THE Cypriot capital Nicosia has been continuously inhabited for over 4,500 years and it is first mentioned in a clay tablet dating back to 672BC in the era of its Assyrian ruler, King Esarhaddon.

[[{"fid":"17276","view_mode":"inlineright","fields":{"format":"inlineright","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false},"link_text":null,"type":"media","field_deltas":{"1":{"format":"inlineright","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false}},"attributes":{"class":"media-element file-inlineright","data-delta":"1"}}]]On the edge of Europe and Africa, its location on the trade routes crisscrossing the Mediterranean have given it a unique ethnography.

Since the murderous Turkish invasion in 1974 — triggered by the Greek military junta’s coup ousting president Makarios III — and the ethnic cleansing that followed on both sides, the two parts of the island had been hermetically isolated until 2003, when three crossing points were established.