The conquest of Cyprus had always been part
of Suleiman the Magnificent’s projects after the conquest of Rhodes in 1522, to
increase his supremacy over the Eastern Mediterranean. But it was only after
his death that his son and successor, Selim II, carried out the plan. On 1st
July 1570 the Turkish forces landed at Limassol which surrendered. Three weeks
later Nicosia was taken and then siege was laid to Famagusta, which capitulated
after a resistance of ten months, prolonged in the vain hope of receiving help
from Venice.
The fall of Famagusta marked the end of
Venetian rule in Cyprus. Despite the naval victory won by the Christian
alliance at Lepanto later in the same year (1571), Venice was compelled to sue
for peace. In 1573, Venice signed a Treaty of Peace with Turkey by which it was
agreed that the Sultan should retain Cyprus and the heavy expenses of the
expedition should be refunded to him.
The Turkish rule began auspiciously in
spite of the grievous but inescapable misfortunes of a war of such magnitude.
Feudalism was abolished. The serfs were freed after centuries of virtual
slavery and were allowed henceforth to own their own land. Freedom of worship
was granted to the people, the Orthodox church was officially recognised and
the Orthodox Archbishopric was re-established after an eclipse of three hundred
years.
These rights, initially promised by Lala
Mustapha, the Commander of the expedition, were confirmed by the Sultan through
the Grand Vezir to a delegation of Cypriots, which visited Constantinople
shortly after the conquest.
The
commander Lala Mustafa Pasha left a number of soldiers in Cyprus. The official
Ottoman sources mention about a total of 3,779 soldiers who later brought their
families to Cyprus. Some of them married the widows or daughters of the fallen
Latin notables. An example is the last Lusignan Cornaro Lady of Potamia Castle
who married the cavalry soldier Ibrahim Menteshoglou. Their family has survived
to the present day with the families of Menteshoglou and Bodamializade.
The census taken shortly after the conquest
revealed a taxable population of some 85,000 Greeks, Armenians and Maronites
and also 20,000 Turkish settlers, mostly campaign veterans, who were given land
by Mustapha. For administrative purposes the island was divided into seventeen
districts but by the19th century they were reduced to six. The
administrative centre was at Nicosia, at the head of which was a Pasha
nominated by the Grand Vezir of Constantinople.
The island’s defence was entrusted to a
corps of 1,000 Janissaries (foot soldiers) paid partly from the revenues of
certain estates allotted to the corps, and an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 Spahis
(cavalry) recruited or supported by the land owners. The Janissaries were under
the military command of an Agha who ranked fourth in importance in the
governmental hierarchy after the Governor, the Chief of the Treasury and the
Kadi (judge). Every town, village or quarter was under the administration of a
Janissary, but it appears that the peasants were allowed to have their own
village authorities, in all probability appointed by the local Turkish official
from among the village elders, or suggested by the villagers and confirmed by
the official.
According to the Ottoman Register Book of
1572, 905 villages were inhabitated and 76 villages were deserted and the
unused land had to be cultivated. The Sultan, realizing that the island needed
human resources for labour issued a firman which was sent to the Kadis (local
judges) of the following Anatolian provinces: Karaman, Ichel, Bozok. Alaiye
(Alanya), Teke (Antalia) and Manavgat. One of every10 families living in these
provinces was ordered to be transferred to the island of Cyprus, making a total
of 5,720 families. Eventually, only 1,689 families were settled in Cyprus.
According to another Register Book of 1581, 12,000 families were planned to be
transferred, but only 8,000 families could make it. In the following years,
other Turkish families from Konya, Kirsehir, Chorum, Samsun, Chankiri,
Eskisehir, Ankara, Darende and Ushak settled in the towns which were surrounded
by fortified walls or had castles (Nicosia, Famagusta, Limassol, Paphos and
Kyrenia) and in the deserted Latin villages. Later they intermingled with the
Greek Cypriots and cooperated with them in every field of life. Although the
two communities belonged to different religions and had other ethnic
distinctive features, they lived harmoniously, influencing each other as they
worked side by side in the rural and urban areas.
The
coexistence of the two communities during the Ottoman period
The people of Cyprus were heavily taxed by
the Ottoman governors. The economic depredation by the Turkish Aghas and
particularly the farming of taxes soon began to tell on the economy of the
island. Locusts and repeated droughts deepened the economic depression. Many
sought salvation in emigration. In 1640 there was a great famine and the next
year a vicious epidemic. As a consequence, during the first 70 years of Turkish
rule the population declined by 75%. The Porte found it necessary to withdraw
the Pashas of Paphos and Famagusta and to lessen the burden of taxation. These
were temporary measures and the tribute-gathering machine ground on pitilessly which inevitably led to
revolt.
In the early years of the Ottoman
administration, in 1578, 1580 and 1593 there were some small scale disturbances
organized by the Greek Cypriots, who later joined forces with the Moslems to
revolt against the local Ottoman administrators.
In 1764 , the Greek Cypriots and Turkish
Cypriots rose against Chil Osman Agha, attacked the palace, and though they
were fired upon, broke in and killed Chil Osman Pasha and about eighteen of his
men, looted the treasury and set fire to the building. Four months later,
Khalil Agha, military commander of Kyrenia, raised the standard of revolt and
issued orders to both Greeks and Turks villagers not to pay taxes. The uprising
made little difference to the overall situation and nothing much changed.
In
the 18th century, the Greek Orthodox Church received some privileges from the
Ottoman government and their authority increased. At the same time, the Greek
Dragoman, who was the principal link between them and the Turkish authorities,
became more influential. He was the chief collector of taxes and duties and
through his hands passed all kinds of public and private business. Thus, with
the Greek Dragoman directly in control of affairs and the Greek Archbishop
enjoying immense prestige, the Greek population became actually self-governing.
It was, perhaps, inevitable that the
growing authority of the Archbishop and the Dragoman should provoke the
hostility of the Turks. In 1821, after the outbreak of the Greek revolution,
Archbishop Kyprianos was accused of conspiring with the insurgents and of
organizing a rebellion aiming at the union of the island with Greece. He was
arrested and executed together with all the other religious leaders.
This
event influenced the political climate on the island. By the middle of the 19th
century, the ideals of mainland Greek culture, tradition and politics were
disseminated through the schools of the Greek Orthodox Church of Cyprus,
especially by mainland Greek nationalist teachers. The education of the Turkish
Cypriots was not an issue for the local Ottoman government. Rich local people
used to donate money for the maintenance of the religious schools called
medrese. Only in 1862 was the first modern elementary school established and in
1897 the first modern secondary school for the Turkish Cypriots. The first
girls’ school was opened in 1901.
The
contribution of the Ottomans to Cypriot art and culture
In the 300 years of Ottoman rule in Cyprus,
the Turks built mostly religious buildings. Some of these were Gothic
cathedrals turned into mosques by adding minarets, e.g. Mosques of St.Sophia in
Nicoisa and St.Nicholas in Famagusta. Some 200 small mosques were also built.
The most important ones are Bairaktar, Arabahmet and Sarayonu Mosques in
Nicosia, Ziya Pasha Mosque in Dali, Seyit Ahmet Agha Mosque in Larnaka, Cafer
Pasha Mosque in Kyrenia, Cami-i Cedid in Limassol, Pir Pasha Mosque in Lefka
and Haydarpashazade Mahmut Bey Mosque in Lapithos. Hala Sultan Tekke near the
salt lake in Larnaka and the Mevlevi Tekke in Nicosia, near the Kyrenia Gate in
Nicosia are the most important two tekkes. The Great Inn in Nicosia was built
after the conquest by the orders of Muzaffer Pasha. Later the Gamblers’ Inn in
the same vicinity was built. The Sultan Mahmut II Library in Nicosia, Bekir
Pasha Water Arches in Larnaka (built by his own money as he was governor in
Cyprus), various fountains and grave-inscriptions are further examples of
Ottoman architecture in Cyprus.
There were a lot of Turkish Cypriot poets
born in Cyprus during the Ottoman period. Mufti Hilmi (1782-1847), the most
famous of them, was given the title “Sultan of the Ottoman Poets” by the
Ottoman Emperor, Sultan Mahmut II. The most famous of the folk poets of this
period was Kenzi (1795-1839). (See Ahmet An, “The Values Cyprus Cultivated”, a
book of the biographies of more than 160 Turkish Cypriots born before 1899,
which also gives information about the cultural and social life in that period,
published in Turkish in 2002.)
The Anatolian Turks settled in Cyprus
during the Ottoman period had brought their traditional Turkish-Islam culture
with them and reproduced it in a different environment. One should not forget
that they were influenced by the culture of the local Greek Christian
population as they gave some cultural values to the neighbouring community. As
a result, some common cultural and folkloric features developed. In Cypriot
folklore, some motifs are so intermingled that one cannot say how much one
community gave to the other. The architecture in the towns is very similar,
with the kiosks and wide windows resembling those in Anatolia and the Balkans
and originating from Byzantium. The Gothic broken arch is also widely used both
in the rural and urban areas. The interior design of the houses is also
similar.
The
economic and social development of the Moslem population of Cyprus after the
British took over the administration from the Ottomans
The Moslem population which brought the
Turkish-Islamic culture to Cyprus from Anatolia lived peacefully with the
Christian population of the island during the Ottoman period. As the Christians
developed a well-to-do class in the middle of the 19th century, they
adopted the way of life of the Ottoman administrators of the island, using the
same style of houses and dresses. Most of them could speak the Turkish
language. Later, after the start of British rule, they developed their own
Christian schools, disseminating Greek literature and the Greek language
together with Greek nationalism and enlightenment, with the help of the
Orthodox Church of Cyprus.
Christians and Moslems in the rural areas
lived almost identical lives. Only the religion was different. They created the
new Cypriot folklore together with the craftsmen in the towns. Certain fields
of trade, construction and carpentry were carried on only by the Greek
Cypriots, whereas the fields of midwifery, quilt-making and textiles were
dominated by the Turkish Cypriots.
During the British period, although there
were some political restrictions, the Greek Cypriot community developed better
than the Turkish Cypriot community in the fields of economy, education, culture
and social life. The Orthodox Church of Cyprus also helped to make Cyprus an
intellectual centre, bringing the bourgeois movement from Europe through
Greece.
On the other hand the Turkish Cypriot
community had to wait for the formation of the new Turkish state in Anatolia
under the leadership of Ataturk. The Turkish Cypriots were open to the modern
way of life because of their coexistence with the Greek Cypriots. That is why they were ready to adopt
Ataturk’s reforms (modern dress, Latin alphabet, laicism etc.) quicker than the Anatolian Turks.
Although there was a difference of
mentality and psychology between the Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots, they
did not have big disagreements. The development of their ethnic-national
awareness was more rapid during the British rule as the middle-class grew in
the towns. The enosis movement of the Greek Cypriots and the Greek defeat in
Western Anatolia hastened the polarization of the two communities. After the
Second World War, the sporadic assimilation of the Turkish Cypriots stopped
because of the emerging nationalism among the Turkish Cypriot elite.
The Turkish Cypriot landowners and the
leaders who cooperated closely with the British colonial government, were
already too late to catch up with the development achieved by the Greek Cypriot
commercial bourgeoisie and they preferred to start the notorious “from Turk to
Turk campaign” only with the help of the underground organisation TMT, with the
aim of building the economic and political base for partitioning the island
between the two communities.
The
cultural life of the Turkish Cypriots during the British period
During the years of the Second World War,
we see an awakening of the Turkish Cypriot community. The formation of the
first Turkish Cypriot political party was in 1942 under the title KATAK
(acronym for the “Organisation of the Turkish Minority in the Island of Cyprus”
in Turkish). The separate ethnically-based trade-unions started in those years,
because of the pro-enosis policy of the Greek Cypriots. New literary journals
and newspapers were also published in this period. For example “Yeni Mecmua”
(New Journal) in 1944, “Dünya” (World) and “Ocak” (Hearth) in 1945. Dr.Fazil Kuchuk’s
Halkin Sesi (People’s Voice) was launched in this period in 1942. Yanki (Echo),
Inkılap (Revolution), Ateş (Fire) newspapers were all published in 1945-46.
Later came the other newspapers until the beginning of the 1950’s, like Kurun,
Emekci, Sabah, Kibris, Istiklal, Milliyet, Memleket, Bozkurt and Vatan.
The number of books published by the
Turkish Cypriots between 1878 and 1939 was 120, whereas between 1940 and 1963,
205 books were published. This shows the intellectual activity of the Turkish
Cypriots in the fields of both politics and culture in the two periods. The
working-class movement was also in full swing until the fascist terror of the
TMT started. The Turkish Cypriot leadership was able to silence the voices of
the opposition with the help of the TMT, which continued to be active after the
foundation of the Republic of Cyprus, killing in 1962 the two advocates, Gurkan
and Hikmet, who were trying to organize the opposition around their newspaper
“Cumhuriyet” (Republic).
The AKEL activist Dervish Ali Kavazoglou
was murdered by the TMT in 1965 and the political opposition was supressed. The
silence of the Turkish Cypriot people was broken only after 1968 when the
elementary school teachers organized themselves into a trade-union and started
a struggle against the Turkish Cypriot leadership. It was only after 1967 when
the graduates of the secondary schools, who were forced to stay in the enclaves
and do military service, were allowed to go abroad for higher studies. Most of
the Turkish Cypriot university students in Turkey were progressive, but not all
of them continued to be so when they settled after graduation in Cyprus, as
they became civil servants of the establishment. Intellectual activities were
limited during the 1960’s because of the limited freedoms inside and outside
the enclaves. The number of books published during this period was only 187,
including the official propaganda books.
After 1974, there was great turmoil among
the Turkish Cypriot people who entered into a new stage of survival or
extinction after the influx of the Turkish settlers from the mainland. A new
communal order was established in the northern Turkish occupied part of the
island and this posed a lot of questions about Turkish-Cypriot identity. The
influences from mainland Turkey became more intense through the organs of the
mass media which aim at a policy of Turkification of the occupied part. The
awareness of Cypriotism in the cultural area has led to studies of Turkish
Cypriot history, literature, culture and folklore becoming popular subjects for
research among the Turkish Cypriot elite. In the last 30 years, over 1500 books
on these subjects have been published, a striking trend which runs parallel to
the political struggle by the opposition political parties for more democracy
and economic progress.
Bibliography:
Sir George Hill, A History of Cyprus,
Vol.IV, pages 878-950 Cambridge University Press 1972
Doros Alastos, Cyprus in History, pages
259-280, Zeno Publishers, London 1976
(Cyprus Today, Vol.XLVI, No.2, April-June
2008)
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