Channel: WonderWhy

Category: Education

Tags: cypriotsunficypgreeceun buffer zoneturkeycold wardivided islandcyprusgreen linenato

Description: This video is brought to you by Squarespace: squarespace.com/wonderwhy Start your free trial today, and when get 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using the offer code WONDERWHY. Music by Epidemic Sound: epidemicsound.com/creator Mediterranian Mix 1 - Stefan Netsman Archive footage courtesy of the Associated Press: aparchive.com A huge thank you to AP for permission to use their archive footage for free for this video. Cyprus, NATO's unsinkable aircraft carrier. In this video I look at how the island of Cyprus became divided through ethnic conflict and Western intervention. Starting as far back as 1571 when the Ottoman conquest changed the demographics of the island, all the way up until the 1974 invasion the Greeks and the Turks of the island never quite managed to live together in harmony. This ethnic tension was made worse by the Cold War, and Cyprus became caught up in the world of geopolitics, in which it occupies an incredibly strategic position. A United Nations peacekeeping force has been operating in Cyprus for over 50 years - the longest running UN force of all time. Nicosia is the last divided capital city in the world. As of yet, all attempts and negotiations to solve the dispute have failed. One can only hope that the situation is solved sooner rather than later, and without any further violence.