On the surface, it appeared to be a hero’s welcome for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan when he touched down in the breakaway Turkish republic in the north of Cyprus earlier this month, as Turkish flags and a gun salute greeted his arrival. Away from the cameras however, there is a very different reality, as locals grow ever more opposed to what they see as the systematic overthrow of their secular values.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974 following nationalistic waves in both the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities which culminated in partition. A Greek military coup saw Turkey respond with an invasion of a third of the island which is today the de facto state that houses the Turkish Cypriot minority.

While ethnically Turkish and culturally Muslim, most Turkish Cypriots are secular, with a way of life far more in tune with that of their Greek Cypriot counterparts than with their supposed motherland, due to centuries of coexistence before the conflict.

In contrast, as Erdogan’s power grows stronger, so does his push to enforce more conservative religious values on the Turkish Cypriots.

Government spending at religious schools in Turkey will double by the end of the year to over 6.5 billion lira ($1.35 billion), a quarter of the total upper state schools budget.

The overhaul of the education system which is in full flow in Turkey has reached the shores of Cyprus. Mosques now outnumber schools, while religious and nationalistic narratives dominate classrooms over Western ideas. The removal of evolution theory from science classes highlights the magnitude of the change.

Erdogan’s recent visit coincided with the opening of a $13 million Ottoman-style mosque on the outskirts of Nicosia. But instead of a grand reception, protesters gathered to display their disapproval. Far from an isolated display, dissent towards what they see as attempts to alter the cultural landscape of their homeland have become common.

Some 1,500 people gathered to decry the creation of an Islamic-focused committee in charge of sport and cultural events in 2016.

In January, Turkish Cypriots protested after nationalists attacked the offices of local newspaper ‘Afrika’ for likening Turkey’s offensive against Afrin to the invasion of Cyprus. Erdogan had encouraged nationalists in the north to "give the necessary response” to the article, which was perceived as a clear incitation of violence.

When hundreds of Turkish Cypriots shouted "Ankara, get your hand off our shores," back in 2011, protesting against new austerity measures imposed on them by Turkey, Erdogan responded in a way that many feel typifies the view he has of Turkish Cypriots: "It is outrageous that those who are fed by our country are behaving in that way.”

Defiance is a symbol of their spirit but the systematic exportation of mainland Turks to the island, which has left the near 130,000 Turkish Cypriots a minority in their own community, leaves their future in a precarious state.

Turkey has always had the major say in Turkish Cypriot affairs but the iron-fisted approach since the attempted coup against Erdogan in 2016 has seen that power escalate and spill over into northern Cyprus.

Barbaros Sansal, a celebrity Turkish fashion designer, was expelled from the breakaway state after he posted a tweet critical of Turkey on New Years’ Eve 2016. Upon arrival in Istanbul, he was met by an angry mob on the stairs of the plane where he was viciously attacked, before being imprisoned for two months.

“I have witnessed a lot of corruption, unlawful things in the north,” he said. But the real concern for Sansal is the change of the island’s values that comes with illegal settlement: “Turkish Cypriots are the same as Greek Cypriots, most are secular and polite. But the Turkish (settlers) who arrive are mainly nationalists and Islamists.”

At the height of intercommunal tensions leading up to the island’s division in 1974, there was a real concern that the Turkish Cypriots would be driven out of existence by Greek nationalists. Forty-four years on from the Turkish invasion, which was seen as the Turkish Cypriots’ salvation, it is this very brand of nationalism that is their biggest existential threat, only this time it comes from their supposed ally.

