaty which he signed as king to king the Great King of Persia as overlord. Evagoras is the most important statesman in the history of Cyprus who not only maintained and spread the Greek culture throughout Cyprus but transmitted it to the neighboring countries.
The kings of Cyprus retained their sovereignty over their own cities during the time of Alexander the Great. When after his death in 323 s.c. a dispute arose over, the possession of Cyprus between his successors Ptolemy and Antigonus, the kings of Cyprus were divided, some of them supporting the former whilst others were assisting the latter, but eventually Cyprus came under Ptolemy who shortly afterwards was proclaimed as king Ptolemy I.
Cyprus remained under Ptolemies for two and half centuries and during that time achieved a great degree of culture and prosperity. The cities preserved a certain degree of autonomy.
During this period the institution of the ” Koinon ” (confederations of the cities of Cyprus-us was introduced the predecessor- of the Koinon Iater developed under the Roman emperors which played an important role in the religious and political. life of the island.
Cyprus was occupied by Rome in 58 s.c., as Greece had been occupied earlier, and became part of the province of Cilicia governed by a proconsul. Among the early proconsuls was the famous orator Cicero, who showed great sympathy to the people of Cyprus. Under August Cyprus became an imperial province and then in 22 s.c. a senatorial province governed by a proconsul. Paphos constituted to be the capital of Cyprus and developed greatly as a result of its trade with neighboring countries. Cyprus under the Romans preserved its Greek character.

The introduction of Christianity to Cyprus was the most important event during the early period of the Roman rule. On his first missionary journey it 45 A.D. Paul accompanied by Barnabas, a Cypriot, and Mark landed at Salamis and preached there the new religion to the Jewish synagogue. After this they crossed Cyprus preaching the new religion and reached Paphos, the capital, where the most sensational event occurred, the conversion to Christianity of the proconsul Sergius Paulus, whereupon Saul was renamed Paul. For the first time a Roman noble occupying an important public position accepted the new religion. The spreading of Christianity, however, was not an easy task as the Greek pagans and the Jews, who had been settled since the time of Ptolemy I, were attached to their old religion. The conversion to Christianity was completed by the beginning of the fifth century through the great ecclesiastical figures of the time, St. Barnabas, Heracledius, Mnason, Lazarus, Spyridon of Tremithus, Trifillios of Ledra, Philon of Karpasia, Tychon of Amathus and Epiphanios of Constantia.

On the laying of the foundations of the Byzantine empire in 330 A.D. Cyprus became a province of the Orient under the Comes Orientis, whose seat was at Antioch. Cyprus received. special attention and protection from the emperors of Byzantium and the mother of Constantine the Great, St. Helena, visited Cyprus and established christian churches including the monastery of Stavrovouni where according to tradition she left pieces of the cross upon which Christ was crucified.

When Cyprus was politically attached to Antioch an attempt was made by its Patriarch to put the Church of Cyprus under his control but this was successfully resisted by the Cypriot bishops at the Third Oecumenical Synod at Ephesus in 431 A.D. New claims were raised later by the Church of Antioch but when Archbishop Anthemios presented Emperor Zeno (498 A.D.) with a copy of St. Matthew’s Gospel, which was found in the tomb of St. Barnabas and was believed to have been placed there by St. Mark, the Emperor, recognized the autocephaly of the Church of Cyprus and conferred on its Archbishop the imperial privileges: to hold a scepter instead of a pastoral staff, to wear a purple mantle and to sign in red ink. A final resolution settling the question of the autocephaly of the Greek -Orthodox Church of Cyprus was taken by the Quini-Sext or Trullan Oecumenical Synod at Constantinople in 692 A.D.
When Cyprus was a byzantine province, the Arabs, who had accepted the new religion of Islam, raided at intervals Cyprus from the seventh to the tenth centuries and caused great destruction.

But the Arabs never made an organized attempt to occupy Cyprus and their activities.. were limited to looting and taking prisoners.

The last episode in the history of Cyprus as a province of the Byzantine empire occurred at the time of Isaac Comnenos, who usurped by deceit the office of ruler of Cyprus (1184 A.D.). The king of England Richard Coeur de Lion was on his way to the Holy Land as one of the leaders of the Third Crusade, but his fleet was scattered by a storm and the ship carrying his fiance Berengaria and his sister Joanna, Queen of Sicily, was forced to take refuge in the bay of Limassol. Isaac tried to entice the two women to land in order to hold them for ransom but Richard arrived in time and eventually expelled Isaac Comnenos from his office.

The period of the Byzantine rule in Cyprus came thus to an end.

Throughout the Byzantine period the Greek character of Cyprus was preserved in all its manifestations.

The rule of Richard Coeur de Lion lasted very shortly. He sold Cyprus to the Order of the Knight Templars against payment of 40,000 gold besants. But the Knight Templars, facing the resistance of the Cypriots, asked Richard Coeur de Lion to return the money and take back Cyprus. Richard was too pleased to sell Cyprus to Guy de Lusignan, King of Jerusalem, for 100,000 besants thus making a profit of 60,000 besants after returning the 40,000 to the Knight Templars.

Cyprus became then a Frankish Kingdom. The Lusignans ruled Cyprus for about three hundred years (1192-1489) on the feudal system, all privileges belonging to the nobles whilst the people was oppressed without any participation in the administration of their own country. The history of Cyprus under the Lusignan rule is essentially the history of the royal court in Cyprus and not a history of the people of Cyprus.

The system of administration was foreign to the Greek population of Cyprus and all political power was vested and exercised by the ruling class of Franks.
The legislation during the Lusignan period was the one contained in the Assizes of Cyprus, written in the then spoken Cypriot language, which was based on the Assizes of Jerusalem and contained the feudal law though the influence of Byzantine and Greek law is manifest.

During the Frankish period the Greek Orthodox Church was in a state of persecution as the Latin Church was trying to subjugate it.
In the dynasty of Lusignans there were rulers such as Hugh Il I and Henry II in the thirteenth century and Hugh IV and Peter I in the fourteenth century who contributed to the stability and financial prosperity of the island. It is remarkable that Peter I foresaw the danger from the Turks and tried, though unsuccessfully, to unite the European countries against them.
The last Queen of the Lusignan dynasty Catherine Cornaro ceded Cyprus to Venice in 1489, when the Lusignan domination of Cyprus ended.
Three centuries of foreign rule failed to destroy the Greek language of the people, their religion and their cultural Greek beliefs.
The Venetian occupation of Cyprus (1489-1570) had a purely military, purpose that of defending the Venetian interests from any dangers that might come from Egypt and the Turks. All authority was now vested in the Council of Venice, who every two years were sending a Proveditor to govern the island. In governing Cyprus Venice was looking after her own interests and the well being of the inhabitants was utterly neglected.
The Turks, who had captured Constantinople in 1453, invaded Cyprus with a powerful army in 1570 and, in spite of the defense put up by the Venetians, they captured Nicosia in the same year and in 1571 Famagusta fell after an heroic resistance of the Venetian commander Marcantonio Bragadino. After the capture of Nicosia, but especially after the fall of Famagusta, unprecedented acts of atrocities followed, property was looted and most of the important Christian Churches, such as St. Sophia and St. Catherine in Nicosia and St. Nicholas in Famagusta, were converted to moslem mosques and remained as such to this date.

Hill in his History of Cyprus after referring to the capture of Nicosia, at which the massacre and looting went on for three days, writes that “the reader may be spared description of horrors which were such as usually occurred at the capture of any Christian city by the Turks” and after the fall of Famagusta observes that ” the history of Cyprus is rich in episodes of horror, and this was an age inferior to no other in barbarity: but as an example of cold-blooded ferocity, in which the childishness of the savage combines with the refinements of the sadist, the martyrdom of the hero of Famagusta by Mustafa Pasha yields the palm to none. It was inspired not by momentary fury, but by deliberate blood lust. Some details may have been exaggerated by anti-Moslem sentiment, but the main facts are not open to doubt”.

With the fall of Nicosia and Famagusta the rest of the island was occupied without opposition.

The Turkish conquest brought many radical changes to Cyprus In spite of atrocities the Turks supported the Greek-Orthodox Church, which replaced the Roman Catholic as the official Church of the island.
The Archbishop was allowed to return to his seat at Nicosia from Soli and the bishops also returned to their sees-Kyrenia, Larnaca and Paphos, from the villages to which they had been posted by the Franks. The island’s first Archbishop after the conquest was Timotheos and a synod convened by him in Cyprus declared the subjugation of the Orthodox Church to the Roman Catholic Church invalid and resolved the restoration of its bonds with the Orthodox Church at Constantinople.
The Archbishop of Cyprus was given similar privileges as those conferred on the Patriarch at Constantinople.
In Cyprus the Archbishop, to whom a Berat was issued on his election outlining his secular powers, was considered as the Head of the ” Rayas and their representative” and as such was responsible for imposing and collecting the taxes.

During the Turkish occupation a system of wide local government was existing and operating.

The Turkish rule in Cyprus ended in 1878.

By the Convention of defensive alliance between Great Britain and Turkey with respect to the Asiatic provinces of Turkey signed at Constantinople on the 4th June 1878, Turkey consented “to assign the Island of Cyprus to be occupied and administered by England ” for enabling her to make the necessary provision for executing her engagements under the Treaty. By an Annex to this Convention signed at Constantinople of the l st July 1878 between the same Contracting Parties the conditions under which England would occupy Cyprus are provided and a provision was made that ” if Russia restores to Turkey Kars and other conquests made by her in Armenia during the last war, the Island of Cyprus will be evacuated by England and the Convention of the 4th June 1878 will be at an end “.
By an additional Article signed at Constantinople on tho l4th August 1878, it was agreed between the High Contracting Parties that for the term of the occupation and no longer, full powers were granted to the Great Britain for making Laws and Conventions for the Government of the Island and for the regulating of its Commercial and consular relations and affairs.

In July 1878 Cyprus was occupied by Great Britain.

During all the years of foreign occupation many conquerors passed through Cyprus and she came across many civilizations. Though they left their traces, which may be witnessed by the various silent monuments, nevertheless Cyprus never has lost its own character. As the modern Greek poet says: “You have changed many despots but you have never changed your heart”.
Stanley Casson rightly observes that ” there is always perceptible an undercurrent of influence which, for good or bad, remains Cypriot. Nothing that Cyprus adopted remained unaffected. Instead it will be incorrect to say that Cyprus “has absorbed anything, she rather absorbed and then transformed”.