An inter-communal armed conflict started in December 1963 which is referred to in the Turkish Cypriot nationalist narrative as Bloody Christmas
In 1914, Cyprus was annexed by Britain when the Ottoman Empire sided with the Central Powers. Britain had occupied the island in 1878 but it had remained nominally under Ottoman sovereignty: in 1925 the island became a British colony.
Then, in 1955, as the days of empire waned, Greek Cypriots begin a guerrilla war against British rule in pursuit of unification with Greece. Colonel George Grivas led the EOKA (National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters) in this campaign aimed at driving the British out. The governor of Cyprus Sir John Harding declared a state of emergency and, following the example set in Malaya, tried to co-ordinate the activities of the civil, military and police authorities with the specific aim of collecting and processing intelligence.
Independence negotiations in Zurich and London followed and were long and complicated, but, in 1960, it was agreed by way of compromise between Britain, Greece, Turkey, the Turkish Cypriots and the Greek Cypriots, that the new Republic of Cyprus would be a bi-communal republic with a single territory and a unique constitution.
