Cyprus Intercommunal Conflict and Partition

After the Republic of Cyprus was established in 1960, disputes over its power-sharing constitution contributed to intercommunal violence from 1963 and the separation of many Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities. United Nations peacekeepers arrived in 1964, but political tensions remained unresolved.

In July 1974 a coup backed by the Greek military junta attempted to remove President Makarios III, followed by Turkish military intervention and large-scale displacement. The island became divided by a ceasefire line. Colin Thubron travelled through Cyprus in 1972, before the final rupture, and recorded communities already living under the pressure of this unresolved conflict.