Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus is a Eurasian island country situated in the eastern Mediterranean south of Turkey, west of the Levant, north of Egypt, and eastsoutheast of Greece.Cyprus is the third-largest island and one of the most popular tourist destinations in the Mediterranean, attracting over 2.4 million tourists per year. A former British colony, it gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1960 and became a Commonwealth republic in 1961. The Republic of Cyprus is a developed country and has been a member of the European Union since 1 May 2004. It adopted the euro on 1 January 2008.In 1974, following a period of violence between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots and an attempted Greek Cypriot coup d'état aimed at annexing the island to Greece and sponsored by the Greek military junta of 1967-1974, Turkey invaded and occupied one-third of the island. This led to the displacement of thousands of Cypriots and the establishment of a separate Turkish Cypriot political entity in the north. This event and its resulting political situation is a matter of ongoing dispute.Since the last railway was dismantled in 1950, the remaining modes of transport are by road, sea, and air. Of the 10,663 km (6,626 mi) of roads in the Greek Cypriot area as of 1998, 6,249 km were paved, and 4,414 km were unpaved. As of 1996 the Turkish Cypriot area had a similar ratio of paved to unpaved, with approximately 1,370 km of paved road and 980 km unpaved. Cyprus is one of only four EU nations in which vehicles drive on the left-hand side of the road, a remnant of British colonization.