Mariusz Misztal

Origins of the ethnic conflicts in Cyprus

Numerous studies of the so-called “Cyprus problem” are devoted mainly to particular phases of the conflict, especially the period from 1958 to 1960, the activities of the EOKA, the period 1960–1964, the problems of the newly created republic and the 1974 division of Cyprus. Only rarely do we find references to the earlier history of Cyprus and there are still only few objective academic papers showing the genesis of the conflict.

The article presents the origins of ethnic conflicts of Cyprus, discussing the theories of the origin of the island’s first inhabitants, and the arrival of numerous Muslims on the island after the Turkish conquest in the 16th century. During the next three centuries, regardless of the subsequent developments, peaceful coexistence and fruitful cooperation of  oth communities – Christians and Muslims – are an authentic historical event and are not subject to any doubts. The situation began to change after the begining of the so-called “Cultural war” caused by, among others things, by spreading the idea of Great Greece. The takeover of Cyprus by the British in 1878 only strengthened the hopes of the Greek Cypriots of joining the island to Mother Greece, which resulted in the rise of nationalist feelings, both among Greek and Turkish Cypriots, and eventially led to the outbreak of the first ethnic conflicts in 1912.

In Cyprus historiography there are very few academic and objective studies dealing with the political role of the autocephalous Cypriot Orthodox Church during the Ottoman period (1571–1878) and at the beginning of the British rule (1878–1900).
The beginnings of christianity in Cyprus go back to the Apostolic times. After the Third Crusade, orthodox Cyprus started to be reigned by Roman Catholic Lusignans and later by Venice, until in 1571 it was conquered by the Ottomans. The arrival of the Ottomans meant the rebirth of the Orthodox Church and the increasing infl uence of her bishops and clergy. The article discusses especially the fast growing power and political infl uence of the bishops and archbishops, who became the ethnarchs of the Cypriots, being their sole represenatives at the Porte. For the ethnarchs, who derived their power from the Ottoman imperial centre, cooperation (or, indeed, collaboration) with the Porte and its offi cers in Cyprus (namely, the muhassil and the dragoman) was the only strategy possible to maintain their political, social and economic power in the island.
The identities and the political activity of particular archbishops are presented, with special emphasis on Philoteos (1734–1759), during whose reign the infl uence of the ethnarch started to increase rapidly, Kyprianos I (1810–1821), under whom the infl uence reached its peak but after the tragic events of 1821 disappeared almost completely, and Sophronios III (1865–1900), the fi rst archbishop of the British period, when the position and the political infl uence of the ethnarch was seriously questioned.