Ottoman Cyprus

The Eyalet of Cyprus (, ''Eyālet-i Ḳıbrıṣ'') was an eyalet/province of the Ottoman Empire made up of the island of Cyprus, which was annexed into the Empire in 1571. The Ottomans changed the way they administered Cyprus multiple times. It was a sanjak/sub-province (, ''Sancağı Ḳıbrıṣ'') of the Eyalet of the Archipelago from 1670 to 1703, and again from 1784 to 1878; a fief of the Grand Vizier (1703–1745 and 1748–1784); and again an eyalet for the short period from 1745 to 1748.

Ottoman raids and conquest

During Venetian rule, the Ottomans at times raided Cyprus. In 1489, the first year of Venetian control, Ottomans attacked the Karpass Peninsula, pillaging and taking captives to be sold into slavery.Library of Congress
/ref> In 1539 the Ottoman fleet attacked and destroyed Limassol. Fearing the ever-expanding Ottoman Empire, the Venetians had fortified Famagusta, Nicosia, and Kyrenia, but most other cities were easy prey.

In the summer of 1570, the Ottomans struck again, but this time with a full-scale invasion rather than a raid. About 60,000 troops, including cavalry and artillery, under the command of Lala Mustafa Pasha landed unopposed near Limassol on July 2, 1570, and laid siege to Nicosia. The city fell on September 9, 1570; 20,000 Nicosians were massacred and every church, public building, and palace was looted. Only women and boys who were captured to be sold as slaves were spared.

Word of the massacre spread, and a few days later Mustafa took Kyrenia without having to fire a shot. The citizens of Famagusta, on the other hand, led by Venetian commander Marco Antonio Bragadin, put up a heroic resistance which led to the siege of the city for about a year, from September 1570 until August 1571. When the Ottomans eventually breached the fortifications, a massacre of most remaining Christians in the city followed, despite the Ottoman commander previously agreeing that in return for the city's surrender, Christians would be guaranteed safe passage to Crete. Bragadin had his ears and nose cut off and, after being thrown in prison for two weeks, he was dragged round the walls with sacks of earth and stone on his back, then tied naked to a column in the main square and skinned alive.

The fall of Famagusta marked the end of the Venetian rule and the beginning of the Ottoman period in Cyprus, with Lala Mustafa Pasha becoming the island’s first Turkish Governor.

On 25 May 1571, Pope Pius V formed the Holy League, a coalition between the Papal States, Malta, Habsburg Spain, the Republic of Venice, the Republic of Genoa, and some other Italian states. Four months later, on 7 October, the naval forces of the League, composed mainly of Venetian, Spanish, and Papal ships under the command of Don John of Austria, defeated the Turkish fleet at the Battle of Lepanto in one of the decisive battles in general — and naval battles in particular — of world history. The victory over the Ottomans, however, came too late to help Cyprus, and the island remained under Ottoman rule for the next three centuries.

In 1573 the Venetians left Cyprus, removing the influence of the Roman Catholic Church.

Administrative history

As soon as Nicosia was conquered, Cyprus was declared an eyalet under the administration of a beylerbey, and Lala Mustafa Pasha, the former beylerbey of Avlonya, was appointed to the post. Cyprus was divided into three sanjaks: Famagusta, Kyrenia and Paphos. Additionally, the sanjaks of Alâiye, Tarsus, İçel, Sis, Zülkadriye and Tripoli (Trablusşam) on the mainland were placed under the administration of the Cyprus eyalet. Cyprus was also divided into several ''kaza''s: Tuzla, Limassol, Episkopi, Kythrea, Paphos, Kukla, Lefka, Morphou, Hirsofu, Famagusta, Kyrenia and Mesariye.

These ''kaza''s each had their own '' kadı'' or '' naib''. The sanjak of Tripoli, however, was removed from the jurisdiction of Cyprus in 1573 due to its distance and given to the Damascus Eyalet. The sanjaks of İçel, Alâiye and Tarsus were also removed in 1610 and given to the newly created Adana Eyalet.

However, after the Ottoman conquest of Crete, the Cypriot Orthodox Church argued that Cyprus had lost importance, that trade volume had decreased and that people were emigrating. It thus requested a change in the administrative status as Cyprus could not afford remaining an eyalet. Thus, in 1670, Cyprus became a sanjak under the Eyalet of the Archipelago, under the direct control of the Kapudan Pasha, the head of the Ottoman Navy. This control was exercised through an appointed '' mütesellim''. However, under this system, local aghas were the tax collectors. This magnified their power and resulted in discontent, with the rivalry between them causing a two-year long revolt in the 1680s, led by Boyacıoğlu Mehmed Agha. This proved that the existing system caused a power vacuum and was ineffective, so in 1703 Cyprus was placed directly under the control of the Grand Vizier, administered on his behalf by a '' muhassıl''. To reduce the powers of the aghas, the ''muhassıl'' was given the power to collect taxes, as well as increased political and military authority. Between 1745 and 1748, Cyprus briefly became an eyalet again. These three years, especially the reign of governor Ebubekir Pasha (1746–48), were a period of development and relative prosperity. After the end of Ebubekir Pasha's tenure, Cyprus reverted to its former status.

Greek Cypriots had two very important administrative positions: the Archbishop, who headed the Orthodox Church, was recognized as the sole representative of the Greek Cypriot population from the 1670s onwards, and the Dragoman, chosen from the candidates determined by the Archbishop.

The ''muhassıl'' administration slowly became more and more dysfunctional. In 1764, ''muhassıl'' Çil Osman Agha was killed amidst a chaotic environment caused by his rule. Meanwhile, the ongoing war with Russia meant a deterioration in the people's welfare. Thus, on the request of the Archbishop and the Dragoman, Cyprus was placed directly under the administration of the Imperial Council in 1785, with the ''muhassıl'' being directly appointed. These new ''muhassıl''s lacked some of their old powers, which greatly increased the influence of the Orthodox clergy as they became tax collectors.Gazioğlu, p. 98. In 1839, with the reforms of Abdülmecid I, the island once again became a sanjak of the Eyalet of the Archipelago but gained significant autonomy. The island was governed by a ''mutasarrıf'', the ''kaza''s were consolidated into six larger ''kaza''s with their own administrative and judicial councils. A sanjak administrative council, in which Turks, Greeks and other minorities were proportionally represented, was established.

In 1861, Cyprus became an independent mutasarrifate under the direct control of the Sublime Porte. However, this changed again in 1868, when Cyprus became a sanjak under the Vilayet of the Archipelago under the newly established vilayet system. This would not last long, as the vilayet was administered from Çanakkale

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