T h e C o m m o n w e a l T h Y e a R b o o k 2 0 1 5

KEY FACTS

Joined Commonwealth: 1961

Population: 1,141,000 (2013)

GDP p.c. growth: 0.9% p.a. 1990–2013

UN HDI 2014: World ranking 32

Official languages: Greek, Turkish

Time: GMT plus 2–3 hrs

Currency: Euro (€)

Geography

Area: 9,251 sq km

Coastline: 648 km

Capital: Nicosia

Cyprus is an oval-shaped island with ‘pan-

handle’ north-east peninsula in the eastern

Mediterranean. Its closest mainland

neighbours are Turkey (to the north) and

Syria and Lebanon (to the east).

Topography: The Troodos Mountains, in thecentral and western part of the island, rise to1,951 metres at Mount Olympus. TheTroodos, of infertile igneous rock, arecharacterised by steep slopes, narrow valleysand precipices. The Kyrenia Mountains (alsoknown as the Pentadaktylos range), along thenorth coast, rise to 1,024 metres and aremainly limestone. Passes and valleys allowaccess to the north coast. The fertileMessaoria Plain lies between them. Abouthalf of its 186,000 hectares is irrigated. Mostwater sources are in the south – all majorrivers originate in the Troodos and flow east,south or west. Many rivers dry up in thesummer. There are sandy beaches on thesouth of the island and some rugged rockycoastline in the north.

Climate: Mediterranean climate. Hot drysummers (June–September) and mild wetwinters (November–March).

Environment: The most significantenvironmental issues are limited waterresources – due to lack of rain in the summerand pollution of the island’s largest aquifer bysea water; water pollution by sewage andindustrial wastes; coastal degradation; andloss of wildlife habitats due to urbanisation.

Vegetation: Mediterranean scrub, succulentsand pine woods, adapted to the drysummers, with 1,800 species and subspeciesof flowering plants. Forest covers 19 per centof the land area. The mountains are forestedand less than 15 per cent of the land isarable and permanently cropped, about 20per cent of which is irrigated. The occupiednorth is generally more thickly vegetated andfertile.

Wildlife: The only large wild animal is theagrino, a species of wild sheep, which is nowprotected. Snakes, once so abundant as togive the island its old name Ophiussa (‘abodeof snakes’), are now comparatively rare.

Main towns: Nicosia (Lefkosia, capital, pop.334,120 in 2011, with a further 61,378 inthe occupied north), Limassol (239,739),Paphos (91,200), Larnaca (53,500). In theoccupied north, other main towns areFamagusta (40,920), Kyrenia (33,207),Morphou and Lefka.

Transport: There is a good road network inthe Republic, extending to 20,000 km (40 percent paved), with motorways betweenNicosia, Limassol, Paphos and the Famagusta

area; comprising 2.2 per cent of the totalnetwork. Cyprus has no railway.

Major ports are at Larnaca and Limassol.

Nicosia airport was closed in 1974. There areinternational airports 5 km south of Larnaca,and 15 km east of Paphos.

Society

KEY FACTS 2013

Population per sq km: 123

Life expectancy: 80 years

Net primary enrolment: 98%

Population: 1,141,000 (2013); 67 per centof people live in urban areas; growth 1.7 percent p.a. 1990–2013; birth rate 11 per 1,000people (19 in 1970); life expectancy 80 years(71 in 1970).

The population comprises Greek Cypriots(approximately 80 per cent) and TurkishCypriots, and small populations ofArmenians, Maronites and ‘Latins’ (the termused in Cyprus for Roman Catholics ofEuropean origin). The population of theoccupied north was estimated at 257,000 in2005, and included around 160,000 Turkishillegal settlers.

Language: Official languages are Greek andTurkish. English is widely spoken; Germanand French are spoken in tourist centres.

Religion: Most Greek Cypriots belong to theautocephalous Cypriot Orthodox Church;most Turkish Cypriots are Sunni Muslims.There are small religious groups of Maronites,Armenians, Roman Catholics and Anglicans.

Health: Public spending on health was threeper cent of GDP in 2012. In the Republic,medical care is free for governmentemployees, displaced persons and low-income families, including in all about 65 percent of the population. The government hasproposed a national health insurance scheme.A new general hospital was built in Nicosia inthe latter 1990s. Infant mortality was threeper 1,000 live births in 2013 (30 in 1960).

The Government of Cyprus offers freetreatment in government hospitals to allTurkish Cypriots residing in the occupiednorth.

Education: Public spending on educationwas seven per cent of GDP in 2010. Thereare nine years of compulsory education

Republic of Cyprus

In 1974 Turkish troops invaded andoccupied the northern 36 per cent of theRepublic of Cyprus. This area was laterdeclared independent. The secession hasnot been recognised internationally,except by Turkey. The UN andCommonwealth have for many yearsprotested about the occupation and triedto resolve the problem by negotiation.

Due to this division of the Republic ofCyprus, aggregated information is notalways available. Economic and social datagiven here generally cover the government-controlled areas only, although legally andconstitutionally the Republic of Cyprusincludes the occupied north.

starting at the age of six. Primary schoolcomprises six years and secondary six, withtwo cycles each of three years. There aremany private schools. Some 95 per cent ofpupils complete primary school (2007). Theschool year starts in September.

The University of Cyprus is a bilingual (Greekand Turkish) university which opened in1992. The other public universities are CyprusUniversity of Technology (2007) and OpenUniversity of Cyprus (2002). Privateuniversities include the European UniversityCyprus (2007), which developed out ofCyprus College (1961); Frederick University(2007), which developed out of the FrederickInstitute of Technology (1965); NeapolisUniversity (Paphos, 2010); and University ofNicosia (2007), which developed out ofIntercollege (1980). Other tertiary institutionsinclude Cyprus Forestry College (1951);Higher Hotel Institute of Cyprus (1966);Higher Technical Institute (1968);Mediterranean Institute of Management(1976, postgraduate); Nursing School; andCyprus International Institute of Management(1990). The female–male ratio for grossenrolment in tertiary education is 0.90:1(2010). There is virtually no illiteracy amongpeople aged 15–24.

In 1984 Cyprus hosted the Ninth Conferenceof Commonwealth Education Ministers inNicosia. Commonwealth Education Ministersmeet every three years to discuss issues ofmutual concern and interest.

Media: There are several daily papers, mostin Greek (including Phileleftheros, Politis,Simerini) but the Cyprus Mail is in English. Ofthe several bi-weekly, weekly and fortnightlypapers, two (Cyprus Weekly and FinancialMirror) are in English.

The public radio and TV provider is theCyprus Broadcasting Corporation,broadcasting in Greek, English, Turkish andArmenian. Private radio and TV stationscompete with the public networks. Theswitch from analogue to digital TV wascompleted in July 2011.

There are 627 personal computers per 1,000people (2012).

Communications: Country code 357;internet domain ‘.cy’. Mobile phone coverageis good.

For every 1,000 people there are 306landlines, 952 mobile phone subscriptionsand 655 internet users (2013).

Public holidays: New Year’s Day, Epiphany (6January), Greek Independence Day (25March), EOKA Day (1 April), Labour Day (1May), Assumption (15 August), IndependenceDay (1 October), Ochi Day (28 October),Christmas Day and St Stephen’s Day (26

December). Fixed-date holidays falling on aSaturday or Sunday are not moved.

Religious and other festivals whose dates varyfrom year to year include Green Monday(start of Lent, 50 days before Greek OrthodoxEaster), Good Friday (Greek Orthodox), EasterMonday (Greek Orthodox) and Kataklysmos(Pentecost, 50 days after Greek OrthodoxEaster).

Economy

(In this section, figures do not include theoccupied north.)

KEY FACTS 2013

GNI: US$21.5bn

GNI p.c.: US$25,210

GDP growth: -1.6% p.a. 2009–13

Inflation: 1.6% p.a. 2009–13

Despite occupation of the north and theconsequent forced movement of populationand loss of resources, the economy of theRepublic has grown steadily with relativelylow inflation, particularly in the tourism andoffshore financial services sectors, while theagriculture sector and exports of citrus fruitsand potatoes became relatively lessimportant. Oil and gas exploration was underway in 2011 and large offshore finds ofnatural gas were announced in December2011, amounting to an estimated 140–230billion cubic metres, and further significantfinds were announced in 2012.

From the latter 1990s, the governmentintroduced economic reforms with a view tojoining the European Union (EU). Theeconomy continued to grow strongly, until itslowed in the tougher international climateafter 2000, picking up again from 2004, theyear in which the Republic of Cyprus joinedthe EU, and continuing at about four percent until 2008, when the impact of theworld economic downturn on tourism andtrade caused growth to stall in the latter partof that year and go into reverse in 2009 (–1.7per cent). There was then a return to growthin 2010–11 before the economy moved intorecession again in 2012 (–2.4 per cent),contracting sharply in 2013 (by 5.4 per cent)and 2014 (by about three per cent).

Cyprus adopted the euro at the beginning of2008, replacing the Cyprus pound. In March2013 the EU and International MonetaryFund (IMF) offered Cyprus a €10 billion loanto rescue the Cypriot banks, which hadincurred heavy losses arising from a very largeexposure to Greek debt. This deal requiredthe government to raise a further €5.8billion. Parliament then voted against thegovernment’s initial proposals for a levy on allthe banks’ customers. The banks remainedclosed while discussions continued betweenthe government, EU and IMF. A deal wasagreed on 24 March 2013, under which thebanks were to be restructured; the levy paidonly by customers with deposits of at least€100,000; and Cyprus was to remain in theeurozone.

History

The civilisation of Cyprus, recorded througharchaeological finds, myths and later writtenhistory, can be traced through 9,000 years.The island, perfectly placed as a strategicbase for the great civilisations of the Near-Eastern ancient world, has been much foughtover. It was subject to the empires of Assyria,Egypt, Persia, Macedonia and Rome in theBCE period. Its population has beenpredominantly ethnically Greek since then.After the collapse of the Roman Empire inthe fourth century, it was ruled by Byzantium,the Franks, the Venetians and the OttomanTurks. It was during the Ottoman period thatthe ancestors of the Turkish Cypriots settled

Republic of Cyprus

T h e C o m m o n w e a l T h Y e a R b o o k 2 0 1 5

Inflation

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

%

%

-0.5

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

GDP by sector (2013)

Agriculture2.7%

Industry12.8%

Services84.5%

Real growth in GDP

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

g

%

-6

-5

-4

-3

-2

-1

0

1

2

on the island. Through these rich and variedinfluences, Cyprus acquired a greatarchaeological legacy.

In 1878 Britain concluded an alliance withthe Sultan on Cyprus, and gained effectivecontrol. When Turkey sided with Germany inWorld War I, Britain annexed the island. In1925, Cyprus became a Crown colony.

From the 1930s, Greek Cypriots campaignedfor enosis (union with Greece), a movementthat came to be led in the 1950s byArchbishop Makarios. The UK proposedinstead (in 1948, 1954 and 1955) variousforms of internal self-government, all ofwhich were deemed unacceptable by theGreek Cypriot Ethnarchy Council. In 1955,the National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters(EOKA) began armed resistance against theUK. Turkey helped the Turkish Cypriot leadersestablish the Cyprus is Turkish Party and theTurkish Resistance Organisation, and thefighting became intercommunal.

In 1960 the UK negotiated an independenceagreement with Greece and Turkey, underwhich the three powers guaranteed toprotect the integrity of Cyprus, which was tobe allowed neither to unite with any othercountry nor to be partitioned. Cyprus, whichhad not taken part in these negotiations,became independent as the Republic ofCyprus.

Intercommunal fighting broke out again afew years after independence, leading tosome 500 deaths and more than 1,000casualties. British troops imposed order and aplan centred on a ceasefire line known as theGreen Line. In 1964, the UN PeacekeepingForce (UNFICYP) succeeded the British troops.A UN force remains in the same positiontoday. However, hostilities continued, withthe Greek and Turkish military becominginvolved, and very nearly led to war betweenthe two countries. Archbishop Makariosbegan negotiations towards a settlement.

But in 1974 a military coup in Cyprusoverthrew Makarios and installed a ferventlynationalist government, led by NikosSampson, favouring enosis. Turkey invadedtwice, taking control of the northern 36 percent of the country. Greece, in confusionafter its own military coup against PresidentMakarios, was unable to intervene. About

180,000 Greek Cypriots fled from theirhomes in the north, and came south asrefugees; 45,000 Turkish Cypriots weresimilarly uprooted.

Intercommunal talks under UN auspicesbegan in 1975. In November 1983, theTurkish Cypriot assembly in the north, underthe leadership of Rauf Denktash, voted forindependence and in 1985 approved a newconstitution. Independence has subsequentlybeen recognised solely by Turkey, butcondemned by the UN Security Council andother international organisations.

The 1988 presidential election in the Republicbrought to power George Vassiliou, on aplatform of conciliation. He was not the firstleader openly to seek compromise: Makarioshad accepted the concept of federation in1977, and concluded the first high-levelagreement with Denktash; and PresidentSpyros Kyprianou had signed the secondhigh-level agreement with Denktash in 1979and accepted the notion of bizonalityproposing the demilitarisation of the island.But Vassiliou was prepared to go further. In1993, he went to the elections stating hiswillingness to accept, as a basis for furthernegotiations, a UN proposal for a federalrepublic. However, he lost the election by anarrow margin to Glafkos Clerides, who tooka more cautious view of the UN plan.

Parliamentary elections in the Republic held inMay 1996 – the first to be held since theadoption of proportional representation –returned the Democratic Rally–Liberal Partycoalition (supporting President GlafkosClerides) with a majority of one seat.

There was optimism that real negotiationsmight be about to begin when in July 1997,Clerides and Denktash met for the first timein three years at a UN-sponsored meeting inNew York. Subsequent meetings were held inNicosia and Glion (Switzerland) over the nextsix weeks. However, tension was mountingwith successive military exercises on the islandby Greece and Turkey, and when it becameclear that the EU negotiations would proceedwithout reference to the occupied north if asettlement had not been reached in themeantime, and also that Turkey was not atthis period invited to join the EU, Denktashleft the talks and the process was stalled.

The first round of the presidential elections inFebruary 1998 was inconclusive. PresidentClerides narrowly won the second-roundcontest with George Iacovou with 51 percent of the votes. Clerides then formed abroadly based coalition administration, toprepare for further negotiations with theTurkish Cypriots and the accession talks withthe EU.

Talks with the Turkish Cypriots continuedduring 1999 and 2000, but progressremained stalled because the parties wereunable to agree on future constitutionalarrangements. While the Greek Cypriots, withthe support of the international community,were seeking a return to a bi-communalindependent federation with a centralgovernment, the Turkish Cypriots wereinsisting on a confederation of two equalstates.

Accession negotiations with the EU began inNovember 1998 and the accession treaty onformal entry of Cyprus and nine othercandidate countries in May 2004 was signedin April 2003.

Talks between Greek and Turkish Cypriotscontinued during 2001–02 and, from January2002, these were UN-mediated talksbetween Clerides and Denktash, ending inMarch 2003 when the two leaders wereunable to agree on putting the UN’ssettlement proposals to referendums in theircommunities, though both sides agreed tocontinue negotiations.

Referendums on the UN reunification planwere held simultaneously in the twocommunities in April 2004. Greek Cypriotswere overwhelmingly against the plan andTurkish Cypriots strongly for it. Among thereasons for the plan’s rejection by GreekCypriots were that it would give them onlylimited rights to return to and recover theiroriginal homes, and that it would allow tensof thousands of Turkish settlers to stay andTurkey to maintain a garrison. Turkey wouldalso maintain its status of guarantor power,with the right of unilateral militaryintervention.

The Republic of Cyprus became a member ofthe European Union in May 2004. Theapplication of the acquis is suspended inthose areas of the Republic of Cyprus inwhich the government of the Republic ofCyprus does not exercise effective control.

Constitution

Status: Republic with executive President

Legislature: House of Representatives

Independence: 16 August 1960

The Republic of Cyprus is a democracy with a

T h e C o m m o n w e a l T h Y e a R b o o k 2 0 1 5

Republic of Cyprus

Singer and television personality Peter Andre is of Cypriot parentage, but was born in London.

On the sporting front, George Achilleos, born in 1980, is a champion skeet (clay pigeon)shooter. He has won four Commonwealth gold medals, seven World Cups and four WorldChampionships.

Cyprus has one of the lowest infant mortality rates in the Commonwealth: 997 infantssurvive every 1,000 births.

Republic of Cyprus on the international stage

directly elected executive President, serving afive-year term. The 1960 constitution hasprovisions to ensure a balance of powerbetween the Greek and Turkish Cypriotcommunities. The legislature, the House ofRepresentatives, was to be elected byuniversal suffrage with 35 Greek and 15Turkish seats and a term of no longer thanfive years. Under the amendment of 1985,the legislature was to comprise 80 seats (56Greek, 24 Turkish). In 1996 a system ofproportional representation was introduced.The seats reserved for Turkish Cypriots havebeen unoccupied since 1963.

The executive was to comprise a GreekPresident, a Turkish Vice-President and acouncil of ministers, with seven Greek andthree Turkish members. Ministers may not bemembers of parliament. The President is tobe elected by absolute majority. If this is notachieved, a second election between the twotop candidates is to be held. All Cypriotsmust declare themselves either to be CypriotGreeks or Cypriot Turks (the Armenian,Maronite and Latin communities declaredthemselves Greek for this purpose).

The ratio of Greek to Turk in the army mustbe 6:4, and 7:3 in the police, judiciary andcivil service. Nicosia, Paphos, Larnaca,Limassol and Famagusta each have separateGreek and Turkish municipal authorities.Equal status was granted to the Greek andTurkish languages.

Politics

Last elections: 22 May 2011(parliamentary), 17 and 24 February 2013(presidential)

Next elections: 2016 (parliamentary), 2018(presidential)

Head of state: President Nicos Anastasiades

Head of government: The President

Ruling party: Democratic Rally

Women MPs: 13%

In the parliamentary elections in May 2001,the Progressive Party of Working People(AKEL) took an increased share of 34.7 percent of votes and 20 seats, but the rulingcoalition of Democratic Rally (34.0 per centand 19 seats) and United Democrats (2.6 percent and one seat) narrowly won the contest.Centre-right Democratic Party (DIKO) secured14.8 per cent of votes and nine seats andsocial democratic KISOS 6.5 per cent andfour seats. KISOS was called the Movementfor Social Democracy (EDEK) until 1999 andagain from 2006. For the first time 18–21year-olds were entitled to vote and, sincevoting is compulsory, there was a highturnout (some 92 per cent) of the 468,000registered voters.

DIKO leader, Tassos Papadopoulos, won thepresidential election in February 2003, withthe support of AKEL and KISOS, receiving 52per cent of the votes, defeating incumbentPresident Glafkos Clerides (39 per cent).

The parliamentary elections in May 2006were won by the governing coalition ofAKEL, with 18 seats and 31.1 per cent of thevotes, DIKO (11 seats and 17.9 per cent ofthe votes) and EDEK (KISOS) with five seatsand 8.9 per cent of the votes. DemocraticRally gained 18 seats and 30.3 per cent ofthe votes.

In the lead-up to the presidential election of2008, the ruling coalition of DIKO, AKEL andEDEK was unable to reach a consensus on acommon candidate and so Papadopouloswas to run for re-election with the supportonly of DIKO and EDEK. Communist partyAKEL left the coalition and chose its generalsecretary and House of RepresentativesPresident, Demetris Christofias, as itscandidate. Ioannis Kasoulidis of DemocraticRally was the other major candidate.

In the presidential election in February 2008 –with turnout of around 90 per cent – thethree candidates each received about one-third of the votes (Kasoulidis 33.5 per cent;Christofias 33.3 per cent; Papadopoulos 31.8per cent). No candidate having more than 50per cent of the votes, Christofias andKasoulidis went into a second round and theincumbent Papadopoulos was eliminatedfrom the contest. Christofias defeatedKasoulidis by 53.4 per cent to 46.6 per cent.Christofias immediately invited DIKO andEDEK members to join his cabinet. DIKOleader Tassos Papadopoulos died in December2008.

Formal UN-supported negotiations betweenthe government, led by President Christofias,

and the Turkish Cypriots, led by Mehmet AliTalat, began in September 2008. In June2009, at the 32nd meeting, the economicagenda was concluded and discussions onterritorial issues began. The first round ofnegotiations was concluded with the 40thmeeting in August 2009. A second round oftalks, covering economic matters, power-sharing, property rights and the EU wasconducted from September 2009 to January2010. A new round of talks got under way inMay 2010, continuing through 2011, theTurkish Cypriots now led by Dervis Eroglu.The talks were abandoned in 2012.

In the May 2011 parliamentary elections,Democratic Rally secured 20 of the 56 seatscontested (34.3 per cent of the vote); AKELtook 19 (32.7 per cent), DIKO nine (15.8 percent), EDEK five (8.9 per cent), the EuropeanParty two (3.9 per cent) and the Green Partyone (2.2 per cent), with turnout of 79 percent. AKEL and DIKO formed a coalitiongovernment. The coalition collapsed inAugust 2011 following policy disagreements,leaving AKEL in a minority government.

The presidential elections of February 2013were won by Nicos Anastasiades ofDemocratic Rally. He secured 45.5 per cent ofthe vote in the first round on 17 February,ahead of Stavros Mala of AKEL (26.9 percent) and Giorgos Lillikas of EDEK (24.9 percent), and went on to take 57.5 per cent inthe second-round contest with Mala on 24February.

International relations

Cyprus is a member of the Council of Europe,European Union, Organisation internationalede la Francophonie, Organization for Securityand Co-operation in Europe, United Nationsand World Trade Organization.

Republic of Cyprus

T h e C o m m o n w e a l T h Y e a R b o o k 2 0 1 5

Cyprus Government Web Portal: www.cyprus.gov.cyHouse of Representatives: www.parliament.cyStatistical Service: www.cystat.gov.cy/mof/cystat/statistics.

nsf/index_gr/index_gr?OpenDocumentCentral Bank of Cyprus: www.centralbank.gov.cyCyprus Tourism Organisation: www.visitcyprus.com/Commonwealth Secretariat: www.thecommonwealth.orgCommonwealth of Nations: www.commonwealthofnations.org/

country/CyprusMediaCyprus Mail: cyprus-mail.comPhileleftheros: www.philenews.comPolitis: www.politis-news.comSimerini: www.sigmalive.com/simeriniFinancial Mirror: www.financialmirror.comThe Cyprus Weekly: incyprus.com.cyCyprus Broadcasting Corporation: www.cybc.com.cy/enCyprus News Agency: www.cna.org.cy

Further information

Traveller information

Immigration and customs: Passports must

be valid for at least three months from the

date of departure. Visas are required by

most Commonwealth nationals. Prohibited

imports include some food and some plant

material.

Travel within the country: Driving is on the

left. Heavy fines are imposed on those driving

without a seat belt or riding a motorbike

without a helmet. There are also fines for

those caught driving while using a mobile

phone or under the influence of alcohol.

Bus services connect towns and villages. Taxis

run 24 hours a day between the main towns.

Fares are regulated by the government and all

taxis have meters.

Travel health: There are no prevalentdiseases where appropriate precautionary

measures are recommended.

There were 2,405,000 tourist arrivals in 2013.

T h e C o m m o n w e a l T h Y e a R b o o k 2 0 1 5

Republic of Cyprus

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