Cyprus–Turkey relations

Cyprus–Turkey relations

Cyprus	Turkey

Ottoman Cyprus (1571–1878)

Cyprus was under Ottoman rule from 1571 to 1878. After the conquest by the Republic of Venice, the Ottoman administration settled tens of thousands of Muslims from Anatolia on the island, leading to the emergence of a Turkish Cypriot community.^[1] At the same time, the Greek Orthodox Church was granted extensive autonomy, while the Latin (Catholic) hierarchy of the Venetians was abolished. In the first centuries of the Ottoman era, Greek and Turkish Cypriots lived largely segregated, without close social contact with each other.^[2] From the 19th century onwards, tensions also grew: in the wake of the Greek War of Independence, anti-Ottoman unrest broke out in Cyprus in 1821. The authorities brutally suppressed the uprising and executed archbishop Kyprianos of Cyprus and hundreds of prominent Cypriots.^[3] To prevent further revolts, Constantinople subsequently granted the Greek Cypriot elite greater rights of co-determination.^[4] Finally, in 1878, against the backdrop of the Russian-Ottoman War, the Ottoman Empire transferred the administration of Cyprus to Great Britain under a secret agreement, but retained nominal sovereignty. When the Ottoman Empire fought alongside the Central Powers in World War I, London unilaterally annexed the island in 1914; the young Republic of Turkey finally confirmed the loss of Cyprus in the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923 and recognized British sovereignty.^[2]

British Cyprus (1878–1960)

Under British administration, the Cyprus conflict gradually developed into an international issue. The Greek Cypriot majority increasingly demanded enosis, i.e. union with Greece, while the Turkish minority (around 18% of the island's inhabitants) preferred partition (taksim) or remaining under British rule. Great Britain pursued a colonial divide-and-rule strategy to curb the Enosis aspirations: the colonial power played the two ethnic groups off against each other and, from the 1950s onwards, also drew Turkey into the conflict. In 1955, the Greek Cypriot underground organization EOKA, led by Georgios Grivas, launched a guerrilla war against British rule with the aim of uniting with Greece. At the same time, armed groups formed on the Turkish side (including the TMT under Rauf Denktaş), which were supported by Ankara and sought to divide the island.^[5]

The growing violence between EOKA members, Turkish Cypriot militias, and the colonial authorities claimed numerous victims and forced many Turkish Cypriots to move from mixed areas to safe enclaves. From 1956 onwards, London signaled that the Turkish population, like the Greek population, had a right to self-determination (up to and including partition). Finally, in 1959, Great Britain, Turkey, and Greece—together with representatives of the two Cypriot communities—agreed on a compromise solution in the Zurich and London Agreements that led to the independence of Cyprus. The agreements provided for a bicommunal state in which power and offices were divided between Greek and Turkish Cypriots in a fixed ratio, and guaranteed the new order through the three “guarantor powers” of Great Britain, Turkey, and Greece, which were granted the right to military intervention in the event of violations of the agreement. On August 16, 1960, the Republic of Cyprus was officially founded and initially governed jointly by both ethnic group.^[6]^[2]

Independence of Cyprus and crisis 1960–1974

The balance of power in the young Republic of Cyprus soon proved unstable. President Archbishop Makarios III and Vice President Fazıl Küçük faced a cumbersome power-sharing arrangement in which the Turkish minority (around 18% of the population) was disproportionately represented in the state apparatus (the parliament consisted of 35 Greek and 15 Turkish members).^[7] In November 1963, Makarios proposed 13 constitutional amendments aimed at disempowering Turkish Cypriots (including abolishing the Turkish vice president's right of veto). The Turkish Cypriot leadership and Turkey, as their protector, firmly rejected these amendments, and shortly thereafter, in December 1963, armed clashes broke out between the two ethnic groups. The worst unrest around Christmas 1963 – referred to by Turkish Cypriots as the “Bloody Christmas” – claimed numerous lives and led to Turkish Cypriot officials and members of parliament withdrawing from the government and parliament.^[2] As a result, the joint administration collapsed: the Republic of Cyprus effectively became a Greek Cypriot government, while the Turkish Cypriots administered themselves in enclaves.^[5]

In March 1964, the United Nations sent the peacekeeping mission UNFICYP, which is still stationed on the island today, to prevent an open civil war. Nevertheless, conflicts flared up periodically (such as the fighting at Kofinou in 1967), and Turkey repeatedly threatened to intervene to protect the Turkish Cypriots. On July 15, 1974, the Greek military junta ruling in Athens staged a coup against Makarios in order to finally achieve Enosis. Five days later, Turkey responded with a military intervention, citing the 1960 guarantee agreement: Turkish troops landed in northern Cyprus on July 20, 1974. In two waves of offensives (July and August 1974), they brought almost 40% of the country under their control, including the cities of Kyrenia and Famagusta.^[5] Around 3,400 Greek Cypriots were killed during the fighting or have been missing ever since, and around 165,000 were forced to flee the northern part of the island. At the same time, around 45,000 Turkish Cypriots were expelled from the south and settled in the Turkish-occupied zones.^[7] The island was now effectively divided; on August 16, 1974, a UN-monitored ceasefire came into effect, creating the demarcated Green Line that still exists today.

Relations since partition (after 1974)

Since the division of Cyprus in 1974, the Republic of Turkey has had no official relations with the Republic of Cyprus. Instead, Turkey established a dependent puppet government in the north: on November 15, 1983, the Turkish Cypriot leadership under Rauf Denktaş unilaterally proclaimed the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), which to this day is recognized as independent only by Turkey.^[5] Ankara considers the government in Nicosia to be merely the administration of the southern part of the island and refuses to grant it any diplomatic recognition. In the decades that followed, all attempts at mediation to overcome the division of the island were unsuccessful. Although both communities agreed in principle in 1977/79 on the goal of a bizonal, bicommunal federation, concrete plans repeatedly failed. A high point was the Annan Plan presented by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, which was put to a vote in separate referendums in 2004. While 65% of Turkish Cypriots approved the comprehensive reunification plan, 76% of Greek Cypriots rejected it, causing the solution to fail.^[8]

The Republic of Cyprus then joined the EU on May 1, 2004, divided—although EU law remains suspended in the northern part until further notice. Another attempt to form a federation ended in July 2017 without result when negotiations at the international Cyprus conference in Crans-Montana broke down without agreement. Since then, the Turkish government under President Erdoğan has pursued a change of course in its Cyprus policy: Ankara and the Turkish Cypriot leadership now openly declare that only a permanent two-state solution on the island is realistic.^[9] This position is contrary to the UN peace plans and is strongly rejected by Cyprus, Greece, and the EU. This has further hardened the fronts. Turkey continues to station soldiers in northern Cyprus and maintains political, economic, and military influence in the area (increasingly also against resistance from the Turkish Cypriots).^[10] Recurring tensions—such as those surrounding natural gas extraction off the coast of Cyprus and the partial reopening of the abandoned coastal town of Varosia in 2020—have since characterized the conflict-ridden relationship between the two countries.^[11]^[9]

Direct economic relations between the Republic of Cyprus (the Greek-controlled south) and Turkey are extremely limited due to non-recognition and mutual restrictions. Since 1987, Ankara has banned ships flying the Cypriot flag from entering Turkish ports (an embargo that was even tightened in 2023).^[12] In addition, Turkey refuses to open its ports and airports to transport from Cyprus, despite commitments made to the EU. This transport and trade embargo became the subject of the EU-Turkey accession negotiations in 2006: due to Ankara's violation of the so-called Ankara Protocol (extension of the customs union to Cyprus), the EU suspended eight chapters of negotiations with Turkey in December 2006. The Turkish government made any concession on the port issue conditional on the simultaneous authorisation of direct trade between the EU and isolated Northern Cyprus, which was blocked by the Republic of Cyprus.^[13] Since then, neither side has budged from its position, meaning that bilateral trade continues at a low level. There is virtually no official direct investment or tourism between southern Cyprus and Turkey, as there are no flights between the two and no diplomatic agreements.

The economy of Northern Cyprus, on the other hand, is completely dependent on Ankara: Turkey contributes a significant portion of the TRNC's budget and finances wages, infrastructure, and energy supplies in the north. At the same time, Turkey claims influence over resources off the coast of Cyprus. It disputes the Republic of Cyprus's sole right to extract natural gas and demands that the proceeds be shared with Turkish Cypriots. In recent years, Ankara has carried out unauthorized natural gas exploration drilling in Cyprus's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), which the EU has condemned as a violation of international law. In response, the EU imposed sanctions on those responsible for these Turkish offshore drilling activities for the first time in 2019.^[11]^[14]

Cyprus–Turkey relations

History

Ottoman Cyprus (1571–1878)

British Cyprus (1878–1960)

Independence of Cyprus and crisis 1960–1974

Relations since partition (after 1974)

Economic relations

See also

References

Wikiwand - on