In 1191 Richard the Lionheart of England made a stop in Cyprus on his way to the Holy Land for a crusade when he decided to claim it for himself and sell it to the Knights Templar, who then sold it to the disposed king of Jerusalem. This king decided to let the island be a refugee ground for his displaced Jerusalem citizens, but after the crusades, the island became a center of the trading world. Unfortunately, their church fell under the pope's jurisdiction and the orthodox Greeks refused to pay the Roman Catholic church, creating the formation of many mountain villages and churches.
The Italian city-states then laid claim to Cyprus, beginning with Genoa, then in about 1500 by the Venetians, but in 1570 the island was taken by the Ottoman Empire. Ottoman Rule was primarily just a combination of neglect and indifference, but it also led to the settlement of many Ottoman Turks and the lessening of the influence of the Roman Catholic church.
In the late 1800s Britain took Cyprus (not officially until 1923), as many believed the island would be united with Greece, but due to a number of conflicts, serious talks on this issue didn't happen until the 1950s. Britain's stalling tactics on the union were due to the island's minority population of Turks, who feared becoming a part of Greece. This led to Greek and Turkish arguments, eventually forcing the two sides to allow Cyprus's freedom in 1960 in order to prevent further conflict.
The agreement to give Cyprus freedom also included a provision that if Cypriot independence was threatened in anyway, Greece, Turkey, and Britain had the right to intervene. This was enacted by Turkey in 1974 when Cyprus's government was overthrown in a coup and more pro-Greek politicians came to power. Since this time, Turkey has controlled the northern half of the island.