The migration of mainland settlers to the islands accelerated this decline.

Mr. Kyprianou, 55, had sought a third five-year term on a platform of no negotiations with the Turkish side of the island unless 30,000 Turkish troops and 65,000 Turkish mainland settlers withdrew.

Of the six native tribes only the Nicobarese, who had converted to Christianity and taken up agriculture in place of their previous hunter-gatherer lifestyle, and mainland settlers suffered significant losses.

Since the Turkish invasion in 1974, the village has been solely inhabited by Turkish mainland settlers.

This figure however excludes mainlanders who are married to Turkish Cypriots or adult children of mainland settlers as well as all minors.

Ankara and the Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash reject the proposals and other Security Council resolutions demanding the withdrawal of the estimated 35,000 Turkish troops and 50,000 mainland settlers from the north.

However, I have never underestimated the practical and political difficulties created over the 30 post-invasion years in which Turkey has moved 120 000 mainland settlers into the north, when they do not share the common historical heritage of the island and generally do not speak English or Greek, previously the bicommunal languages.

They also object to mainland settlers being granted citizenship, as this would appear to reward the aggressor and violate the Geneva Conventions, which prohibit the settlement of outside populations by the occupying power.

Despite the general tolerance of the native Turkish Cypriot community, the community faces threats and sometimes attacks at the hands of mainland Turkish settlers and by island nationalists.