Kingdom of Cyprus to take Cyprus back. King Richard took them up on the offer and the Templars returned to Syria, retaining but a few holdings on the island. A small minority Roman Catholic population of the island was mainly confined to some coastal cities, such as Famagusta, as well as inland Nicosia, the traditional capital. Roman Catholics kept the reins of power and control, while the Orthodox inhabitants lived in the countryside; this was much the same as the arrangement in the Kingdom of Jerusalem. The independent Eastern Orthodox Church of Cyprus, with its own archbishop and subject to no patriarch, was
Capital punishment in Cyprus now a museum. The unrecognised state of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus retains the death penalty in limited circumstances. Article 15 of the state's constitution declares that capital punishment can be imposed in cases of treason during wartime, acts of terrorism and piracy "jure gentium", and for repeated murders. Even in these instances, no execution of capital punishment can be carried out unless the Northern Cyprus legislative assembly decides so under the provisions of Article 78. , Northern Cyprus has never carried out an execution. Capital punishment in Cyprus Capital punishment for murder was abolished in Cyprus on 15