According to Greek mythology, Cyprus is the birthplace of the ancient goddess of love, Aphrodite. In modern history, however, Cyprus is the island where Greece and Turkey have been at odds for half a century.
The third largest island in the Mediterranean has been divided into two parts since 1974, the year in which Türkiye invaded the north in response to a Greek-backed coup.
The southern part, where the Greek Cypriots live, is a republic recognised by most countries in the world. The northern part, where the Turkish Cypriot minority lives, is supported only by Turkey.
In the middle, there is the call “green Line”a buffer zone between the north and the south, established in 1964 and administered by the United Nations Peacekeeping Force.
This Saturday 50 years since Operation Attilathe name Turkey gave to its invasion, which began on July 20 and ended on August 16, 1974.
These are some of the questions which explain a problem that continues to exist.
1. Who ruled Cyprus before the invasion?
The ancient history of Cyprus is full of disputes between Greece, Türkiye and Great Britain.
For over 300 years, Cyprus was part of the Ottoman EmpireEven when Britain occupied the island in 1878, the territory remained under Ottoman sovereignty, until it finally became Ottoman territory in 1925. British colony.
It was just in 1960 when it achieved its independence, giving way to the creation of the Republic of Cyprusfollowing a guerrilla war that had begun five years earlier.
To do this, it was necessary to sign and bring into force three main treaties: Treaty of Creation of the Republiche Guarantee Treaty and the Treaty of Alliance, agreed by Cyprus, Greece, Türkiye and Great Britain.
In this way, these three countries became the “guarantor powers” of the independence and territorial integrity of Cyprus, undertook to respect its sovereignty and to guarantee its territorial integrity and its Constitution.
In addition, they agreed that the island could not be wholly or partially united to another Statenor could it be divided into parts.
For this reason, Greece, Türkiye and Great Britain maintained their right to intervene militarily If any of these agreements were violated, with the sole purpose of restoring the state of affairs created by the treaty.
In this sense, the United Kingdom managed to establish two British military bases in the zone.
The Constitution of Cyprus of 1960 It came to be considered “unique in the world” due to its great complexity and the multiplicity of guarantees to recognize the rights of the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities on the island.
But according to documents from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, in less than three years “the abuse of safeguards by the Turkish Cypriot leadership rendered the Constitution totally inoperative.”
This led to the constitution “requiring constitutional amendments which the president proposed and were immediately rejected by the Turkish government and subsequently by the Turkish Cypriot leadership.”
In that context, Tensions began to grow between communities.
Thus the North began a process of greater autonomy and created military enclaves in Nicosia and other parts of the island.
That decision led the United Nations to establish in 1964 the so-called “green Line”a buffer zone with the presence of Peacekeeping Forces.
2. Why Türkiye invaded Cyprus
Three years after the declaration of independence, the first elected president of Cyprus, Archbishop Makarios III, He tried to make changes to the Constitution.
The changes were supported by the UN mediator’s report, which had criticised the 1960 legal framework and proposed a series of amendments, which were again rejected by Turkey.
“The Turkish Cypriot leaders have adopted a rigid attitude against any measures,” said the Secretary-General of the United Nations in 1965.
The changes proposed by Makarios III sought to reduce the influence of Greek officers in the Cypriot National Guard and strengthen their position vis-à-vis the Turkish Cypriots.
This prompted the National Guard, together with a nationalist movement of Greek Cypriots and the military junta of Greece – who supported the idea of enosisthat is, the unification of Cyprus with Greece – gave a coup against Makarios III.
While this movement was taking place on the island driven by Greece, Turkey – under the argument of a possible annexation of Cyprus to Greece and eager to gain more autonomy – decided invade the north of the island on July 20, 1974.
3. How the division came about
Turkey sent a contingent of 33 ships, some 30,000 soldiers and at least 30 tanks to occupy the island from the northern coast in what is known as the Operation Attila.
The Turkish Cypriots defended their intervention by arguing the need to protect their community against a possible annexation of Cyprus to Greece and restore constitutional order after the coup d’état.
At the same time, Greece appointed Nikos Sampson as de facto president of Cyprus, following the dismissal and exile of Makarios III, and the island was divided into two parts.
In the south, the so-called Republic of Cypruswith a Greek Cypriot majority. In the north, the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprusrecognized only by Türkiye.
This division persists to this day and continues to fuel tension in the region.
Türkiye came to occupy a third of the island, respecting the “green line” drawn by the UN a decade earlier. As a result, some 165,000 Greek Cypriots were expelled from the north and some 45,000 Turkish Cypriots left the south.
That same year, the UN Security Council unanimously passed a resolution demanding that Turkey withdraw its troops from Cyprus, but Turkey never complied.
Within a few months, international pressure on the new de facto President of Cyprus led to the collapse of the regime and Makarios III returned to Cyprus on 7 December 1974, resuming his position as President of the Republic of Cyprus until his death in 1977.
Rauf Denktash, who had been appointed president of the autonomous administration by the Turkish Cypriots in 1975, declared the creation of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC).
Denktash thus became the first president of the self-proclaimed TRNC, recognised only by Turkey, until 2005.
4. What is the relationship between the two zones?
Since the division of the island, the violence has stopped, but political tension continues.
Since 1998, when the European Union announced the Republic of Cyprus -the Greek Cypriot part of the island- as a potential member of the bloc, the international community has attempted, with little success, to bring positions closer together and open channels of dialogue between the parties.
In 2001, the United Nations Security Council renewed its mission in the area, deploying some 2,400 peacekeepers.
The following year, representatives from the North and South began UN-led negotiations after Decades of stalled talks.
In 2002, then UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan presented a Comprehensive peace plan for Cyprus which provided for a federation with two constituent parts, governed by a rotating presidency.
Thanks to this, for the first time in 30 years, in April 2003 the Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots They crossed the “green line”after northern authorities eased restrictions.
Since 1 May 2004, Cyprus has been a member state of the European Union and therefore maintains relations with the other member states.
That same year, the UN reunification plan It failed: it was approved by the North, but overwhelmingly rejected by the South.
In 2008, Greek Cypriot President Demetris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat agreed to initiate Formal talks on reunificationwhich led to a symbolic crossing of Ledra Street between the Turkish and Greek sectors of Nicosia, which was reopened for the first time since 1964.
Two years later, Dervis Eroglu, who had been Prime Minister of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus three times (1985-1993, 1996-2004 and 2009-2010), took over as president in 2010, although these positions are not recognized by the international community.
Due to his nationalist position, Eroglu was characterized by his firm claim for the independence of northern Türkiyeseparated from the Republic of Cyprus, arguing that the Turkish Cypriot community has the right to self-determination.
Likewise, the current leader of the north of the island, Ersin Tatar, who took office in October 2020, is known for his firm stance in favor of the sovereignty and independence of the Turkish Cypriot area and rejects any negotiation that does not recognize it.
Again in 2015, the Turkish Cypriot government and negotiators Resumed talks on reunificationwhich ended inconclusively in July 2017.
In short, negotiations over the past half century have been intermittent and with little progress.
5. What solutions are proposed for the future?
The conflict has been at a standstill since 2017, when representatives of each side on the island last met.
The United Nations said they will propose “new steps” to resume negotiations, with a view to an eventual reunification of the divided island, although they did not specify the details.
So far, the UN position on achieving the unification of Cyprus remains the same. creation of a bicommunal statean idea closer to the Greek Cypriot position.
On the contrary, the Turkish Cypriot leader defends the position of “two states, two peoples and two authorities”.
Tatar expressed his lack of confidence in what might happen in the future and in the difficulty of finding “common ground” between the two parties.
On Thursday, July 18, two days before the 50th anniversary of Turkey’s invasion of Cyprus, the Turkish parliament passed a motion calling on the international community to recognize the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus as an independent state, something that only Turkey recognizes.
“The two-state solution This is the only way to ensure stability and lasting peace in the Mediterranean region. The existence of two separate peoples and two separate states on the island should no longer be ignored,” the Turkish parliament said.
UN Security Council resolutions stress the importance of an agreement based on a framework “bicommunal, bizonal and federal”.
Half a century after the Turkish invasion, the problem does not seem to be close to finding a solution capable of marking an end to the dispute.
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