CYPRUS: THE GEOGRAPHY OF DIVISION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP08C01297R000500110007-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 19, 2012
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: February 1, 1984
• Content Type: REPORT

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Intelligence 25X1
Cyprus:
The Geography of Division
A Reference Aid
Sinik06
Scre
GI 84-10003
February 1984 '
Copy
385
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Intelligence
* _
Cyprus:
The Geography, of Division
A Reference Aid
Information available as of 16 January 1984
was used in this report.
This paper was prepared by
Office of Global Issues. It was
coordinated with the Department of State.
Comments and queries are welcome and may be
directed to the Chief, Geography Division, OGI1-7
? Secret
GI 84-10003
February 1984
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k.,yprus;
The Geography of Division
The Turkish-Cypriot declaration of independence for
the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in Novem-
ber 1983 has heightened tensions between the island's
two major ethnic groups as well as between their
mainland patrons, Greece and Turkey?NATO allies
who previously have come close to armed conflict in
protecting their interests in Cyprus. Greek and Turk-
ish Cypriots have been divided by a narrow UN
buffer zone into economically, politically, and socially
independent communities since Turkish troops invad-
ed the island in 1974?securing the northern sector
for their Cypriot compatriots. The Turkish-Cypriot
independence move, while not entailing the expropria-
tion _of additional land, solidifies the division between
the two communities and weakens prospects for reuni-
fication. This report examines the geographic' charac-
teristics of the division that underlie current tensions
and that will form the framework for any negotiated
settlement of the Cyprus problem.
History in Brief
Turkish interests in Cyprus reach back to 1571, when
Ottoman Turks conquered the Greek-inhabited is-
land?beginning three centuries of Turkish rule and
the deVelopment of an indigenous Turkish minority.
In 1878 the Ottoman Sultan ceded control of Cyprus
to the United Kingdom, which made it a crown colony
in 1925. Under British rule, Greek-Cypriot agitation
for union with Greece (enosis) became an increasing
source of tension, which aggravated by the ensuing
Turkish-Cypriot demands for partition (taksim)?
erupted in 1955 into what was to be four years of full-
scale intercommunal conflict and Greek-Cypriot
guerrilla warfare against the British; consequently the
United Kingdom, Turkey, and Greece negotiated a
settlement forbidding enosis or taksim and establish-
ing the independent Republic of Cyprus in 1960.
Intercommunal violence broke out anew in 1963-64
and again in 1967, raising the prospect of wars
between Greece and Turkey, which were averted only
by US mediation efforts. In July 1974, Greek-Cypriot
rightists, backed by the military junta in Athens,
mounted a coup that temporarily ousted President
Makarios and triggered a Turkish invasion. Shortly
after Makarios resumed his presidency in December
1974, the Turkish Cypriots established the northern
sector as a separate local administration?the Turkish
Federated State of Cyprus?which was neither inde-
pendent nor internationally recognized.
Strategic Location and Physical Setting
Only. 65 kilometers south of Turkey in the eastern
Mediterranean, Cyprus in recent times has served the
United States as an important staging area and
transshipment point.
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flights resupplying the US 25X1
peacekeeping force in Lebanon transit the airport at
Larnaca. 25X1
With an area of 9,251 square kilometers (slightly
larger than Puerto Rico), Cyprus is the third-largest
island in the Mediterranean. The northern Turkish-
Cypriot sector comprises 34.8 percent of the total land
area; the UN buffer zone, 3 percent; the southern
Greek-Cypriot sector, 59.4 percent, and the two Brit-
ish sovereign base areas, 2.8 percent.
Cyprus consists of two rugged mountain belts, an
intervening broad, semiarid plain (the Mesaoria), and
wide-to-narrow coastal lowlands. The Turkish-con-
trolled area encompasses the entire Kyrenia Range?
a narrow forested belt along the northern coast that
varies in maximum elevation from over 1,000 meters
in the west to 300 meters on the Karpas Peninsula, the
narrow panhandle of easternmost Cyprus. Most of the
fertile plain of Mesaoria also falls within the Turkish-
Cypriot sector. The Greek-controlled area is dominat-
ed by the Troodos Mountains?a forest-covered,
heavily dissected range with central elevations gener-
ally exceeding 1,000 meters; the highest point, Mount
Olympus, reaches 1,952 meters.
The Cypriot climate is characterized by cool, rainy
winters (mid-November through March) and hot, dry?
summers (June through September), with brief spring
and fall seasons between. The island's bright sunshine
during much of the year favors its economically
important tourist industry. Snow, which is rare on
most of Cyprus, blankets the elevations of the Troodos
Mountains above 1,000 meters from December
through February?attracting foreign as well as do-
mestic skiers.
Temperature Precipitation
F? (mean daily) Inches
Nicosia 100
75
50
Prodhromos 100
8
6
4
2
J FMAMJ JASOND
JFMAMJJASOND
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Land Use
UN
buffer
zone
Kokkina
Kyrenia
'Larnaca
Paphos
laiv13
- -
'):E"'?Lirnassol
700837 (A03859) 1-84
Water supply is a constant problem for semiarid
Cyprus. Because rainfall is concentrated in the winter
and the island's rivers dry up in the summer, under-
ground aquifers?many of which are in the north?
and artificial reservoirs are essential to ensure a year-
round supply of water for both domestic and agricul-
tural use. Between 1960 and 1978, dam construction
increased the water storage capacity tenfold to 65
million cubic meters; projects to construct additional
dams are continuing, mostly in the southern sector.
Divided Population
Even before the events of 1974, Cyprus's Greek and
Turkish populations had become politically polarized
and the seeds of physical separation had been plant-
ed?as evidenced by the 1964 installation of UN
peacekeeping forces along the "Green Line," dividing
the capital city of Nicosia. The Turkish invasion
'completed the polarization?almost completely segre-
gating Greek and Turkish Cypriots physically and
creating massive refugee problems that altered the
population distribution of the country.
By far the largest population upheaval was experi-
enced by the Greek Cypriots-150,000 to 200,000 of
whom fled or were expelled from the north, leaving
behind nearly all of their property. In 1981 the Greek-
Cypriot Deputy Minister of Interior estimated that
100,000 refugees had been resettled and that by 1983
the number would have risen to between 145,000 and
150,000. We believe that the figure is actually higher
and that almost all of the refugees have been assimi-
lated in the south. Currently Greek Cypriots make up
about 500,000 of the island's estimated 653,000 in-
habitants.
Famagusta
1=1 Dense to spatse forest; orchards, .
especially olive and carob
Sparse forest and brush, grazing and
Mediterranean-type agriculture with
grain, tobacco, olives, almonds, and
fruit
Cultivated field and garden crops:
wheat, barley, vegetables, potatoes,
citrus fruit in some coastal areas
Vineyards
Irrigated area
By 1974 many Turkish Cypriots had already settled
in enclaves in the north, but the Turkish intervention
brought about the migration of approximately 45,000
others who had remained in the south. Most of these
refugees?along with some 20,000 mainland Turks
that the US Embassy in Nicosia estimated had settled
in the north by 1979?were easily accommodated in
the housing abandoned by the substantially larger
number of Greek Cypriots who went south. The
current total population of the Turkish Republic of
Northern Cyprus?including mainland Turks and
Turkish Cypriots?has been estimated by the Embas-
sy to be about 140,000.
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Approximately 45 percent of all Cypriots reside in
urban areas. Nicosia, the island's largest city, has an
estimated population of 135,000, projected from the
1973 census base. Most of Nicosia is within the
Greek-controlled area, although within the wall-en-
closed old city at the center of the capital Turkish and
Greek Cypriots occupy approximately equal-size com- 25X1
munities on either side of the "Green Line." There are
few other large urban areas in Cyprus. Limassol, the
main Greek-Cypriot seaport, has a population of
about 65,000, and Larnaca, the Greek-Cypriot port
city and site of the main international airport, has
slightly more than 20,000. Based on projections from
1980 US Embassy estimates, Turkish-controlled Fa-
magusta?once Cyprus's main seaport?currently has
a population of almost 23,000 Turkish Cypriots;
adjacent Varosha?a popular Greek-Cypriot resort
area before the 1974 invasion?is now a ghost town
sealed by Turkish troops. In 1973, the two had a
combined population of more than 38,000. The rural 25X1
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Cyprus
TRANSPORTATION
Roads
Two-lane, hard-surfaced
One-lane, hard-surfaced
Loose-surfaced
Airfield
? Port
ELECTRICITY
Major powerlines
132,000 volts
132,000 volts, operates at 66,000 volts
66,000 volts
itt Power plant
O Substation
Scale 1:550,000
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population of Cyprus is fairly evenly distributed in
small compact villages located throughout the island;
only parts of the Karpas Peninsula and the central
Troodos Mountains are sparsely populated.
Partitioned Economy
Prior to the 1974 Turkish invasion, Cyprus had a
unified economy dominated by agriculture and sup- ?
plemented by manufacturing, tourism, and mining.
With the de facto partition of the island, however, its
economy was divided into two independently function-
ing parts having only minimal contact?a division
that persists today. Only for the supply of water and
electricity are the two sectors still somewhat economi-
cally interdependent.
The current focus of each sector's economic activity
reflects, in large part, the share of the island's re-
sources it acquired with the 1974 de facto partition.
The Turkish-Cypriot sector, which gained control of
more than half the arable land, continues to rely
primarily on agriculture?which, according to a 1979
Turkish publication, generates about 70 percent of the
Turkish-Cypriot income. Although they acquired
about a third of the island's preintervention manufac-
turing facilities, the Turkish Cypriots have not real-
ized any significant growth in this economic sector?
largely because of a continuing shortage of skilled
managers and workers precipitated by the flight of the
Greek-Cypriot population. Conversely, the Greek-
Cypriot sector, which lost access to large tracts of
valuable cropland while gaining a large skilled labor
force, has been forced to diversify its economy and has
invested heavily in labor-intensive export-oriented
light industry. Despite this emphasis, however, agri-
culture continues to be an important contributor to
the economic viability of the Greek-Cypriot south.
Tourism continues to be important to the economies
of both sectors. Unlike in the north, however, where
resort areas are said to be underutilized and in need of
renovation, accommodations at tourist facilities in the
south more than doubled between 1974 and 1980 and
expansion is continuing. In contrast to the tourist
industry, the once-important mining industry?fo-
cused on copper in the north and chromite, asbestos,
iron pyrite, gypsum, and umber in the south?has all
but ceased to be of economic importance, largely as a
result of the depletion of ores, falling world prices,
and the growth of other economic sectors.
On balance, the Greek Cypriots have weathered the
economic hardships of the island's partition far better
than their Turkish counterparts. While the south
enjoys a robust economy, the north continues to "rely
heavily on Ankara for economic support.
Agriculture. More than 60 percent of Cyprus consists
of arable land. Turkish Cypriots control more than
half of the best cropland, including 65 to 68 percent of
the cereal-producing areas of the Mesaoria Plain, all
of the tobacco lands (in Karpas), 80 percent of the
citrus plantations (along the Kyrenia coast), and rich
vegetable-producing lands in the Morphou Bay area.
Much of the eastern Mesaoria Plain and the Morphou
Bay area is irrigated.
Cropland in southern Cyprus?which accounted for
29 percent of the sector's total land area in 1981?is
concentrated along the coastal lowlands near Paphos,
Laimaca, and Limassol and on the southern slopes of
the Troodos Mountains, where most of the island's
vineyards are located. Major crops in the Paphos belt
include table grapes, citrus fruit, vegetables, olives,
and carobs; some cereals, potatoes, and other vegeta-
bles thrive on cropland near Larnaca and Limassol.
Lack of water is a major constraint to improvement
and expansion of agricultural land in the south.
Irrigated land is currently limited to coastal areas,
mostly near Paphos and Limassol. Some 50 square
kilometers of the irrigated land in the Paphos region
was added during the late 1970s through projects
funded by World Bank loans; other irrigation projects
in the Troodos Mountains and the Vasilikos area are
to be completed in the mid-1980s.
Water and Electricity. Water and electricity consti-
tute the only vestiges of economic interdependence
between Cyprus's divided communities. Turkish Cyp-
riots rely on the south for all of their electricity, for
some of the water for the Turkish sector of the divided
city of Nicosia, and for most of the water for Fama-
gusta. Greek Cypriots rely on the north for most of
the water for the Greek sector of Nicosia. To date,
each side has continued to supply the other with the
necessary services?without payment and virtually
without interruption. (Turkish Cypriots curtailed the
water supply to the Greek sector of Nicosia for a brief
period in June 1981.) In addition, the two share in the
operation of Nicosia's sewage system, completed in
1980?with the Turks controlling the treatment plant
and the Greeks controlling the collection system.
All responsibility for public electricity generation and
supply falls to the Electric Authority of Cyprus, an
autonomous utility owned by the Greek-Cypriot Gov-
ernment. Two oil-fueled power plants; one at Dhekelia
and one at Moni, generate the island's 264 megawatts
of power. Powerlines of 66 and 132 kilovolts carry
electricity to all main areas of the country. The World
Bank is funding a project to add two 60-megawatt
units to the Dhekelia plant to meet growing demands
for power and to replace older equipment.
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Transportation
Roads are the only means of land transport on
Cyprus. The island's network, which is relatively
dense except in the most rugged parts of the Troodos ,
Mountains, is divided into two systems by the UN
buffer zone. Traffic through the single official transit
point between the two sectors---located just outside
the west walls of Nicosia's old city, near the Ledra
Palace Hotel?has been severely restricted since the
recent Turkish-Cypriot declaration of independence.
Both northern and southern Cyprus are adequately
served by hard-surfaced roads. In the south, the main
netwOrk was expanded from 3,600 to 4,300 kilOmeters
between 1975 and 1980 to serve the expanding econo-
my. A new four-lane divided highway extending 72
kilometers from Limassol to Nicosia was about half
complete in August 1983.
Outside the road network, cross-country vehicular
movement and off-road dispersal are practical in the
central plain and along the coastal lowlands, except
for short periods during the winter rainy season.
Canals in irrigated areas hinder cross-country move-
ment throughout the year. In the foothills and moun-
tain areas that cover about half of Cyprus, steep
slopes and dense forest preclude off-road mobility
Turkish Cypriots control one major port---Famagus-
ta, on the east coast?which prior to 1974 handled 70
to 80 percent of Cyprus's general cargo shipments. A
small cargo port is at Kyrenia on the north coast and
a small mineral port is at Karavostasi/Xeros on
Morphou Bay. Greek Cypriots control two main.
ports?Limassol and Larnaca, on the south coast?
which have developed as major ports since 1974:
Larnaca handles general cargo and POL; Limassol
handles general 'cargo and grain. A new cement-
exporting port is under construction at Vasilikos,
about midway between the two main ports.
Of the island's seven hard-surfaced airfields, one is in
the Turkish-controlled area, three are in the Greek-
controlled area, two are in the British areas, and one
is in the UN zone west of Nicosia.
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