Islam in Cyprus Island: history and Muslim population data

History of Islam in Cyprus Island

Muslims conquered the Island of Cyprus in 649/28H under the reign ofCaliph Muawiya bnu Abi Sufyan, the first ruler of the Umayyad Empire.Muslims then lost control over it in 965/354H to the Byzantine Empire. Itwas recaptured by the Burji Dynasty in 1426/829H under al-AshrafSayfuddin Barsbay, but was lost by 1460/864H under al-AshrafSayfuddin Enal. The Island was recaptured by the Ottoman Empire in1570/979H. In 1878/1296H, the Ottoman Empire under Sultan AbdulHamid was forced to allow British troops in the Island in exchange totheir help against the Russians. Eventually, the British Empire annexedthe whole island in 1914/1332H. The Island then declared itsindependence from Britain in 1960/1380H, with two British enclaves inthe south of the Island remaining till today: Akrotiri (123 sq km) andDhekelia (131 sq km). From 1963 to 1974, Cypriot Greek Orthodoxmajority population who sought to combine the island with Greekcarried ethnic cleansing against Muslims, which caused the Turkishmilitary intervention in 1974/1394H, and the subsequent unilateraldeclaration of independence of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus31  Islam in Asia(North Cyprus) in 1983/1404H

The Island of Cyprus has a total area of 9,505 sq km. Currently, theSouth controls 5,896 sq km, while the North controls 3,355 sq km and therest is under British control. Table 2.1.3a shows the change in Muslimpopulation in the whole island before its division in 1974. Accordingly,estimates of the Muslim population changed from 20,000 or 19.1% in1600, to 30,000 or 16.7% in 1670, to 28,000 or 14.9% in 1691, to 150,000 or75.0% in 1745, to 47,000 or 56.0% in 1777 (census), to 60,000 or 75.0% in1790, to 30,000 or 34.0% in 1831 (census), to 33,000 or 30.5% in 1841(census), to 28,000 or 23.8% in 1847, to 44,000 or 26.7% in 1861, to 55,000or 31.1% in 1872, to 45,000 or 31.5% in 1878, just before the Britishoccupation.

British censuses show that the percentage of Muslims continued todecrease afterwards. This decrease was intentional by bringing Greeksettlers and motivating Turks to migrate outside the Island, mainly toAustralia, Britain, and Turkey. Accordingly, the Muslim populationincreased from 45,000 or 24.4% in 1881, to 48,000 or 22.9% in 1891, to51,000 or 21.7% in 1901, to 56,000 or 20.6% in 1911, to 61,000 or 19.7% in1921, to 64,000 or 18.5% in 1931, to 81,000 or 17.9% in 1946, to 105,000 or18.3% in 1960, to 120,000 or 19.0% in 1973. The latter figure is obtained bycombining the census data and official records of population exchangebetween the South and the North.

The decrease in Muslim Turkish population was not enough forOrthodox Greeks, which prompted the start of ethnic cleansing againstMuslims from 1963 to 1974 that caused the Turkish military interventionin 1974 and the subsequent separation of the northern part of the Islandin 1983. The figure of 1973 was obtained by using the following data:120,200 Turkish Cypriots where in the whole island by mid-1974, and32,213 migrated from the South to the North before 1979. Thus, the latterwas assumed to be the Muslims in the south in 1973 census, while theremainder of the Turkish Cypriots was taken as Muslims in the North.

We can now obtain records of the Muslim population in either part ofthe Island from the detailed census records as follows: The southincludes Larnaca, Limassol, Paphos, and half of Nicosia districts, whilethe north includes Kyrenia, Famagusta, and half of Nicosia districts.Tables 2.1.3b and 2.1.3c present a summary of the data for the south andthe north, respectively. Thus, before WWII the Muslim population in the southern part decreased by one percentage point per decade. Indeed, theMuslim population changed from 27,000 or 25.3% in 1881, to 28,000 or23.2% in 1891, to 30,000 or 22.3% in 1901, to 33,000 or 21.2% in 1911, to36,000 or 20.3% in 1921, to 38,000 or 19.1% in 1931, to 47,000 or 18.4% in1946. This population then increased to 61,000 or 18.7% in 1960, butdropped sharply to 32,000 or 9.0% in 1973, to 4,000 or 0.6% in 2001, thenincreased to 15,000 or 1.8% in 2011.

Combining data from census in both parts of the Island, we obtainthe following estimate for the whole island as summarized in Table2.1.3a. Accordingly, the Muslim population increased to 0.16 million or23.8% in 1982, to 0.18 million or 23.5% in 1992, to 0.23 million or 25.0% in2001, and 0.25 million or 24.2% in 2006, to 0.27 million or 24.6% in 2011,to 0.32 million or 26.3% in 2019. Thus, assuming that the Muslimpopulation continues to increase by 1.5 percentage point per decade, theMuslim population is expected to increase to 0.4 million or 33% by2050/1470H and 0.5 million or 40% by 2100/1520H.

23.2% in 1881, to 20,000 or 22.4% in 1891, to 21,000 or 20.8% in 1901, to24,000 or 19.8% in 1911, to 25,000 or 19.0% in 1921, to 26,000 or 17.6% in1931, to 34,000 or 17.2% in 1946. This population then increased to 44,000or 17.7% and then increased sharply to 88,000 or 32.3% in 1973 and144,000 or 98.3% in 1978, due to the exchange of population between thesouth and the north and migration of Turks to the northern part of theIsland. The figures for 1978, and 1996, were obtained by subtracting2,452 and 753 Greek Cypriots living in the North in 1977, and 1992,respectively, from the corresponding census. After independencecensuses indicate that more than 99% of the population is Muslim. Thispopulation reached 0.20 million or 99.6% in 1996, and 0.26 million or99.6% in 2006, to 0.29 million or 99.6% in 2011.

Historical Muslim population dataset for Cyprus Island

The figures below are from the CoMPS historical dataset. Population values are expressed in thousands; 2100 is a modelled projection, not a present-day count.

For the full time series and visualisation, use the interactive map above.