The Aborigines of Cyprus have been invaded by dozens of colonising nations throughout their history. Now Turkey occupies over a third of their land illegally.
British invasion of Cyprus began when King Richard I of England captured the island in 1191 in the crusades, looting and massacring. The following year Cyprus was "purchased" by a Frenchman. Three hundred years later it was taken over by the Republic of Venice, and then by the Ottoman Empire the following century. The Turkish colonial minority remained, even after Britain annexed the island yet again in 1913.
A Cypriot resistance movement called EOKA fought the British and won their independence at last in 1960. But fourteen years later the Turks invaded again and gained control of 37% of the island through air strikes. In that invasion 160000 Cypriots were ethnically cleansed.
New wave Turkish invaders formed a separate state in the north, despite the fact that the UN declared the action illegal and demanded the withdrawal of Turkish troops. The illegal colony, founded on genocide, has failed to prosper, and depends on the mother country for aid. It also survives by selling Cypriot land illegally to private buyers from around the world.
The invaders claim indigenousness from the time of the Ottoman invasions in the 1500's, even though they are in fact the product of a new wave of invasion direct from modern Turkey. More Here.
