History of Cyprus United Kingdom. In 1925, following the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, Cyprus was made a Crown Colony. Between 1955 and 1959 EOKA was created by Greek Cypriots and led by George Grivas to perform enosis (union of the island with Greece). However the EOKA campaign did not result in union with Greece but rather an independent republic, The Republic of Cyprus, in 1960. The 1960 constitution put in place a form of power-sharing, or consociational government, in which concessions were made to the Turkish Cypriots minority, including as a requirement that the vice-president of Cyprus and at least 30% of
Northern Cyprus and the European Union EU by virtue of "de jure" being part of the Republic of Cyprus. It was hoped that the accession of the south in 2004 would provide the catalyst for unification so that a unitary state of Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots could join the EU on 1 May 2004. In the end, Turkish Cypriots supported reunification, also because it would allow them to join the EU. However, the unification plan was voted down by the Greek Cypriots and Cyprus joined the EU in the face of the Republic of Cyprus. , the EU recognises the north as being outside the