British Annexation

Since 1878 Britain had run Cyprus under the Cyprus Convention while the island stayed Ottoman in law. That arrangement assumed Britain and the Ottoman Empire were partners against Russia. It collapsed in the autumn of 1914, when the Ottomans entered the First World War alongside Germany and Austria-Hungary.

On 5 November 1914 Britain declared Cyprus annexed and set the convention aside. Ottoman subjects born on the island automatically became British subjects. Those born elsewhere were given a year to leave if they wished to keep Ottoman status. For the time being the island was run under military arrangements, and its status as a Crown colony came only later, in 1925.

The war soon made Cyprus a bargaining chip. In early 1915 the Foreign Secretary, Sir Edward Grey, suggested offering the island to Greece in exchange for Greek support against the Ottomans, but the Cabinet held back because of its possible military value. After Bulgaria joined the Central Powers and invaded Serbia, Grey instructed the British ambassador in Athens on 16 October 1915 to offer Cyprus to Greece if it would go to Serbia’s aid. Greece, unwilling to risk war on Serbia’s behalf, declined, and the offer lapsed.

During the war Cyprus served as a base for British intelligence work in the region, and a prisoner of war camp was set up at Famagusta. British officials also worried about tensions between the island’s communities. The High Commissioner, Sir John Clauson, was reluctant to arrest suspected spies for fear of making relations worse.

For Greek Cypriots the 1915 offer showed that union with Greece was something Britain was prepared to consider. For Turkish Cypriots, it showed that the island’s future could be decided over their heads. The new Turkish Republic accepted the annexation in the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923, and two years later Britain made Cyprus a Crown colony.