Population Of Cyprus

Cyprus' estimated population is 730,000 of which 87.5 percent belongs to the Greek Cypriot community and 12.5 percent to the Turkish Cypriot community. Greek and Turkish are the official languages of the Republic but English is widely spoken and understood, and is regularly used in commerce and government.

Apart from the capital, Nicosia, with an estimated population of 189,000, all major cities are located on the coast. Limassol is the second largest city and the island's biggest port. Larnaca and Paphos, which are popular holiday resorts, are the third and fourth largest cities, respectively.

In July 1974, Turkey, using as a pretext the criminal coup against President Makarios, invaded Cyprus in violation of the UN Charter and all principles governing international relations. As a result 37% of the island was occupied, 200,000 Greek Cypriots, who were forcibly expelled from this area, became refugees in their own country and are still deprived of the right to return to their homes and properties. In addition, 1,619 Greek Cypriots are still missing. The blow was heavy. Byzantine churches, monuments and antiquities were destroyed or looted and many items were smuggled abroad. Sadly, the island's cultural heritage that reaches back to the 7th millenium B.C. and is part of the common heritage of mankind, continues to this day to be systematically and deliberately destroyed in the occupied areas.

Moreover, about 115,000 settlers from Turkey have been transplanted illegally to the occupied part of Cyprus and given properties from the expelled Greek Cypriots. At the same time Turkish Cypriots have been emigrating in large numbers, resulting in diminishing the size of the Turkish Cypriot community in the occupied part. All this, coupled with a strong military presence in the occupied areas (estimated at 40 000 Turkish troops) and an attempt to change the place names of villages and towns into Turkish ones, is clear evidence that Turkey is turning the occupied part of Cyprus into a Turkish province.

A series of UN General Assembly and Security Council resolutions condemned the invasion of Cyprus and occupation, demanded the return of the refugees to their homes in safety and the tracing of the missing persons and called for respect of the human rights of all Cypriots. Moreover, the European Commission of Human Rights found the Government of Turkey guilty of gross violations of human rights in Cyprus during and after the invasion.

In November 1983 Turkey instigated the announcement by the Turkish Cypriot leadership of "an independent state" in occupied Cyprus. The international community through UN Security Council Resolutions 541 of 1983 and 550 of 1984 condemned this unilateral declaration by the Turkish side, declared it both illegal and invalid, and called for the immediate withdrawal of the declaration. The opinion of the international community was ignored by Turkey and no other country has recognized the illegal regime.

Negotiations for the solution of the Cyprus problem have been going on intermittently since 1975 under the auspices of the United Nations, but progress has been obstructed by Turkish intransigence. As the UN Secretary General stated in a report "the absence of agreement is due essentially to a lack of political will on the Turkish Cypriot side". This attitude of Turkey as well as the continuing violation of the fundamental human rights of the people of Cyprus has been condemned by international bodies such as the UN General Assembly, the European Parliament, the Non-Aligned Movement, the Commonwealth and the Council of Europe.