Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
Formation of the Republic of Cyprus
Cyprus was a British Crown Colony prior to 1960, when the Zurich Agreement allowed for the Turkish-Cypriot and Greek-Cypriot communities to declare Cyprus independent of Britain and both Greece and Turkey, to form the Republic of Cyprus.
As a republic, a constitution was created whose aim was to give the two communities equal rights, but also agreed to recognise their differences in both political and cultural matters. Of great advantage to the Turkish-Cypriots was the fact that the constitution forbid enosis (the political union of Cyprus with Greece), and whilst the overriding aim was for equality, the Greek-Cypriots were unhappy with this ruling. Furthermore they did not agree with the Turkish population being given virtual political parity with them, considering that the Turks were in the minority – 22% of the population, though of favour to the Greek-Cypriots was that a partition of the country was not allowed either.
An Unworkable Constitution
Unfortunately, this constitution proved unworkable and instead of uniting the two communities, it resulted in dividing them further. The then President Makarios (a Greek-Cypriot) proposed a number of amendments to the constitution in 1963, which although would be beneficial to the Greek-Cypriot population, served mainly to undermine the Turkish-Cypriot rights.
These amendments were rejected by both the Turkish-Cypriots and by Turkey itself, whose main concern was that enosis was just around the corner. Tempers flared and following an incident between the island’s two populations which resulted in the deaths of a Turkish-Cypriot couple, the Greeks decided to take matters into their own hands and settle their arguments by force. They attacked Turkish-Cypriots in the capital city, Nicosia, which started a decade of violence and led to 25,000 Turkish-Cypriots having to flee their homes.
Britain, who still held several military bases in Cyprus, stepped in to try to maintain the peace, but the problems only escalated and even the introduction of a UN peace-keeping force in 1964 did not allay the problems.
Attacks on and discrimination against the Turkish-Cypriots continued, including an illegal entry to the island of 20,000 Greek troops. Despite several outside attempts to find a solution for Cyprus, none was reached.
1967 – Matters Worsen
Matters deteriorated further in April 1967 when a military faction took power in Greece. One of their primary aims was to settle the Cyprus situation but when talks with Turkey failed they looked to achieving an enosis. However, President Makarios, who had initially been in favour of an Enosis was turning against this idea.
Another spate of attacks on the Turkish-Cypriots occurred later that year, resulting in many deaths. Turkey demanded that the Greek troops be completely withdrawn from Cyprus but when Greece refused, Turkey was ready to go to war. US President Johnson sent an intermediary to calm the situation; war was averted and Turkey agreed to an accelerated withdrawal of the Greek troops.
The Greeks Are Divided
Although problems on the island continued for the next few years, the main headline was the fact that a major division was occurring on the Greek side. President Makarios became more disillusioned with the increasing efforts by Greece for enosis, and he was seen as a hurdle against this happening. An assassination attempt failed though this pushed Makarios to increase his popularity within Cyprus. But in July 1974 there was a Greek coup led by Nicos Sampson, to overthrow Makarios. Makarios was able to flee the country, later stating that he believed this had been an invasion of the island by the Greeks. For Turkey this was the final straw in convincing them that full Greek control was imminent.
Turkey Intervenes
Turkey demanded the removal of Sampson from Cyprus and of all Greek officers so that the island could continue as agreed under the 1960 Treaty as an independent state. But when further talks did not result in agreement, Turkey was within its rights to intervene, and did so on 20 July 1974, initially with the approval of the rest of the world.
Over the next month, talks agreed that a settlement should be acceptable to all parties concerned; however, as much as Turkish-Cypriots were in favour of a bi-zonal federation, Turkey was advised to accept a cantonal plan in which there would be complete sub-division. Turkey was criticized for moving too quickly over this when they took control of approximately 37% of the island without giving Greece the chance to consider the proposal, but this rapid movement was considered justified by Turkey so that Greece did not have the chance to turn things around for the worst.
Formation of the Turkish Federated State of Cyprus
And so the Turkish Federated State of Cyprus was formed in 1975 as the Greek-Cypriots moved into the southern half of the island, and the Turkish-Cypriots moved into the northern half. The Turkish Federated State adopted their own constitution, declaring that it was impossible for the two communities to work together and that it would be a far more peaceful solution for the two sides to become independent of each other, whilst making it clear that they are open to negotiations to solve the issues.
The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
In November 1983 the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus was proclaimed, but was declared legally invalid by the UN. To this day, the Turkish Republic is not recognised across the world and the Greek-Cypriot administration continues to use this to their advantage by not giving the Turkish-Cypriot administration economic or political rights. As an example, south Cyprus applied for EU membership in 1990 without consultation with the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
Borders Are Relaxed
Between 2002 and 2003 talks began between the northern and southern presidents over uniting the two halves so that EU membership could be considered and in a peaceful move towards this, Turkish-Cypriot authorities relaxed their border restrictions in April 2003, allowing the opening of the border between north and south.
In April 2004, Turkish-Cypriots continued to embrace this idea of unity, voting for reuniting the island. But Greek-Cypriots voted against this, and on 1 May 2004, southern Cyprus became a member of the EU. However, because unity has not occurred, Northern Cyprus does not benefit from this membership and continues to suffer economically as a result.