16 July 2022 (Originally posted on Cyprium News. See the original article here.)

​Mustafa Niyazi​​​

MPhil International Relations

Founder & Chief Editor of Cyprus Profile

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Map of Cyprus by Piri Reis, drawn and published in 1521. Pioneering cartographer Piri Reis combined his aesthetic taste with maritime knowledge in his works, leaving behind some of the most distinct maps in the history of map-making. At the heart of Ottoman achievements and Turkish maritime power was undoubtedly their knowledge of geography, astronomy, geometry and algebra taught in madrassas (Islamic educational complexes). They were familiar with the main maps of the old world from the classic books of Islamic geographers. The sultans also encouraged sailors to make maps, memorize the geography of the regions they explored in full detail and make measurements that would minimize error in the route reports. Thus, in the middle of the 16th century, studies containing fairly accurate information were conducted. Piri Reis, one of the great admirals during the reign of Süleyman the Magnificent, was one of the leading figures who carried out this work. He served as a captain in many Ottoman naval wars and improved constantly in the field of cartography. As well as being a more than capable admiral, he was the most distinguished sea captain of his time, with a vast knowledge of geography and astronomy.​

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Cyprus is one of the Mediterranean’s most beautiful and storied islands. Also called Kypros in modern Greek, it shares its name with the original Latin aes Cyprium, meaning Cypriot Metal, or Cypriot Copper, and the Ottoman Turkish Kıbrıs, or Kıbrız, from which its name is traditionally derived.

Cyprus is a must-visit place for anyone looking to experience what the Turkish Mediterranean has to offer. Its breathtaking scenery, mountain ranges, beaches, throwback villages, and gothic castles are amongst the most unforgettable in the region, and its blend of cultural histories and influences – Egyptian, Roman, Latin, Venetian, French, English, and, of course, Turkish – as well as the strongly injected Greek influences, particularly in the south – will leave you with a unique understanding of how the culture of the Mediterranean developed.

The island’s history can be traced back all the way to antiquity. Cyprus is known as Kıbrıs in Turkish, a name derived from the original Ottoman Turkish. In local legend, Selim II, the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, fell in love with Cypriot wines, conquering the island that now continues this Turkish legacy.

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Sultan Selim II’s Portrait by Haydar Reis, 1570. Image Source: Wikipedia. This large album portrait of Sultan Selim II (reigned 1566–74) reveals much about his reign. It was Selim’s father, Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent (reigned 1520–66), who solidified the geographical borders of the Ottoman Empire and refined the central administration of his government, allowing his son and successor to pursue more sedentary pleasures such as literature, art and wine-drinking. Nicknamed “Selim the Sot” for his affection for wine, the sultan was nonetheless a great bibliophile and patron of architecture, music and the arts of the book. The painter, poet and naval commander Haydar Reis depicted Selim II as larger than life; the robust sultan in his luxurious fur-lined and brocaded gold garment dwarfs both the page boy and the interior in which he sits in a cross-legged position on a carpet. This composition was one of a number of conventions for Ottoman royal portraiture developed in the 1570s and is similar to portraits in Loqman’s Kiyafetu’l Insaniye fi Semailu’l-Osmaniye, a study to record the physiognomy of the Ottoman sultans. Description From: Museum With No Frontiers. 

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The legend ascribes that Selim II was a generous monarch who was fond of pleasure and entertainment, including drink councils, lending him the nickname Sarhoş Selim (Selim the Drunk) and Sarı Selim (Selim the Blond).

Cyprus also made an important appearance in another notable legend – on Hala Sultan’s journey through the island, she dropped off her mule and died in the village of Larnaka, where she was buried by the soon-to-be conquerors of the island, the Arab Caliphate.

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The Mosque of Hala Sultan Tekke. Image Source: Wikipedia.

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It’s no coincidence that Cyprus features prominently in the world of ancient Islamic and Ottoman Turkish legend – there’s historically documented evidence that shows the island had a strong Arab and Turkish presence and influence dating as far back as the 6th-7th centuries and 11th-12th centuries respectively. In fact, Turks in particular were living on Cyprus and held important and highly respectable positions long before it even became a Turkish island in 1571.

Going back even further, the first known human settlers on the island are conceded to be from Anatolia. And the discovery of a 3,500-year-old Turkish cemetery in Beşiktaş, İstanbul, puts the Turks in Anatolia as early as roughly 1,500 BC, hundreds of years before the Indo-European descendants of the Yamnaya gave birth to the Greek alphabet around 800 BC.

It’s no coincidence therefore that Cyprus is traditionally considered to be a heartland of the Turks and by that an extension of the Anatolian Turkish mainland.

Fast forwarding again, Cyprus became a central trading hub while inhabited by the Turks. It became closely aligned with its heartland of Anatolia during its Ottoman tenure. In 1571 the Turks began massive local infrastructure projects, and the island was subsequently contested over by the defeated Venetians and Holy League.

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The Coats of Arms of the Leaders of the 1571 Holy League (Habsburg Spain, Pope Pius V, Republic of Venice, John of Austria) as depicted in the printed order of battle, published by Antonio Lafreri in Rome, 14 November 1571. Image Source: Wikipedia.

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After the signing of a new treaty and the dissolution of the Holy League, control of Cyprus, which already solely rested upon the Turks, was roundly accepted, and it remained under their power for centuries.

Cyprus became a part of the British Empire in 1914 after Britain controversially annexed the island. The island’s quality of life stagnated under the British, and this tragedy continued in the 1900s – the British encouraged against the use of the Turkish language, neglected Ottoman built infrastructure throughout the island, and established the supremacy of other ethnic groups as a balance against Turkish influence.

In August 1960, the island became an independent state, becoming part of the modern world. Then during 1963-64, it was separated into two municipally independent communities. The history of the island’s Turkish rule lives on in its Ottoman-influenced architecture and music, which has a distinct cultural fusion unlike other regions of Turkey.​​​

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