Internationalization of the Cyprus Problem

By Nedyalka Aleksandrova

The Cyprus problem is among the main issues at the 16th World Conference of Overseas Cypriots, POMAK, PSEKA and the Conference of the Executive Council of NEPOMAK

The sixteenth World Conference of Overseas Cypriots, POMAK, PSEKA and the Conference of the Executive Council of NEPOMAK is taking place in Nicosia in the period August 24 - 28, 2009.

The latest developments in the Cyprus problem are among the main issues of the conference along with a pilot programme of distance learning for young overseas Cypriots and its financing by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a project of greek language courses for young overseas Cypriots, and others.

On Monday, August 24, 2009, the President of the Republic of Cyprus Demetris Christofias addressed the opening ceremony of the conference at the Hilton in Nicosia. The House President Marios Garoyan, the Archbishop of the Church of Cyprus Chrysostomos II, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Markos Kyprianou, the Presidents of POMAK, PSEKA, and NEPOMAK Haris Sophoclides, Philip Christopher and Christos Karaolis respectively, the President and the World Council of Hellenes (SAE) Stefanos Tamvakis, and the Greek Deputy Foreign Minister Theodoros Kassimis were among the officials who took part in the opening of the conference.

Last night at the Presidential Palace in Nicosia the President informed the attendants on the recent developments of the Turkish-occupied Cyprus issues. In his speech the main emphasis was on the fact that settlement was sought which would lead to the termination of the Turkish occupation and the unification of Cyprus within the framework of a bizonal, bi-communal federation. The briefing was followed by a series of questions raised by attendants of Diaspora. The President answered all queries and thanked the attendants deeply for their support towards the Cypriot government and for their constant provision of help in the issue of Turkish-Occupied Cyprus.

The term ‘Cyprus problem’ referes to the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, which started with a Turkish military operation, launched on 20 July 1974 in response to a Greek military junta. It backed coup in Cyprus staged by the Cypriot National Guard whose leaders deposed the Cypriot president and archbishop Makarios III and installed Nikos Sampson in his place. The Turkish invasion, codenamed Operation Atilla, took place in two stages and ended in August 1974, when Turkish troops occupied 37% of the island’s territory, which was followed by the establishment of the de facto Turkish Republic of Northern recognized formally only by Turkey, in contradiction with the terms of the 1960 Treaty of Guarantee. Both the US and NATO supported the idea of a Turkish military intervention in order to prevent the annexation of Cyprus by Greece and to bring an end to the chaotic situation in the island which brought Greece and Turkey, two NATO allies, to the brink of total war in a number of occasions between 1963 and 1974.

The invasion came after intercommunal violence between the island’s Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, resulting from the constitutional breakdown of 1963. Turkey claims that she invoked her role as a guarantor under the 1960 Treaty of Guarantee in justification for it. The intercommunal violence between 1963 and 1974, the Turkish invasion in 1974 and the resulting population migrations along both sides of the Green Line, and the establishment of the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in 1983, form the core issues surrounding the Cyprus dispute.

The United Nations Security Council has challenged the legality of Turkey’s action, because Article Four of the Treaty of Guarantee gives the right to guarantors to take action with the sole aim of re-establishing the state of affairs. The aftermath of Turkey’s invasion, however, did not safeguard the Republic’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, but had the opposite effect such as the de facto partitioning of the Republic in two, the creation of a separate political entity in the north and the forceful expulsion of Greek Cypriots from it. A large number of Turkish Cypriots, many of whom were forced to live in isolated enclaves and ghettoes throughout the island during the intercommunal violence between 1963 and 1974, chose to leave their homes in the south and moved to the north after 1974. The UN still recognizes the sovereignty of the Republic of Cyprus according to the terms of its independence in 1960. The conflict continues to affect Turkey’s relations with Cyprus, Greece and the EU.