Cyprus dispute Kingdom of Cyprus. In February 1489 it was seized by the Republic of Venice. Between September 1570 and August 1571 it was conquered by the Ottoman Empire, starting three centuries of Turkish rule over Cyprus. Starting in the early nineteenth century, ethnic Greeks of the island sought to bring about an end to almost 300 years of Ottoman rule and unite Cyprus with Greece. The United Kingdom took administrative control of the island in 1878, to prevent Ottoman possessions from falling under Russian control following the Cyprus Convention, which led to the call for union with Greece ("enosis") to grow
Cyprus Turkish National Union legislate for the Turkish Cypriot population. In 1973 the party was dissolved and most of its members were involved in founding new political parties in the territory of Northern Cyprus. The party's primary objective was the protection of the civil rights of Turkish Cypriots. Prior to independence in 1960, it advocated partition of the island, known in Turkish as Taksim. After independence was granted, it then supported the London and Zurich Agreements for power sharing in the country. Cyprus Turkish National Union The Cyprus Turkish National Union (, KMTB) was a conservative political party in Cyprus led by Fazıl Küçük.