So... which countries are our "friends"?

[TJ]

France (big Armenian diaspora)

[Red Brigade]

Garabakh is our only ally.
At least for now.

[Baron Dants]

France
"Russia" (whatever..they're just screwing us over lately)
Iran
Cyprus
Greece (not as markedly friendly as Cyprus)
India

[Murtaza]

India? haha do you think she can do anything for you? And greece and cyprus is not your ally, they are our enemy. Know difference?

[Baron Dants]

Armenia has great relations with Cyprus, and this is historically true.
India's embassy in Armenia is a very active one, and India has plans to invest in Armenia's IT sector.

Both countries have had good relations with Armenia for centuries, and this has nothing to do with Turkey. What are you doing here again?

[Murtaza]

Diar taking a trip, I would not say anything for India(even It cant help you much when the war rise), but your relation with cyprus is complately related with Turkey. And It have not much history, so It cant be historically true.

You should learn difference between" aliance" or "enemy of Turkey".If your only enemy is not Turkey.

[Baron Dants]

Did we say ally, or did we say friend?

You should learn difference between "reading" and "not reading".

[bezjian]

your relation with cyprus is complately related with Turkey. And It have not much history, so It cant be historically true.

sorry but not everything revolves around turkey. in fact turks do not appear anywhere in the historical record of the mediterranean until not more than 10 centuries ago.

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Cyprus: The Armenian Community

BYZANTINE PERIOD [330 - 1191 AD]

After the division of the Roman Empire, Cyprus came under the Eastern Roman Empire, known as Byzantium, with Constantinople as its capital.

Beginnings of the Armenian community in Cyprus

There are records of individual Armenians associated with Cyprus as early as the 5th century BC, but the history of the community on the island became clearly defined within the context of the Byzantine Empire. The second half of the 6th century saw the appearance of an Armenian community on the island of Cyprus: numerous Byzantine historians record the resettlement of as many as 10,000. They mention the “cultivation of land” or the “defence of the Empire” as reasons for such a policy.

There were many instances of resettlement throughout the history of the Byzantine Empire. A large number of Armenians found themselves as far away from their territories as Macedonia, Sicily, southern Italy, Thrace, along the coastal towns of the Black Sea, the Aegean and Crete.

It was Justinian 1 [emperor, 527-65] who had initiated this policy. By centralising the administration, and by legislating and codifying new laws, he had succeeded in replacing the Latin culture with that of the Greek. By doing so, he had established the foundations of a new sensibility. The multicultural environment encouraged many Armenians to seek their fortune in an Empire that was offering considerable opportunities. Armenians, noted for their martial skills, entered the army. Many rose to positions of power, as generals, as governors and, in the later centuries, as emperors. A few were sent to serve in Cyprus. Alexius arrived on the island in 868 AD as a general to keep the Arabs at bay; Basil was sent in 968 AD as governor, as was the Duke Vahram in 965 AD.

Emperor Heraxxxxus, said to be have been of Armenian origin, was particularly ruthless in his resettlement programme which took place during the early years of the 7th century. Of greater interest to the community in Cyprus was his attempt at bridging the rift between the Armenian Apostolic Church with that of the Greek Orthodox Church by introducing the doctrine of Monotheletism, which he tried to work out on the island but with little success. In 973 AD, with the arrival of Catholicos Khachik I, a bishopric was established in Nicosia, reflecting the importance of the existing Armenian community within the diaspora.

The Armenian Church during the Byzantine Period

Transferring the capital from Rome to Byzantium was not simply an administrative decision on the part of Constantine the Great [306-337 AD]. Amidst the radical changes, Christianity found itself recognised as the favoured religion of the Empire.

Since the Kingdom of Armenia had already accepted Chrsitianity as its official religion, it was able to participate in the cultural and social changes more readily. It retained its ties with Syria, especially with its intellectual centre at Edessa, until the arrival of the Arabs in the region during the 7th century. It also opened up to the intellectual ideas that were taking shape at Constantinople, and continued to do so until the capital’s fall in the 15th century.

Interestingly, the Armenian Church secured its own position in the critical debates that raged primarily between the Antiochene and Alexandrian schools of thought on matters regarding the doctrine, the liturgy and the creed, forging its own distinct identity in matters pertaining to theology. There are records of Cypriot and Armenian clergy sitting alongside each other at the numerous and significant early Church Councils, held in various cities around the eastern Mediterranean.

Close ties between Cyprus and Lesser Cilician Armenia

Following the death of the prophet Mohammed in 632 AD, expeditions which he had planned in the hope of extending the frontiers of Islam were realised by his followers. In Cyprus, Byzantine rule was constantly interrupted by Arab military expeditions which lasted until 912 AD. Armenians were living in strategic positions across the island, and helped in the defence of the land. A more militant Islamic force threatened the Byzantine Empire and its Christian neighbours with the appearance of the Seljuk Turks in Asia Minor. Many Armenians subsequently sought refuge in the southern province of Cilicia with its mountainous landscape and sheltered harbours making it a land of strategic importance. With its geographical proximity to the island of Cyprus, this new kingdom, known as Lesser Cilician Armenia, established close ties with the Kingdom of Cyprus. It became inextricably connected through a series of royal marriages.

End of Byzantine Rule

Isaac Comnenus, a grand nephew of the Byzantine Emperor Manuel 1, was appointed governor of Cilicia. He was captured by Armenians and sold to the Order of the Knights Templars. Once freed, he crossed over to the island of Cyprus in 1184 with forged letters and proclaimed himself “Emperor of Cyprus”, having married the daughter of Thoros, the Armenian “Lord of the Mountains”. He may have brought Armenians with him from Cilicia. He made himself very unpopular and was unable to fight the crusading army which had landed on the island in 1191. His brief rule ended with the arrival of the monarch, Richard 1 of England. Comnenus died in captivity in 1195.

Cyprus passes into the hands of the Lusignans The presence of Christians in Cyprus whose allegiance was to Rome began officially with the arrival, in 1191, of the crusader King of England, Richard 1. His marriage to Princess Berengaria

LATIN PERIOD: Lusignans, Genoese & Venetians [1191 - 1571]

Cyprus passes into the hands of the Lusignans

The presence of Christians in Cyprus whose allegiance was to Rome began officially with the arrival, in 1191, of the crusader King of England, Richard 1. His marriage to Princess Berengaria of Navarre is said to have taken place in a chapel within Limassol Castle. The best man at the wedding was Leo “Lord of the Mountains”who was to be the future King of Lesser Armenia. His own coronation at Tarsus was acknowledged by Latin monarchs, the Papacy, the Byzantine Emperor and the head of the Eastern Churches.

Richard left soon after, having sold the island to the Order of the Knights Templars. In May 1192, the Templars asked King Richard to buy back the island, but Richard induced Guy de Lusignan to acquire the island, thus marking the beginning of Lusignan rule in Cyprus.

The crusades that had already begun in 1099 gradually involved monarchs and churchmen throughout Europe, whose shared ideology was to liberate the Holy Land from the Muslims and to safeguard the routes taken by pilgrims to and from the Christian holy shrines.

The land routes were through the southern regions of Asia Minor and along the coast of the Levant. The sea route was by way of Cyprus. These territories had been under Byzantine rule for centuries and, by the Third Crusade, numerous kingdoms and principalities, with close Latin connections, had come into existence in the eastern Mediterranean. One was the Kingdom of Cyprus, and another was the Kingdom of Lesser Armenia at Cilicia. A series of political marriages between these ruling families of the two kingdoms forged close ties for two centuries. Therefore it was not surprising to see a steady rise in the number of Armenians on the island throughout this period, especially in the main towns of Nicosia and Famagusta.

With the fall in 1291 of Acre, an important Christian centre on the eastern Mediterranean coast, the Latins were forced to leave their estates in the Levant and to settle elsewhere. Many, including some Armenians, arrived in Cyprus where they integrated readily.

With the fall of Jerusalem in 1267, the King of Cyprus had adopted the title “King of Jerusalem”. By 1393, the Kingdom of Lesser Armenian had lost much of its power. Leo V, the last King of Lesser Armenia fled to Cyprus and from there continued his journey to France, where he eventually died and was buried in 1303. His title and rights were transferred to the Lusignan King of Cyprus and Jerusalem, James I at the Cathedral of St Sophia, Nicosia, in 1396. With the rise of the Genoese and the Venetian mercantile Republics, the reasons for being in the eastern Mediterranean seemed purely to safeguard the trading centres and take all the wealth that was on offer. What had begun with zeal and high ideals, in the cause of Christianity, fell apart into a struggle for power and territorial gains. Not only was Jerusalem lost in 1267, but Constantinople was soon to fall in 1453. In 1458 Queen Charlotte of Cyprus, daughter of the Lusignan King John II and the Byzantine Princess Helena Palaeologia, married Louis of Savoy. Although the rightful heir to the throne, she was soon forced to abdicate by her half brother James II in 1467. After numerous attempts to regain the kingdom, she died in 1487 at the age of 44 and was buried at St Andrew’s Chapel in Rome. Written on her tomb is the inscription “Charlotte, Queen of Jerusalem., Cyprus and Armenia”. The “Lion of Armenia” is still worn by her descendants.

Venetians take over Cyprus

The Republic of Venice, through diplomatic craft, succeeded in inducing James 11 to marry a Venetian noblewoman, Caterina Cornaro. Within a year of the marriage, both the King and their baby son died, thus ending the Lusignan line in Cyprus. After 15 years, the Republic of Venice forced Caterina to surrender her position as Queen, and in 1489 she left for Venice, marking the end of the Lusignan rule in Cyprus. She spent the rest of her life, until her death in 1510, on her estate at Asola. Written on her tomb at SS. Apostoli Chapel in Venice is the inscription “The mortal remains of Queen of Cyprus, Jerusalem and Armenia.”

Venetian colonial rule lasted from 1489 to 1571. It was a mercantile culture. Armenian merchants mingled with other traders, at Famagusta, the seat of power and the greatest emporium in the eastern Mediterranean.

OTTOMAN PERIOD [1571-1878]

Sultan Selim 11 of Turkey [1566-1577] brought Cyprus under the Ottoman rule. The Venetian hold on the island was destroyed following the siege of Nicosia in 1570, and of Famagusta in 1571.

The tolerance shown to all Christians, save those of the Roman Catholic faith, was also beneficial for the Armenians. Legal official documents issued by the Sultan at the Ottoman court in Constantinople assured the Armenian community of their rights to two important properties. The 1571 firman enabled the congregation to resume religious services at the Church of St. Asdvadzadzin [Virgin Mary] in Nicosia, while the 1642 firman exempted the paying of taxes for St. Magar [Blessed] Monastery in the Kyrenia district.

St. Asdvazdazdin Church in Nicosia was built most probably in the 13th century. It was the principal convent on the island, run by the nuns of Notre Dame de Tyre. Some members of the order came from distinguished Armenian families, such as the Abbess, Princess Fimie, daughter of King Haytoun 1 of the Cilician kingdom. The community continued to use it as its principal church until the 1963 communal troubles when the Armenians found themselves displaced from their ancient quarter. With the Turkish invasion of 1974, it fell within the occupied territory.

Records of travellers visiting the island from 1571, Ottoman archival material dating from 1710, and historical documents written by Greeks, suggest that the community during this period of rule remained small. They also reveal that the community was mostly in Nicosia, in Famagusta, at St. Magar Monastery and the nearby villages, with only a few families residing in Larnaca.

St. Magar monastery, situated on the northern mountains of Kyrenia, remained a haven for visitors, mostly churchmen and pilgrims on their way to and from Jerusalem and the Holy Land. One such visitor was Hovsep Shishmanian [1822-1888], better known by his literary name ‘Tserentz’. Although an official doctor sent by the Ottoman government from Constantinople to a hospital in Nicosia, he spent much of his time at the Monastery, stimulated by the visible outline of the distant Taurus Mountains, writing a historical novel, titled “Toros Levoni”, set in the times of the Cilician Kingdom of Lesser Armenia.

There seems to have been greater wealth throughout the 18th century amongst the members of the community and the church, even though the administration had become more oppressive with its constant demands of high taxes. Extensive repairs were carried out at the Monastery. Lands, watermills and houses were purchased at the nearby village of Kythrea.

19th century documents reveal a vivid picture of the community. A local bishop Dionysus in 1817 is seen collecting manuscripts, official documents and government decrees, as well as preparing a list of all the Armenian properties on the island; an affluent and ostentatious merchant, Mr Sekis, is seen at ease with government officials and foreign dignitaries; a certain gentleman, Diran ‘Effendie’, distinguishes himself as a successful advocate and an eccentric; an Armenian Dragoman [ official translator] is hanged in 1821alongside the Greek Cypriot leaders and churchmen during the unrest caused by the Greek War of Independence; a primary school for boys is established in Nicosia in 1879; and a local Greek newspaper reviews visiting groups of Armenian actors from Constantinople performing in Turkish to audiences in Larnaca and Nicosia.

A fire at the Armenian Prelature in 1860 may have robbed the community of important papers. Nevertheless, by far the most important church record of the last days of Ottoman rule for the Armenian community is still in existence. It is an independent census carried out by Vartabed Hovhaness Kahana Shahnanian. He began work in 1877 and continued to record what amounted to 152 members of the community during his eight year term in office. With the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, Cyprus found itself once again along the main trade route in the eastern Mediterranean. The prospects of the community were to change inevitably, for the better.

...

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for the continuation see

https://www.cyprus.gov.cy/cyphome/GovHome.nsf/0/433AA17065A614F9C2256FC8003AE06C?OpenDocument&languageNo=1

[Baron Dants]

lol, it may be tough for some to accept that relations between our countries were good even before Turkey existed. Bitter pill to swallow, right?

[Murtaza]

oh you mean 1000 year before? Well, be careful, They are friendly of PKK too. But well last year PKK lost money at cyprus.

For your russia, are you joking? or france? Didnt they both sell you to us(Turks).