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<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Cyprus</st1:country-region></st1:place> :

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There could be a different story.

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When the Assyrian Emire finally broke up at the end of 7th c B.C.   <st1:country-region w:st="on">Egypt</st1:country-region> under the scite Dynasty became the predominant power in the eastern <st1:place w:st="on">Mediterranean</st1:place>.  Inabout 569 B.C. the Cypriot Kingdoms recognized the Pharoah Ahmos II as their overlord.

 

 In 525 B.C.  the Cypriot kings transferred their alliance to the Achaemenid (Persian) ocnquerers of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Egypt</st1:country-region></st1:place>.  Durinf Reign of Alexander he allowed Cypriot kingdoms to continue but took from them the right of coinage.  After him Ptolemy I of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Egypt</st1:country-region></st1:place> made the island a province of his Egyptian kingdom.

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     <st1:country-region w:st="on">Cyprus</st1:country-region> was annexed by <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Roman</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Republic</st1:PlaceName></st1:place> in 58 BC. ,  and made a Roman city ,  briefly retroceded to Cleopatra VII of Egypt, but after the battle of Actium  31 BC became a Roman possession again   ( administered as part of the emperial province of  Syria)  but became separate senatorial province .

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After the demise of <st1:place w:st="on">Roman Empire</st1:place> 395AD.  <st1:country-region w:st="on">Cyprus</st1:country-region> remained subject to the eastern empire at <st1:place w:st="on">Constantinople</st1:place>.

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In 688 <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Cyprus</st1:country-region></st1:place> became Moslem under Caliph AbdelMalik  .  In  965 AD. Emperor Neciphorus attached <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Cyprus</st1:country-region></st1:place> for Byzantines.   And in 1185 it was seized by Richard I  who attacked it on a crusade and massacred its inhabitants.  He then sold it to Guy of Lusignan,  the disposed king of  <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Jerusalem</st1:City></st1:place>. 

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In 1426 <st1:country-region w:st="on">Egypt</st1:country-region> overran the island  which from then on paid tribute to <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Cairo</st1:City></st1:place>.<o:p></o:p>

Then Venetians attacked it and it became Venetian possession for 82 years until regained by the Ottomans.

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In 1878 <st1:country-region w:st="on">Britain</st1:country-region> occupied <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Cyprus</st1:country-region></st1:place>.   Convention between <st1:country-region w:st="on">Britain</st1:country-region> and Ottomans  left <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Cyprus</st1:country-region></st1:place> under Turkish rule but administered by British government.<o:p></o:p>

In 1914 <st1:country-region w:st="on">Britain</st1:country-region> and <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Turkey</st1:country-region></st1:place> were at war.  <st1:country-region w:st="on">Britain</st1:country-region> annexed <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Cyprus</st1:country-region></st1:place>.<o:p></o:p>

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After 1924 <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Cyprus</st1:country-region></st1:place> was made crown colony.  The British government  offered the island to <st1:country-region w:st="on">Greece</st1:country-region> 12 months later  and encouraged Greek immigrants to the island but the offer was lapsed when <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Greece</st1:country-region></st1:place> declined it.  During World war II,  pack transport, pioneer, motor transport and other units were raised  in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Cyprus</st1:country-region></st1:place> by voluntary investment .  These men served in <st1:country-region w:st="on">France</st1:country-region> , the middle east, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Britain</st1:country-region> and <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Italy</st1:country-region></st1:place>.  After the war patriarch Makarias leader of the orthodox church emerged as the leader of  movement for enosis (union) with <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Greece</st1:place></st1:country-region>.,  vol. 6  p.934.

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   The compaign grew more violent, attempts to smuggle arms from abroad and nationalists from metropolitan <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Greece</st1:country-region></st1:place> raised  their voices in encouragement of the malcontents.

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Many Moslem villages were attacked and its inhabitants retreated north.

 

Encyclopedia Britannica  - <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Cyprus</st1:country-region></st1:place> �?p.899