Is Cyprus in Europe or Asia?

It's complicated, because Cypress is in some ways part of Europe and in some ways part of Asia.

As such, perhaps the best way to answer this question is to say it's both.

Cyprus is geographically in Western Asia (or the Near East), though politically and culturally it is considered as being in Europe. Historically, Cyprus has always been a bridgehead between Europe and Asia, with interchanging periods of Levantine, Anatolian, and Greek influences.

link http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/Europeweb/snapshot/Cyprus.htm


Asia

The General Assembly of the United Nations counts Cyprus as part of the Asian group.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Regional_Groups#Asia-Pacific_Group


Europe

The Republic of Cyprus has been a member state of the European Union since 1 May 2004.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyprus

[ This is a Funtrivia FAQ and as such this top post will be used to collect the best answer ]

It's actually off the coast of Asia Minor, but it's generally counted as part of Europe, as are all those little Greek islands that are so close to Turkey.. The distinction between Europe and Asia is totally artificial anyway. Europe is merely the westernmost past of the real continent or Eurasia. Similar situations are Iceland being counted as Europe, and the Channel Islands being counted as part of the British Isles.

All of my Encyclopedias - Norwegian and British - claim that Cyprus is in Asia, while Merriam Webster´s Geographical Dictionary places Cyprus on both its European and Asian maps. (!) The world´s most comprehensive atlas - The Times Atlas of the World - places Cyprus in Asia. So "in general" one could say that Cyprus is counted as part of Asia.

How could it be a member of the European Union if it's not generally counted as part of Europe? Admittedly, "Cyprus has long been a crossing point between Europe, Asia and Africa."

https://europa.eu/european-union/about-eu/countries/member-countries/cyprus_en

Cyprus is considered part of Europe. More specifically, Cyprus is a EURASIAN island nation in the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea south of the Anatolian peninsula (Asia Minor) or modern-day Turkey.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Europe#Countries_consisting_solely_of_islands_or_parts_of_islands

I think Wikipedia is the most correct here: Cyprus is generally considered to be part of Southwest Asia. But it could also be called a transcontinental territory - i.e. part of both Europe and Asia. Geographically this is so. Culturally Cyprus is divided into a Greek part, which is culturally part of Europe, and a Turkish part, which is culturally moe or less part of Asia. As it is, some countries that are clearly not European (as Armenia) has been allowed a membership of the European Council, as did also Cyprus even before its EU membership in 2004.

Politically Cyprus is in Europe, having joined the EU in 2004,but it's nearest large land mass ia Asia.
http://europa.eu/abc/european_countries/eu_members/cyprus/index_en.htm

Cyprus is a Eurasian island country situated in the eastern Mediterranean, south of Turkey, west of Lebanon, Syria, and Israel, east of Greece, and north of Egypt.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyprus#Geography

The General Assembly of the United Nations counts Cyprus as part of the Asian group.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Regional_Groups#Asia-Pacific_Group