A Comprehensive History of Middle Eastern Countries - Cyprus Volume

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Features: A Comprehensive History of the Middle East is a 12-volume series covering the national histories of the Middle East. Each volume focuses on one country or a group of countries, exploring both their past and present. Ethnic and religious interactions have long been a central theme in the history of Middle Eastern civilizations. Ethnic and religious conflicts are the primary internal causes of instability in the contemporary Middle East. The prominence and persistence of these conflicts today are further amplified by the region's role as a focal point for global tensions and a crucible for intercultural exchanges.
The complexity of ethnic and religious conflicts in the Middle East, from an internal perspective, is primarily manifested in the intricate interplay of five major ethnic groups and three dominant religions. The four major ethnic groups—the Arab, Turkish, Persian, and Kurdish—adhere to Islam. However, Islam itself is characterized by diverse sects, and the Kurdish people, straddling Iraq, Iran, Turkey, and Syria, are also influenced by social and international factors. While the Jewish people, though not a numerically dominant group, have established the state of Israel, making them a powerful force. The Greek Cypriots and the Coptic Egyptians, though not large ethnic groups in their respective countries, hold significant positions, with the former being particularly crucial in Cyprus.
Ethnic and religious conflicts in the Middle East escalate into conflicts, broadly categorized into three types: . The first type involves interactions between different ethnic groups and religions. Some of these interactions have become central to Middle Eastern issues, such as the long-standing conflict between the Arab and Jewish peoples; others remain unresolved disputes, like the Greek-Turkish conflict in Cyprus. The second type involves interactions between different ethnic groups sharing the same religion. A prominent and influential example of this is the widespread and enduring dispute between the Kurds and the Arabs, Turks, and Persians before the Palestinian issue emerged; another is the rivalry between the Arabs and Persians, which even led to war between Iraq and Iran. The third type involves interactions between the same ethnic group with the same religion. Multiple conflicts and reconciliations among Arab countries fall under this category.
The conflicts and tensions arising from ethnic and religious interactions in the Middle East are rooted in historical factors, including numerous negative legacies from past exchanges. However, the most significant and direct external factor is the fallout from Western colonial powers' "divide and rule" policies. Such colonial policies have either deepened, triggered, or manufactured ethnic and religious divisions, serving as a means for Western powers to maintain dominance in the Middle East.
Between the 1950s and 1960s, the Middle East's system of independent nations emerged from the ruins of the Western colonial system. This was an opportune moment for the region's revival and development. Regrettably, the nationalism that once played a pioneering and driving role in establishing these independent nations later evolved into ethnocentrism, narrow nationalism, and regional hegemonism. This irrational extremism also spread among religious sects, intertwining with ethnic conflicts and manifesting as a strong political alignment of religious value systems. The self-centered and exclusionary mindset prioritizing one's own ethnic interests, along with the emotional, impulsive, and fanatical tendencies of ethnic and religious negativity, were exploited by political groups or external interference, leading to the complexity and internationalization of the issues.
The newly established system of Middle Eastern independent nations, shaped by internal and external interactions, especially in the context of globalization, has become an unstable and volatile fragile system. Cyprus, as a member of this system, exemplifies the commonalities and uniqueness of independent nations in ethnic and religious interactions. To understand the Cyprus issue, one must examine it within the broader context described above. Its characteristics are historical, international, and long-term. The fundamental tragedy lies in how the lack of a Cypriot national identity gave rise to extreme nationalism.
To delve deeply into the ethnic and religious interactions of Cyprus, one must explore the connections and changes from the three fundamental conditions of intercultural exchanges—time, space, and human interaction.