The Cypriot National Guard (Greek: Εθνική Φρουρά, Ethnikí Frourá; Turkish: Kıbrıs Ulusal Muhafızları), also known as the "Greek Cypriot National Guard" or simply as "National Guard", is the combined arms

Combined arms

Combined arms is an approach to warfare which seeks to integrate different branches of a military to achieve mutually complementary effects...

 military force of the Republic of Cyprus. This force consists of Air, Land, Sea and Special Forces elements, and is highly integrated with its first and second line reserves, as well as supporting civilian agencies and paramilitary

Paramilitary

A paramilitary is a force whose function and organization are similar to those of a professional military, but which is not considered part of a state's formal armed forces....

 forces.

Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

 currently maintains a garrison

Garrison

Garrison is the collective term for a body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it, but now often simply using it as a home base....

 in the Republic of Cyprus under the designation ELDYK

ELDYK

The Hellenic Force in Cyprus , commonly known in its abbreviated form as ELDYK , is the permanent Greek military force stationed in Cyprus. ELDYK was formed on November 20, 1959 at Agios Stefanos, Athens, soon after the Zürich and London Agreements established the independence of Cyprus...

 or Hellenic Forces in Cyprus (Greek: Ελληνικές Δυνάμεις Κύπρου or ΕΛΔΥΚ), but this is not officially part of the Cyprus military and primarily serves as a NATO brigade-level influence for training and support of the National Guard.
The National Guard was established in 1964 as a force composed entirely of ethnic Greeks, following the 1963–1964 breakdown

Cypriot intercommunal violence

Cypriot intercommunal violence refers to periods of sectarian conflict between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots on the island of Cyprus from 1963 to 1974.-Background:...

 of social and political relations between Greek and Turkish Cypriots

Turkish Cypriots

Turkish Cypriots are the ethnic Turks and members of the Turkish-speaking ethnolinguistic community of the Eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus. The term is used to refer explicitly to the indigenous Turkish Cypriots, whose Ottoman Turkish forbears colonised the island in 1571...

 on the island of Cyprus

Cyprus

Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...

.