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	κυπρος νησος ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΗ		κυπρος νησος ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΗ

			κυπρος νησος ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΗ
	==See also==
	*] for Greek, Turkish and Classical names.
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	==References==		==References==

Revision as of 06:53, 13 November 2007

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Turkish Republic of Northern CyprusKuzey Kıbrıs Türk Cumhuriyeti
Flag Coat of arms of Northern Cyprus Coat of arms
Anthem: İstiklâl Marşı (Turkish) Independence March

Capital	Nicosia
Official languages	Turkish
Government	Representative democratic republic

• President	Mehmet Ali Talat
• Prime Minister	Ferdi Sabit Soyer

Sovereignty (de facto) from Cyprus

• Proclaimed	November 15 1983
• Recognition	By Turkey
• Independence	from Cyprus
• Declared	November 15 1983

Area
• Total	3,355 km (1,295 sq mi) (not ranked)
• Water (%)	2.7
Population
• 2006 census	264,172
• Density	78/km (202.0/sq mi) (not ranked)
GDP (PPP)	2005 estimate
• Total	$2 billion (not ranked)
• Per capita	$16,900 (2004) (not ranked)
Currency	New Turkish Lira (TRY)
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)
Calling code	90
Internet TLD	.nc.tr
Freedomhouse.org Country Report Template:PDFlink Nüfus ve Konut Sayimi.

The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) (Template:Lang-tr, KKTC), commonly called Northern Cyprus, is a de facto independent republic, located in the north of Cyprus. The TRNC declared its independence in 1983, nine years after a Greek Cypriot coup attempting to annex the island to Greece triggered a Turkish invasion of Cyprus. It has received diplomatic recognition only from Turkey, on which it is dependent for economic, political and military support. The rest of the international community, including the United Nations and European Union, recognise the sovereignty of the Republic of Cyprus over the whole island. The TRNC and Turkey, citing the constitutional breakdown of 1963, state the Republic of Cyprus no longer carries legitimate authority.

The Turkish Army maintains a large force in the TRNC, which the Republic of Cyprus regards as an illegal occupation force; its presence has also been denounced in several United Nations Security Council resolutions.. Attempts to reach a solution to the dispute have so far been unsuccessful. In 2004 a UN backed plan to reunite the island was accepted by Turkish Cypriots in a referendum, but rejected by Greek Cypriots.

The TRNC extends from the tip of the Karpass Peninsula (Cape Apostolos Andreas) in the northeast, westward to Morphou Bay and Cape Kormakitis (the Kokkina/Erenköy exclave marks the westernmost extent of the TRNC), and southward to the village of Louroujina/Akıncılar. The no man's land or buffer zone stretching between the two areas is under the control of the United Nations.

κυπρος νησος ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΗ

Military

Main article: Military of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus

The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus has an indigeneous 5,000-man Turkish Cypriot Security Force (TCSF), which is primarily made up of conscripted Turkish Cypriot males between the ages of 18 and 40. There is also an additional reserve force consisting of about 11,000 first-line, 10,000 second-line and 5,000 third-line troops conscripted up to the age of 50. The TCSF is lightly armed and heavily dependent on its mainland Turkish allies, from which it draws much of its officer corps. It is led by a Brigadier General drawn from the Turkish Army. It acts essentially as a gendarmerie with a self-proclaimed mission of protecting the border of the TRNC from Greek Cypriot incursions and maintaining internal security within the TRNC.

In addition, the mainland Turkish Armed Forces maintain a Cyprus Turkish Peace Force (CTPF), regarded by the United Nations as an illegal occupation force, consisting of around 30-40,000 troops drawn from the 9th Turkish Army Corps and comprising two divisions, the 28th and 39th. It is equipped with a substantial number of United States-made M48 Patton main battle tanks and artillery weapons. The Turkish Air Force, Turkish Navy and Turkish Coast Guard also have a presence in Northern Cyprus. Although formally part of Turkish 4th Army, headquartered in İzmir, the sensitivities of the Cyprus situation means that the commander of the CTPF also reports directly to the Turkish General Staff in Ankara. The CTPF is deployed principally along the Green Line and in locations where hostile amphibious landings might take place.

The presence of the mainland Turkish military in Cyprus is highly controversial, having been denounced in several United Nations Security Council resolutions, though the failed Annan Plan of 2004 allowed for some troops to remain.

κυπρος νησος ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΗ

Geography and climate

The climate of the island is of an extreme Mediterranean type with very hot dry summers and relatively cold winters. Most of the rainfall is concentrated between December and January.

The climate of the coastal parts is less extreme than farther inland, due to the fact that the effect of the sea on atmospheric humidities is always present there. The sea temperature itself never falls below 16°C. (January and February); in August it can rise to 28 °C.

Spring and autumn are short, typified by changeable weather, with occasional heavy storms battering the coast in spring and a westerly wind, called "meltem" carrying the influence of Atlantic depressions to this far eastern end of the Mediterranean.

From mid-May to mid-September the sun shines on a daily average of around 11 hours. Temperatures can reach 40°C. On the Mesaoria Plain, although lower on the coasts, with a north-westerly breeze called "Poyraz" prevailing. The skies are cloudless with a low humidity, 40 - 60 per cent, thus the high temperatures are easier to bear. The hot, dry, dust-laden sirocco wind blowing from Africa also finds its way to the island.

Short-lived stormy conditions resulting from fairly frequent small depressions prevail throughout the winter, with 60 per cent of rain falling between December and February. The Northern Range receives around 550 mm of rain per year, whereas the Mesaoria Plain receives only around 300-400 mm.

Frost and snow are almost unknown in Northern Cyprus, although night temperatures can fall to very low levels in winter.

The chief rain-bearing air currents reach the island from the south-west, so that precipitation and atmospheric humidity is at its greatest on the western and south-western sides of the Southern Range. Eastwards, precipition and humidity are reduced by the partial rain-shadow effect of the Southern Range, a similar effect is also caused by the Northern Range which cut off the humidity associated with proximity to the sea from much of the northern Mesaoria Plain. Eastwards of the Northern Range, towards the bays of the Karpaz Peninsula, where the land narrows and the effect of sea influence increases accordingly, humidity increases progressively towards the end of the peninsula.

Most of the rivers are simply winter torrents, only flowing after heavy rain, the rivers running out of the Northern and Southern Ranges rarely flowing all the year round.

During the wet winter months Cyprus is a green island. However, by the time June arrives the landscape at the lower levels assumes the brown, parched aspect which characterises its summer face. The forests and the vineyards in the mountains, plus the stips of irrigated vegatation in the valleys remain green.

κυπρος νησος ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΗ

κυπρος νησος ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΗ κυπρος νησος ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΗ

κυπρος νησος ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΗ

References

Antiwar.com. In Praise of 'Virtual States', Leon Hadar, November 16, 2005
Carter Johnson, University of Maryland. Sovereignty or Demography? Reconsidering the Evidence on Partition in Ethnic Civil Wars, 2005
Emerson, Michael (2004). The Wider Europe Matrix. CPSE. ISBN 9290794690.
UN Security Council resolutions 353(1974), 357(1974), 358(1974), 359(1974), 360(1974), 365(1974)
^ "Cyprus." Jane's Sentinel: Eastern Mediterranean, issue 22, 2007.
UN Security Council resolutions 353(1974), 357(1974), 358(1974), 359(1974), 360(1974), 365(1974)

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