CYPRUS ( Κυπριακή Δημοκρατία )

Cyprus (Greek: Κύπρος , Turkish: Kıbrıs ), officially the Republic of Cyprus (Greek: Κυπριακή Δημοκρατία, lit. 'Cypriot Republic'; Turkish: Kıbrıs Cumhuriyeti, lit. 'Republic of Cyprus'), is an island country in the Eastern Mediterranean. It is the third-largest, and the third-most populous island in the Mediterranean, located south of Turkey, west of Syria and Lebanon, north of Israel, the Palestinian region of the Gaza Strip and Egypt, and southeast of Greece.

The Republic of Cyprus has de jure sovereignty over the entire island, including its territorial waters and exclusive economic zone, with the exception of the Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia, which remain under the UK's control according to the London and Zürich Agreements. However, the Republic of Cyprus is de facto partitioned into two main parts: the area under the effective control of the Republic, located in the south and west and comprising about 59% of the island's area, and the north, administered by the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, covering about 36% of the island's area. Another nearly 4% of the island's area is covered by the UN buffer zone. The international community considers the northern part of the island to be territory of the Republic of Cyprus occupied by Turkish forces. The occupation is viewed as illegal under international law and amounting to illegal occupation of EU territory since Cyprus became a member of the EU. Other neighbouring territories include Syria and Lebanon to the east (105 and 108 kilometres (65 and 67 mi), respectively), Israel 200 kilometres (124 mi) to the southeast, Egypt 380 kilometres (236 mi) to the south, and Greece to the northwest: 280 kilometres (174 mi) to the small Dodecanesian island of Kastellorizo (Megisti), 400 kilometres (249 mi) to Rhodes and 800 kilometres (497 mi) to the Greek mainland. Sources alternatively place Cyprus in Europe, or Western Asia and the Middle East.

Postal services existed during the Venetian and Ottoman periods of occupation. There was an Ottoman postal service in Nicosia from 1871 where mail was hand stamped "KIBRIS". A few Turkish Duloz stamps are known used on fragments or as singles (no complete cover has yet been found). Stamps of the Austrian post offices in the Turkish empire were used at Larnaca from 1864 with values up to 25 kreuzer. The British administration of Cyprus began on 11 July 1878 and initially British stamps were used which may be identified by the numbered cancels used. The first postage stamps marked Cyprus were British stamps overprinted CYPRUS from 1880. The first postage stamps produced specifically for use in Cyprus, rather than being overprinted British stamps, were issued on 1 July 1881. Cyprus was granted independence in 1960. Since 1960, the Cyprus Postal Services have issued stamps in several series per year.

British postcards were first used in Cyprus from 1878, examples of such postcards used in Cyprus are very rare. In April 1880 Great Britain postcards overprinted CYPRUS were issued. Postcards with the name Cyprus in the design were first issued in July 1881. With changes in postage rates and the design different postcards continued to be made available to date. As with postcards British registration envelopes were made available from July 1878, these were followed by Great Britain overprinted registration envelopes in April 1880 and in 1881 registration envelopes with the name Cyprus in the design were issued. In total over 150 different registration envelopes have been issued to date.