![Morphou Bay](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/19/Morphou_Bay.jpg)
Morphou Bay (, ''Kolpos Morfou''; ), is a part of the
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...
, located on the north-western side of the
island of Cyprus
Cyprus is an island in the Eastern Basin of the Mediterranean Sea. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean, after the Italian islands of Sicily and Sardinia, and the 80th largest island in the world by area. It is located south of th ...
. It is named after the nearby inland town of
Morphou
Morphou ( el, Μόρφου; tr, Omorfo or ) is a town in the northwestern part of Cyprus, under the ''de facto'' control of Northern Cyprus. It is the administrative center of the Güzelyurt District of Northern Cyprus. Having been a predominan ...
(; ).
The Morphou Bay region is home to a couple of historical sites, the
ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...
city of
Soli and the ruins known as Vouni Palace.
The bay forms the westernmost seaboard of the break-away
Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
Northern Cyprus ( tr, Kuzey Kıbrıs), officially the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC; tr, Kuzey Kıbrıs Türk Cumhuriyeti, ''KKTC''), is a ''de facto'' state that comprises the northeastern portion of the island of Cyprus. Recog ...
, which claims the bay as its own territorial waters. The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus has received diplomatic recognition only from Turkey, on which it is dependent economically, politically and militarily. The rest of the international community, including the United Nations and European Union, recognises the sovereignty of the Republic of Cyprus over the entire island, including Morphou Bay. It was here that
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
began landing supplies and volunteers to assist the
Turkish Cypriots
Turkish Cypriots or Cypriot Turks ( tr, Kıbrıs Türkleri or ''Kıbrıslı Türkler''; el, Τουρκοκύπριοι, Tourkokýprioi) are ethnic Turks originating from Cyprus. Following the Ottoman conquest of the island in 1571, about 30,00 ...
when the intercommunal violence between the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities started in December 1963.
See also
*
Kokkina
Kokkina ( el, Κόκκινα []; tr, Erenköy or ) is a coastal exclave (pene-exclave) of the ''de facto'' Northern Cyprus, and a former Turkish Cypriot enclave in Cyprus. It is surrounded by mountainous territory, with the Morphou Bay on its ...
Bays of Cyprus
Bodies of water of Northern Cyprus
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