THE STORY
OF NICOSIA
Nicosia
was first inhabited over 5000 years ago. It was
first known as Ledra during the Hellenistic
period, but later the name was changed to
Lefkothea under the Ptolemists. Till the Middle
Ages the city was only known by the Greek name
of Lefkosia; when Cyprus came under Latin rule
it was renamed Nicosia but the Greek population
continued calling it Lefkosia. As a result of
Arab raids on the island after the 8th Cebtury,
many people abandoned the coastal areas to seek
refuge inland; it was during this period that
Lefkosia (Nicosia) became capital of Cyprus. The
Patron Saint of the city is Saint Tryfilios, the
first Bishop of the island. Along with the rest
of the island, Nicosia continued to pass through
different hands.
The
Knights, the Lusignans, including Cyprus's last
queen, Katerina Kornaro, developed the culture
and architecture of the city, while the
Venetians fortified it by building new walls.
Nicosia was then taken over by the Ottoman Turks
in 1570 and its development languished. The
Turks called it by its Greek name of Lefkosia
and over the years this developed into its
current Turkish pronunciation of Lefkos(h)a. In
1878 the administration of the island was taken
over by the British and the capital flourished
and developed its European character; churches
were built and first public schools were
founded. Government buildings and court houses
were built as well as new roads and the city
expanded outside the walls. Now Nicosia became
the commercial centre of the country and the
zone around Ledra Street was the busiest.
In August
1959 Cyprus was declared an independent
Republic. In 1964 the city was divided when
Turksih Cypriots barricaded themselves into
their neighbourhoods after a brief intercommunal
conflict. This division line was called the
'green line'. In July 1974, a coup by extremist
Greek officers with close links to Greece
conducted a coup against the government which
was at the time presided by Archbishop Makarios.
They set up a puppet regime and Makarios fled
the island aided by the British who maintain two
bases oon Cyprus. Turkey used this situation as
a pretext to invade the island, using a clause
in the tratey of estabslihment of the Republic
of Cyprus, allowing the guarantor powers
(Greece, Turkey, UK) to intervene to restore the
status quo if the constitution was under threat.
Not only did Turkey not restore the status quo
ante, it created a total division of the island,
occupying 38% of its territory and forcing the
vast majority of the population from the
occupied territory to move south; since then
Nicosia is de facto divided into two parts.
For many
years Greeks were not allowed to cross over to
the north but in recent years the Turkish
authorities are permitting this.
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