Colonial and Postcolonial Cyprus analyses colonial and
postcolonial writings about Cyprus, before and after its independence
from the British Empire in 1960. Nunziata uses a postcolonial lens to
address Cyprus’s history as a “strategically located Mediterranean
island that has had a distinct experience of major world
events” (Huggan 2). Cyprus is a postcolonial space, an island in the
East Mediterranean in between Africa, Asia and Europe; as such it is
referred to as being part of the Middle East, ceded by the Ottomans to
the British in 1878 and independent with a divided capital since
1960s. Despite 1960 being the year of independence the UK
maintains two sizeable military bases on the island, the British
overseas territories Akrotiri and Dhekelia. In addition, after the island
gained independence, intracommunal conflict broke out between
Greek speakers and Turkish speakers still feeling the impact of
British divide of politics from the preceded decades. These events
culminated in the events of 1974 leaving the island divided by a
buffer zone which was in view partial opened in 2003. Most Turkish
speakers now live in the north of the island whereas Greek speakers
live in the south. Thousands became refugees during this new part of
the twentieth century