An Overview Of Demographics Of Cyprus

Cypriots share many customs but maintain distinct identities based on religion, language, and close ties with their respective motherlands. After the Turkish invasion of Cyprus de facto partitioned the Republic of Cyprus in two; Greek is predominantly spoken in the south, where the majority are Greek Cypriots, Turkish in the north, where the majority are Turkish Cypriots and Turkish, and English is widely used. Before the invasion the peoples of Cyprus (then Greek 78%, Turkish 18%, Armenian and Maronites 4%) were living dispersed on the island of Cyprus. Cyprus has a well-developed system of primary and secondary education. The majority of Cypriots earn their higher education at Greek, Turkish, British, or American universities, while there are also sizeable emigrant communities in the United Kingdom and Australia. Private colleges and state-supported universities have been developed by both the Turkish and Greek communities.
The Greek Cypriot community adheres to the Autocephalous Greek Orthodox Church of Cyprus and the Turkish Cypriot community adheres to Islam. The religious groups of Armenians, Maronites and Latins, in accordance with 1960 constitution, opted to belong to the Greek Cypriot community.
Recent large-scale demographic changes have been caused by the influx of settlers from Turkey and Bulgaria in the occupied areas. The south has seen an influx of British and Arab (mostly Palestinian and Lebanese) immigration, as well as migrant workers from Poland, Russia, Sri Lanka, Nigeria, China and the Philippines. As the 2001 census was restricted to the Republic's unoccupied territories, and did not include persons without Cypriot ID's or passports, there is no available official data from which to make estimates of numbers for each of these groups.
After the Turkish invasion of northern Cyprus in 1974 and especially the last 10-15 years, there has been an unprecedented effort by Turkey to change the demographic character of the occupied northern Cyprus. The results of a Turkish Cypriot census at the end of April 2006 state that out of a total population of 264,172, only 100,000 were Turkish Cypriots. Turkish settlers from Anatolia moved to the island, whose number reached around 146,122 (2007 figures). Almost 1/3 of the Turkish settlers in northern Cyprus have been given the ""Turkish Cypriot"" citizenship by the Turkish Cypriot authorities; in other words they were naturalized. Settlement in Northern Cyprus , especially if this is accompanied by naturalization, is a violation to the Geneva Conventions Protocol of 1977 since the Turkish occupation has been declared illegal by the UN. As a result of illegal settlement and naturalization of mainland Turks, the Turkish Cypriots who remain in Northern Cyprus are today outnumbered by the Turkish settlers and security forces.

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