In the summer of 1821, the Ottoman authorities carried out one of the most brutal suppressions of the Greek Cypriot popu...

In the summer of 1821, the Ottoman authorities carried out one of the most brutal suppressions of the Greek Cypriot population in recorded history. It began on May 3, when around 4,000 troops arrived in Cyprus from Bilad al-Sham, the Ottoman territory covering modern-day Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Palestine. What followed over the next two months was a systematic campaign to eliminate the island's Greek Christian leadership. Ottoman commander Küçük Mehmet compiled a list of 486 prominent Greeks and brought it to the Sultan, arguing these men posed a revolt risk because of their ties to the Greek independence movement. The order from the Sublime Porte, the office of the Grand Vizier in Constantinople, was clear: kill them all unless they converted from Christianity to Islam. On June 12, most of the men on the list were arrested at their homes and thrown into prison dungeons. Sixteen managed to escape. Archbishop Kyprianos was the first to be executed, hanged on July 9 in the Square of the Government House in Nicosia beneath a mulberry tree. Before his death, he had told English traveler John Carne that he knew the end was coming. "My death is not far away," he said. "I know they are only waiting for an opportunity to kill me." On the same day, the three Metropolitans of Cyprus were beheaded: Chrysanthos of Paphos, Meletios of Kition, and Lavrentios of Kyrenia. July 14 brought what became known as the great massacre. Approximately 486 Greeks were publicly beheaded. Thirty-six were spared, but only because they converted to Islam. French ambassador Jérôme Méchain documented what he witnessed, writing that the Ottoman commander was growing "more and more ferocious" and that "every day in Nicosia he hangs, strangles or butchers unfortunate people, Christians." Swedish traveler Berggren recorded that houses across the island were spattered with blood. The events of 1821 in Cyprus took place in the same year Greece declared independence on the mainland, and they remain one of the most devastating episodes of Ottoman rule over the Greek population of Cyprus. #Cyprus #GreekHistory #Ottoman1821