On 20 July 1974, following the coup d’état mounted against the then President Makarios by the supporters of the union of the island with Greece, Turkish troops occupied the northern part of the island. The Turkish Cypriot Federated State was proclaimed on 13 February 1979. It became the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) in 1983; it has never been recognized by the international community, other than by Turkey. Some 30,000 Turkish soldiers are garrisoned on the island. In view of Cyprus’s accession to the European Union on 1st May 2004, it has been established that if by this date the two territories of Cyprus, the TRNC and the (Greek) Republic of Cyprus, are not reunited, only the sovereign Republic of the South will enter the Union. According to the statistical handbook of the Church (figures for 2001), Cyprus has 783,000 inhabitants, of whom 17,000 Catholics. They are subdivided into an ecclesiastic circumscription and 13 parishes. Pastoral care is assigned to a bishop assisted by 12 priests of the diocesan clergy, 11 of the religious clergy, plus 7 men and 43 women religious. There are 12 catechists. The Church runs 3 nursery, 2 primary and 2 secondary schools.
