Why was a small island in the Mediterranean divided into four?

Cyprus is a small island in the Mediterranean Sea with an area of ??9,251 square kilometers. However, this small island is quite special. Geographically, it belongs to Asia, but culturally and politically, it is part of Europe.

And such a small island was actually divided into four, so why is this?

Although it is just such a small island, it actually has a long history. Legend has it that it is the hometown of Venus, the goddess of love. However, due to its special geographical location, the island has been occupied by several major powers in history, and there are few situations where it can maintain its independence.

We know that Greece is regarded as the birthplace of Western civilization. It also had a glorious period in history. Cyprus cannot help but be influenced by Greece. With the arrival of Greeks on the island, the island of Cyprus has always been filled with strong cultural influences. Greek style.

After the rise of Ottoman Turkey, it began to expand. Not to mention Cyprus, even Greece suffered. Therefore, a new ethnic group appeared in Cyprus, namely the Turks who believe in Islam.

For three hundred years, the Tu and Greek peoples lived on the island, but they did not integrate well, and this also planted the seeds for the current situation of division.

In 1878, Ottoman Turkey leased Cyprus to Britain, retaining its suzerainty. Turkey had no choice but to do this. Russia had been staring at Turkey for hundreds of years and continued to invade, which made Turkey unbearable. In order to exchange for Britain's support for itself in the Russo-Turkish War, Turkey could only sell its territory.

In 1925, Cyprus officially became a British colony, and many Turkish residents on the island had to move back to Turkey.

However, the Greeks on the island are relatively radical and have been pursuing the return of Cyprus to Greece, and have even established extremist organizations to fight. In order to better govern Cyprus, the British established a "quarantine zone" on the island, artificially dividing the two ethnic groups into South Cyprus, which believes in Greek Orthodox Christianity, and North Cyprus, which mainly believes in Islam.

After World War II, the people on the island began to resist British colonial rule, hoping to strive for national independence. The British themselves were overwhelmed and unable to maintain a huge colonial empire, but most of the islands were Greeks and Turks, so contact with these two countries was inevitable.

In 1959, through continuous negotiations, several parties reached an agreement, which determined the basic structure of the country after independence and the distribution of internal powers between the two communities. However, the United Kingdom still retained the territory within the two military bases on the island. sovereignty. Arrangements were made for security issues after independence, and alliances were even established with Greece and Turkey, which stipulated that the two countries had the power to station troops.

After doing all this, Cyprus became independent. The Greeks and Turks established a coalition government, but the president was Greek and the Turks could only elect the vice president.

It can be seen that it is impossible for two ethnic groups to achieve absolute fairness. Even so, both sides are not satisfied until ethnic conflicts are triggered.

After that, the Greeks launched a military coup in an attempt to promote Cyprus' return to Greece, which also gave Turkey a reason to send troops. Turkish-controlled Northern Cyprus unilaterally established the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

However, only one country, Türkiye, recognizes Northern Serbia. In contrast, South Cyprus still holds international recognition, including membership in the United Nations, but because the country lacks Turkish representatives, it cannot represent the position of the entire Cyprus.

In order to solve the problem of Cyprus, the United Nations is also looking for a solution, but so far there is no good solution. Therefore, in addition to the northern Cyprus controlled by Turkey and the southern Cyprus controlled by the Greeks, Cyprus currently also includes two sovereign military bases owned by the British. Of course, there is also a United Nations buffer zone, which is a buffer line established on the island after Turkey sent troops and is managed by United Nations security forces.

It is strange that such a small island with a small area is managed by four sovereign units.