Ask anyone over the age of fifty in the Republic of Cyprus which single individual is to blame for the island’s ongoing division, and the answer will be almost unanimous: Henry Kissinger. He was US secretary of state during the fateful summer of 1974, when Turkish troops occupied the island following a Greek-sponsored coup. As such, many Greek Cypriots view him as the architect of American support for both the Greek and Turkish interventions that have divided the island in its present form.

Kissinger’s image today rests on two pillars. On one hand, his admirers will remember him as a cunning diplomat who paved the way for US-led “peace” initiatives in the Middle East and drew China away from the Soviets. On the other hand, he is more accurately regarded as a Machiavellian figure whose policies left a trail of blood from Santiago to East Timor.

Kissinger’s role in Cyprus is interesting, because its overall balance sheet lies in the intersection of both of these perceptions: while Kissinger engaged in a balance-of-power game in the Eastern Mediterranean in 1974, the consequences of his actions signaled nothing but misery for thousands of people, and they solidified Cyprus’ ethnic divisions.