Ottoman rule

Ottoman Cyprus is the island’s longest period since antiquity: three hundred and seven years. It began with a decision that shaped Cypriot politics for centuries.

The church instead of a nobility

The conquerors abolished the Latin church and restored the rights of the Orthodox one. The reasoning was simple: Greek clergy looked more dependable than Catholics tied to Venice. Under the millet system the archbishop became ethnarch — representative of the Greek community before the state, and responsible for collecting its taxes.

The church thus gained a secular authority it had held neither under Byzantium nor under the Lusignans. Hence its role in everything that followed — to the point that the republic’s first president would be an archbishop.

Relations with the authorities could turn bloody. In 1821, when revolt broke out in Greece, the governor Küçük Mehmed executed Archbishop Kyprianos and three bishops. Between state and population stood the dragoman; the best known of them, Hadjigeorgakis Kornesios, amassed a huge fortune and was executed in Constantinople in 1809 — his mansion in Nicosia survives.

What was built

The cathedrals of Nicosia and Famagusta became mosques — Selimiye and Lala Mustafa Pasha. In 1572, immediately after the conquest, the Büyük Han caravanserai was built in Nicosia, with the Omeriye Hamam working nearby. In 1747 Bekir Pasha brought water to Larnaca — the Kamares Aqueduct still stands. By the Salt Lake, over the tomb of Umm Haram, Hala Sultan Tekke rose in 1816, one of the revered Muslim shrines of the Mediterranean.

Orthodox monasteries were rebuilt: Chrysorrogiatissa in the 1770s, Agios Herakleidios in 1773, Kykkos after yet another fire. In Nicosia itself Saint John’s Cathedral went up in 1662.

This is also when the Cypriot village takes the form now protected as heritage: Fikardou, Pano Lefkara with its lace and silver, Kato Drys.

In 1878, under the Cyprus Convention, the island passes to British administration while formally remaining Ottoman. The British period begins.