In this article, divergent positions of the Ottoman Empire and its policies, the Orthodox Church of Cyprus, the Turkish provincial administration and Müslim and zimmi (non-Muslim) subjects, and the process of their interrelations and interactions are to be exarnined. Internal and external factors of the period were quite determinant. The sources of this work are the relevant archival documents obtained from of the Ottoman Archive of Prime Ministery (İstanbul) and mostly belong to the second half of the eighteenth century, a note-vvorthy turning point in the socio-politic history of Cyprus under the Turkish rule.

Ever since his emergence as the leader of the Turkish nationalists, Kemal Atatürk had attracted wide support from among the Müslim of British India. Though the adulation of Kemal had sprung from the Indian in- volvement with pan-Islam but basically it was his apparent defence of the caliphate which had endeared him to his well-wishers in the Subcontinent. Thus, ali through the exuberance of the Khilafat movement (1918-1924), Mustafa Kemal was lauded for his perceived stand against Western im- perialism in the hour of Islam's grave crisis. Even when the relations between the sultan-caliph at İstanbul and the nationalists at Ankara fell to their lowest ebb, as in Nowember 1922 owing to the separation of the sultanate and the caliphate, no widespread stir w as created in India. The clash came only in March 1924, when Kemal abolished the caliphate which to him had become anomalous and anachronistic. The reaction in India was instantaneous and sharp, but somehow the break was soon repaired. After the initial shock, the Indian public opinion, spearheaded by those who understood the Turkish predicament, began to tilt again in favour of the nationalists and the new situation generally came to be accepted.

By establishing firmly-based states in various places and regions the Turkish nation, has continued to exist uninterrupted since the 7th century B.C. up to the present day always looking for a religion befitting its both national and individual character. On the strength of this various Turkish clans and groups in different regions, have embraced religions such as Animism, Shamanism, Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism etc. For example, Khazar (Caspian) Turks, who founded a state on the coast of the Caspian Sea, to which they gave their name, accepted Christianity in 508. Furthermore, Islam began to spread amongst them when the Arabs attacked the Caucasus at the end of the 7th century A.D. This state of which Balanjar was the capital accepted Judaism as the offical religion. The Gagauz Turks who live in Rumania today are Orthodox Chirtians. They conduct services in their church in Turkish. Turkish states of Turkestan, began accepting Islam as their official religion towards the end of the 10th century A.D. The first Turkish Muslim state (Which existed from 840-1212) was that of the Karahanlis. The Turkish people, who set up this state, which was also called Ilek Hanlar, became Muslims collectively at the end of the 10th century. (in 940 A.D.) Turkish states after this date were all Muslim.