Turkish Cypriots protest in 2011 against economic reforms made by the Northern Cyprus and Turkish governments.

Southern Sudan holds a referendum on independence January 9 to 15.

The Sudanese electorate votes in favor of independence, paving the way for the creation of the new state in July.

A bomb explodes as Coptic Christians in Alexandria, Egypt, leave a new year service, killing twenty-three people on January 1, 2011.

Widespread protests begin against Hosni Mubarak's government on January 25, 2011.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak resigns and flees Cairo on February 11, 2011, after widespread protests calling for his departure, leaving control of Egypt in the hands of the military until a general election can be held.

Jubilant celebrations break out in Cairo's Tahrir Square at the news.

The Egyptian military now assumes the power to govern, dissolving the parliament and suspending the constitution on February 13, 2011.

Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, chairman of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, becomes the de facto interim head of state.

The Egyptian military holds a constitutional referendum on March 19, 2011.

South Sudan secedes from Sudan on July 9, 2011, per the result of the independence referendum held in January.

South Sudan joins the United Nations on July 14, 2011, as the one hundred and ninety-third member.

Israel and the Palestinian militant organization Hamas begin a major prisoner exchange on October 18, 2011, in which the captured Israeli Army soldier Gilad Shalit is released by Hamas in exchange for one thousand and twenty-seven Palestinian and Israeli-Arab prisoners held in Israel, including two hundred and eighty prisoners serving life sentences for planning and perpetrating terror attacks.