Other

Facts about Cyprus.

koullaras

Inspired by the Lebanese take with similar subject, I thought I'd do a fact sheet about my homeland.


Facts about Cyprus.





  1. An island nation.

  2. Got its name from copper.

  3. In the Eastern Mediterranean.

  4. The Souteastern point of the European Union.

  5. Is divided since 1974 by the Green line and composes of the internationally recognized Republic of Cyprus and an unrecognized (except for Turkey) Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

  6. There are 6 permanent armies on the island.

  7. 6th most militarized land in the world.

  8. The capital Nicosia is split in half.

  9. Has a constituion that was written and formulated by other nations, namely the British.

  10. Its official languages are Greek and Turkish. Used to have English as an official language but was dropped some time ago.

  11. Is composed of 4 communities split into two groups. The Greek-Cypriot community is composed of: Greek Cypriots (Orthodox), Armenian Cypriots (Orthodox), Maronites (Catholic), and Latins (Catholics) and the Turkish-Cypriot (Sunni) community is composed of itself. Few people speak each others language save for the older generation.

  12. There are currently mor Turkish Cypriots living outside the island than on it.

  13. The main religion of the island is Orthodox Christianity with a Sunni and Orthodox minority.

  14. It houses the cordened off and abandoned city of Famagusta.

  15. It is the origin of cauliflower.

  16. It was previously colonized and conquered and raided by: Phoenicians, Persians, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Francs, Venetians, Ottomans and finally British.

  17. The UK has two bases and a radar station on the island, the US has a communications base in the capital and the Russians were recently given fleet basing rights on the island. Israel also houses a small division of the airforce here. The Turkish military has a presence of 40,000 troops.

  18. The 3rd most holy sight in Islam is found on the outskirts of the city of Larnaca. Hala Sultan Tekke.

  19. Notable people of Cypriot origin are: Zeno of Citium (the founder of the Stoic school of Philosophy), Theodora the Empress of the Byzantine Empire, Chris Christie (Former governor of Florida), Theo Paphitis (Brits know who this is), Kamil Pasha (Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire), Suat Gunsel (billionaire), Stelios Hajioaonou (Easyjet), Cat Stevens, George Michaels, Garo Yepremian.

  20. Mythical Figures from Cyprus are Aphrodite, Anaxarete and Pygmalion.

  21. Famagusta is the setting for Shakespeares Othello.

  22. The capital Nicosia has one of the finest complete exaples of Venetian walls in the world, very similar to the ones in Palmanova Italy.

  23. Cypriot Greek significantly differs to Mainland Greek in that it retains more of Koine and ancient Greek syntax and words than Modern Greek does. It also has a strong influence from Turkish, Italian, Arabic and English . The Cypriot Greek dialect can be more accurately expressed with the Latin alphabet. We have the benefit(?) of completely comprehending Greek mainlanders when they speak, but they have a difficulty comprehending us.

  24. Notable companies based in Cyprus are Wargaming.net and Viber.

  25. The main industries are Tourism, Accounting services, shipping and offshore base services.

  26. Halloumi, Commandaria wine and anari are products exclusively made in Cyprus.

  27. Ancient history in Cyprus stretches back 10,000 years and has some of the oldest settlements in the world.

  28. Was a founding member of the non-aligned movement.

  29. Has the oldest still in existence church in the world, this being the Church of Cyprus.

  30. Has its own type of donkey which is bigger than the rest of the worlds.

  31. Every military aged male in the Republics control is given a submachinegun.

  32. Has one of the highest traffic fatalities per capita in Europe .

  33. The migrant populations are mainly (Romanian, Greek, Bulgarian, Filipino, Russian, British, Sri Lankan, Syrian, Lebanese and Turks if you consider settlers to be migrants).

Facts about Cyprus.
Post Opinion
2 Opinion