Many wars have been fought over land, whether the reason is religious or an ethnic reason, blood has been shed. Cyprus is only a small island with lots of history. How is it that such a small island has so much diversity? It has started quite a bit of imbalance between the European world and the middle east. Patterns of the countries past history up until today better explain the reasons why Cyprus has been the center of so much conflict between Europe and Turkey.

Cyprus is a very enjoyable island with sunshine all year round and a temperature that never drops below 50 degrees, and never exceeds the upper 80’s. The island is located in the eastern Mediterranean basin, where it homes different wildlife. Cyprus is home to many different types of bats, dolphins, wild goats, hedgehog and the rare capybara. The capital of Cyprus is Nicosia, and the native language they speak is Greek. This island is truly an intriguing place to live on, and perhaps that is why the Greeks and the Turks could never get along?

The island of Cyprus dates back to 9000 years ago with the Khirokitia. The only other sign that the island had connection to the outside world was the obsidian that was left there. Obsidian is not native to the island; this explains to experts that the people of the island also had connection with different cultures of the world. After the Khirokitia people left the island; it was deserted for nearly 2000 years. Small villages indicate life north of the Kourion at Sotira, also in the Kyrenia Mountains.

The next vital piece of the Cypriot history is when the Greeks began to settle the island. For a while the island was considered to be a colony of Greece to the rest of the world. Greeks had settled all over the island spreading their culture and language, (which is why today the language of Cyprus is Greek).

In 1571 Cyprus fell to Turkey and Turkish colonies began to also settle on the island. By 1952, Britain had declared the island their own colony. Here is where all the conflict begins. Greece was the original settlers to the island, as any other piece of land, it should be rightfully theirs. Then on the other hand there are the Turks who governed the land from the late 1500’s all the way to the early 1900’s. the history is a recipe for disaster, however it continues to snowball. In 1955 the Greek population declared guerrilla warfare on Great Britain. The Turkish during this period petitioned that the population be divided and then unified with their mother countries.

In 1958 Archduke of Cyprus, Makarois called for Cypriot independence. And by august of 1960 after the Greek and Turkish population agreed on a constitution, Cyprus had finally gained its independence. The imbalance does not stop there; instead the two populations were unable to get along. The country was in havoc, with the threat to their people, Turkish militia entered Cyprus taking over thirty percent of the northern land. The United Nations responded to this craziness and separated the two populations and created a United Nations separation buffer zone, much like the buffer zone between North and South Korea.

The United Nations made a mistake by letting the Turkish military stay in northern Cyprus, on November 15th 1983, they declared themselves a separate nation and called themselves “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus”. Ten years later the united union rejected the whole idea and kicked the Turkish militia out. After this the Turkey military was always a threat to Cyprus, but in 1988 George Vassiliou put an end to the threat and scared Turkey by purchasing missiles that could reach the country if Cyprus wanted to.

In 2004, the European Union invited Cyprus to the EU, under one circumstance; it would only be the Greek part of the island that had the invite. The election in 2004 determined whether or not the country would be “split”. If the president that was elected was pro- unity and Greek, then the entire country could have joined the EU. Instead the battle went the other way causing only the Greek part of the nation to join the EU. This again separated Cyprus. Today for the most part, Cyprus is still separated.

In June of 2012 Cyprus had asked the rest of the European Union for a $17 billion bailout. Germany agreed to dish out $13 billion to the bank of Cyprus which forced the bank to raise the rest of the money by taxing all bank deposits one time. “This tax will take 6.75 percent from insured deposits of €100,000 ($129,000) or less, and 9.9 percent from uninsured amounts above €100,000. Depositors will get bank stock equal to whatever they lose from the tax.”

Why Is this such a big deal?Cyprus has been viewed by the rest

of the world as a tax haven.Wealthy people from Russian

and other parts of the worldput their money into Cyprus banks.

To be taxed on Hundreds of thousands of dollars, can kill someone’s wealth.

They have assets equal to 8 times the gdp.

They receive an enormous amount of their deposits from tax-dodging Russia

Cyprus invested a ton of money into Greece

They are very dependent on central bank financing.

“Cypriot banks are too big for Cyprus to save. But somebody needs to save them.”

The Cyprus bank crises is threatening the Euro. Why? Well for one Cyprus had so much money in their banks which they lost after the poor investment in greece. Now Cyprus is forced to tax all the money invested from other countries in their banks.. In other words they have to tax the Euros. This brings up the question of “well does a euro in Cyprus have the same value as a Euro in Germany if it’s being taxed”

The second reason that the crises may effect the euro is if any of these countries in the European union decide to pack up and leave for a new currency, it jeopardizes every country in the Union. All that money which is in the leaving country will very quickly over night be worth way less, ruining many other economies.

"This is an inclusive movement functioning within some principal umbrella concepts for which we initially united, these are:-The reunification of Cyprus.-To raise awareness of how the Cyprus Problem is but one of the many symptoms of an unhealthy global system.It is important to elaborate on the intended inclusiveness of the last point.We have occupied the space of the buffer zone to express with our presence our mutual desire for reunification and to stand in solidarity with the wave of unrest which has come as a response to the failings of the global systemic paradigm. We want to promote understanding of the local problem within this global context and in this way show how the Cyprus Problem is but one of the many symptoms of an unhealthy system. In this way, we have reclaimed the space of the buffer zone to create events (screenings, talks etc.) and media of these events, which relate to the system as a whole and its numerous and diverse consequences. Opinions expressed in this manner are not necessarily of the entire group, only the umbrella points of reunification and solidarity with the global movement can be assumed to be."

The Cyprus problem is the separation of the two ethnicities( Greek and Turkish). As stated above the people in the movement agree that separation within a country creates a bad global system.

By occupying the buffer zone, Greeks from the south and Turks from the north are forced together, there for they are forced to get to know each other. In this situation they realize that they are not as different and begin to get along.

Despite being surrounded by three armies and three sets of police, the UN included, who want them out, a group of people of all ages, from across the island and beyond, has broken free from the chains of the perennial ‘problem’ by simply living the solution.

Around 10:15 that night police raided the people who believed in the unification of cyprus. The building was created as a center for activities of cultural and sociopolitical natures, it was open to all people. This wasn’t just any raid however, there had been reports of the police showing an extensive amount of violence towards these innocent people. One cop was said t ohave beaten a women to the point of lumps and bruises. Another was accused for sexual assault to a 19 year old girl.

The demonstration the police showed seems as though it was meant to instill fear into these protesting people.

How does this solve the Cyprus problem?It doesn’t, it makes one believe that

perhaps special forces of the country don’t want the nation to unify…

My prediction of Cyprus is that it may in the future want to leave the European Union, but due to the debt it now has with the union it wont be able too. If it does decide to leave I believe that it will be a lot like when the U.S wanted independence from Britain; many may agree that because Cyprus is such a small island, the European Union doesn’t look at it as a member but instead it looks at it as a territory or a colony of the EU. This is also my prediction as to why the Greek and Turkish Cypriots wanted to unify, for independence. Yes, Cyprus is recognized as an independent country, but because of the EU, how independent is it really? A country that is torn down the middle between ethnicities would have a hard time standing up for itself if it cant get a long itself. By unifying and finally becoming one, it makes the country stronger.

"Animals in Cyprus." Animals in Cyprus. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 May 2013. "Cyprus : The Arts." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia

Britannica, n.d. Web. 02 May 2013. "Cyprus Mail Thursday, May 2nd 2013." Cyprus Mail. N.p., n.d. Web.

02 May 2013. "Everything You Need to Know About the Cyprus Bank Disaster." The

Atlantic. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 May 2013. "Geography." Infoplease. Infoplease, n.d. Web. 02 May 2013. "Hürriyet Daily News | Haber Detay." Hürriyet Daily News | Haber

Detay. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 May 2013. "'Occupy': We're Living the Cyprus solution." OCCUPY THE BUFFER

ZONE. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 May 2013. "Press Release Occupy Buffer Zone (Greek & Turkish follow)." OCCUPY

THE BUFFER ZONE. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 May 2013. "Small Island, Big Finger." N.p., 23 Mar. 2013. Web. Steininger, Michael. "What's behind the Bailout Crisis in Cyprus?" The

Christian Science Monitor. The Christian Science Monitor, 29 Mar. 2013. Web. 02 May 2013.