So, in my mind, Cyprus and Malta vote with the British. En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma
Britain supported Cyprus for EU membership and got involved in making it possible, is more recent. British property investment and tourism are also mainstays of the economy.
n December 1949, the Cypriot Orthodox Church challenged the British Colonial Government to put the Enosis question to a referendum. As was expected, the colonial government refused, and the Church proceeded to organize its own referendum which would take place in churches and be supervised by priests. The referendum took place on the two consecutive Sundays of January 15 and 22, 1950, with the overwhelming majority (95.7%) voting in favor of extricating the island from the British Empire and annexing it to the Kingdom of Greece.
The coup precipitated by the Cypriot Enosis movement and Greek military Junta precipitated the Turkish invasion which in turn put paid to the prospects of actual Union with Greece. However Culturally Greek Cypriots are very much Greek rather than British even if there is a dependency on British tourism (and Cypriot expats in the UK). It's a long time since I was in Cyprus, but my recollection is of a political culture very much more orientated towards Greece rather than Britain. Wheter this has any relevance to the Blair issue, I really don't know. notes from no w here
