The Political Awakening and Organization of the Turkish Cypriot Community

Post-World War II Social Transformation

In the aftermath of the Second World War, the social changes that took place in Cyprus set the stage for developments that would profoundly affect the island’s future political structure. During this period, the organizational efforts launched by Dr. Fazıl Küçük, one of the leading figures of the Turkish Cypriot Community, were critically important for the community’s acquisition of a political identity.

At the encouragement of Dr. Fazıl Küçük, the establishment of the Turkish Cypriot Workers’ Unions and the formation of professional associations separate from the Greek Cypriots marked the beginning of the Turkish community’s process of autonomous organization. As a result of these developments, the founding of their own trade unions by the Turkish workers who broke away from AKEL accelerated the process of communal separation.

The Evkaf Administration and Social Mobilization

The large rally held on 28 November 1948 for the purpose of transferring the Evkaf (Pious Foundations) Administration to the Turkish people became an important turning point in the history of the Turkish Cypriot community’s political organization. The participation in this rally of people coming from all the towns and villages demonstrates the level of unity and solidarity within the community.

The speech delivered at this rally by the young lawyer Rauf R. Denktaş led to his joining Dr. Fazıl Küçük’s working team and laid the foundations of his rise to the position of leader of the Turkish Cypriot people. This development marks the beginning of the leadership process that would shape Cypriot politics for the following decades.

The Rise of the Enosis Movement in Cyprus and Its Consequences

The Election of Makarios as Archbishop and the Enosis Strategy

The election of Makarios as Archbishop in 1950 was a critical development that ushered in a dark period in the history of Cyprus. In his oath as Archbishop, his placing his hand on the Bible to swear “that he would fight until the end of his life for the union of Cyprus with Greece” formed the ideological basis of the conflicts that would take place on the island.

This development marks the beginning of the process that caused the rise of ethnic tension on the island of Cyprus and the breakdown of social peace. The legitimization of the Enosis ideology through the office of religious leadership became one of the fundamental factors that determined the intractable character of the problem.

The Founding of EOKA and Its Terrorist Activities

After the Greek Cypriots’ demand for the island’s union with Greece received a negative response from the British, EOKA was founded in Athens in 1952 with the support of Greece. This organization’s completion of its establishment in Cyprus within 3 years and the smuggling of weapons from Greece onto the island by illicit means constituted the preparation for a period of systematic violence.

The attacks that began on 1 April 1955 were directed first against the British and then against the Turks. The events experienced during this process included:

  • The burning of Turkish villages
  • The demolition and looting of homes
  • The plundering of livestock and grain stores
  • The beginning of a period of displacement that would last for many years for the Turks

The Formation of Turkish Resistance Organizations

Between 1955 and 1957, the Turkish Cypriots tried to mount a resistance against the attacks of the Greek Cypriots with very limited means. Organizations established during this period, such as Kara Çete (Black Gang), 9 Eylül (9 September) and Volkan, were regional resistance groups that were financially weak and lacking in weapons, personnel, training and logistical support.

The Turkish Resistance Organization (TMT), established in 1958 with the personnel, training, financial and arms support of the Motherland Turkey, strengthened the Turkish community’s capacity for organized resistance and began a period of glorious resistance that would last for years.

The Establishment and Collapse of the Republic of Cyprus

The Creation of the 1960 Constitutional Order

The start of negotiations as Turkey became a party to the Cyprus question gave the problem an international dimension. The drafting of the constitution of the Republic of Cyprus by Britain, Greece and Turkey in 1959 constituted an example of multilateral diplomacy.

The Republic of Cyprus, established on 16 August 1960, was designed as a structure in which the Turkish Cypriots were founding equal partners at a ratio of 3 to 7. This constitutional order aimed to place the bicommunal structure under legal guarantee.

The Outbreak of the 1963 Constitutional Crisis

Unable to accept the rights the Turks had obtained, the Greek Cypriots began to arm themselves rapidly. Greece’s sending of 20,000 commandos, weapons, ammunition and vehicles to the island through secret channels demonstrates the process of systematic preparation.

The planned attacks on the Turks that began on 21 December 1963 caused the collapse of the constitutional order of the Republic of Cyprus. The tragedies experienced during this process included:

Human Rights Violations

  • The evacuation of 103 Turkish villages
  • The demolition and looting of Turkish homes
  • The rounding up and killing of innocent Turks on the roads
  • Systematic violence reaching the scale of genocide

Economic Embargo

  • The banning of the sale of 38 categories of commercial goods to the Turks
  • The blocking of basic necessities, including baby milk
  • The implementation of a policy of economic isolation

The Geçitkale Attack and International Intervention

The attack on 15 November 1967 on the village of Geçitkale by the five-thousand-strong Greek Commando Division under the command of General Grivas was a turning point on the Cyprus issue. The loss of 27 martyrs and the burning of the village led Turkey to decide on serious intervention.

Turkey’s issuing of a strongly worded note to Greece and the taking of a decision in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) for a landing on the island brought the Makarios Government and Greece to the negotiating table. This development demonstrates the effect of the balance of diplomacy and force on the course of the Cyprus problem.

Negotiation Processes and Diplomatic Initiatives

The Beirut Talks and the First Diplomatic Contacts

After the seriousness of Turkey was recognized, the necessity of starting negotiations for peace emerged. The first intercommunal talks that began in Beirut in June 1968 between Rauf Denktaş, President of the Turkish Communal Chamber, and Glafcos Clerides, President of the Greek Communal Chamber, constituted the beginning of the search for a diplomatic solution.

Greece’s Domestic Political Dynamics and Their Effect on Cyprus

The power struggle between the Colonels’ Junta in Greece and the Greek Cypriot leader Archbishop Makarios caused the Cyprus problem to grow more complicated. In 1971, the sending back of General Grivas and the founding of the EOKA-B organization launched efforts to overthrow Makarios.

The Process of the Negotiations Reaching a Deadlock

Makarios’s strategy of stalling and uniting the island with Greece at the first opportunity caused the negotiations to remain inconclusive. Despite coming very close to a solution in 1972, the negotiations broke down with Makarios’s statement: “I would not even give the Turks a local council leadership, let alone a partnership.”

The five-party talks that began on 8 June 1972 continued at various intervals until 2 April 1974, but ended without any result being achieved. This process constituted an example of a long-running diplomatic effort lasting a total of 6 years.

The 1974 Peace Operation and Its Consequences

The 15 July Coup and the Declaration of a Hellenic Republic

The Greek junta’s decision to overthrow Makarios and the fact that this was leaked covertly led to counter-measures being taken. However, after the success of the coup that began at 10 a.m. on the morning of 15 July 1974, the EOKA member Nikos Sampson was declared President.

The declaration by Nikos Sampson of the “Hellenic Republic of Cyprus,” announcing that the island of Cyprus had been annexed to Greece, was, in terms of international law, an attempt at unilateral annexation.

Turkey’s Exercise of Its Right of Guarantorship

Turkey, the Guarantor of the Republic of Cyprus, intervened on the morning of 20 July 1974 in order to re-establish the Republic of Cyprus, in accordance with Annex I, Article 4 of the Constitution. This intervention is regarded as the exercise of the right of legitimate guarantorship within the framework of international law.

The Geneva Negotiations and the Second Operation

After the UN’s call for a ceasefire on 23 July, the negotiations that began in Geneva on 25 July ended on 30 July. In the talks that resumed on 8 August, the negotiations broke down again when the Turkish proposals for a Canton and a Federation were not accepted by the Greek Cypriots and Greece.

The launch of the Second Operation and the declaration of a ceasefire on 16 August brought about the formation of a new geopolitical balance in Cyprus.

The Search for Federation and the Era of the Summit Agreements

The Vienna Talks and the Population Exchange

The first negotiations after the Peace Operation, which began on 26 August, continued at the rate of one day per week. As a result of the Greek Cypriots’ negative approach, when the Turkish Federated State of Cyprus (KTFD) was declared in February 1975, the Greek Cypriots walked away from the negotiating table.

The intercommunal talks that began in Vienna in April 1975 were once again broken off at the end of the 5th round in February 1976. The most important outcome reached at the Vienna Talks was the “Population Exchange Agreement.” Under this agreement, the Turks remaining in the South moved to the North, and the Greek Cypriots remaining in the North moved to the South.

The 1977-1979 Summit Agreements

The meetings held between Makarios and Denktaş on 27 January and 12 February resulted in a 4-point agreement of principles. The parties reached an understanding on the establishment of “an independent, non-aligned federal republic.”

After the death of Makarios on 3 August 1977, the election of Spyros Kyprianou as Leader of the Greek Cypriot Administration began a new era. The 10-point agreement signed between Denktaş and Kyprianou on 18-19 May 1979 is referred to in political history as the “1977-1979 Summit Agreements.”

The Declaration of the TRNC and the Recognition Process

The Interruption of the Negotiations

The talks that resumed in August 1980 continued intermittently until May 1983. When it became clear that the Greek Cypriots had no intention of reaching any agreement, the “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus” was declared on 15 November 1983.

Rauf R. Denktaş, who won the first election, was elected President of the TRNC, and the process of international recognition began. This development is regarded as a concrete expression of the Turkish people’s right to self-determination.

The de Cuéllar Document and International Initiatives

As a result of the efforts of UN Secretary-General Pérez de Cuéllar, “proximity talks” began in New York on 10 September 1984. Although Denktaş agreed to sign the document that the UN Secretary-General brought to the table after taking the views of both sides, Kyprianou refrained from signing it.

This process constitutes an example of returning to square one because of the Greek Cypriots’ stalling strategy, at a moment when the international community believed it had come very close to a solution.

The 1990s and 2000s: New Dynamics

The Vassiliou-Denktaş Talks

In 1988, bilateral talks lasting a total of 100 hours took place between the new president of the Greek Cypriot Administration, George Vassiliou, and TRNC President Denktaş from September 1988 to the summer of 1989. Despite the positive statements of both sides at first, with the pressure of the Greek Cypriot National Council, Vassiliou abandoned signing the agreement.

The Clerides Era and the Prolonged Negotiations

With Glafcos Clerides’s winning of the presidential elections held in February 1993, Denktaş and Clerides once again came face to face in intercommunal talks after a gap of 18 years. The negotiations held in Nicosia and New York in 1993-1994 and in Nicosia and Switzerland in 1997 produced no result.

The Annan Plan Process

The proximity talks that began in New York at the call of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in December 1999 continued in Geneva. The UN first asked that the four main elements of a possible solution in Cyprus – “government, constitution, territory and security” – be addressed.

In the talks, which the international community strongly supported, the goal was to reach an agreement before the Copenhagen Summit of December 2002, at which the Greek Cypriots were to be invited into the EU. In the talks that began on 16 January, Denktaş and Clerides, who came together a full 58 times, were unable to achieve any concrete progress.

With the UN throwing its weight behind the process, the ANNAN plan that had been prepared was presented to the parties on 11 November. In the Referendum held on 24 April 2004, the Turks said “Yes” to the Annan Plan, while the Greek Cypriots said “No.”

EU Membership and Shifting Balances

The Greek Cypriots’ EU Membership and Its Consequences

The admission of the Greek Cypriots into the EU on 1 May 2004, one week after the referendum, negatively affected both Turkey’s EU accession process and the course of the Cyprus negotiations.

By using the EU as leverage on the Cyprus issue, the Greek Cypriots:

  • Sought to have pressure put on Turkey
  • Ensured that the negotiations reached a deadlock every time
  • Secured the freezing of chapters in the Turkey-EU negotiations
  • Managed to have concessions demanded from Turkey in exchange for progress

The Papadopoulos Era and a Hardening Stance

During the period in which the EOKA member Tassos Papadopoulos was president, no result could be obtained from the negotiations. During this period, the following unacceptable demands were put on the table in the Cyprus Negotiations:

  • Territorial concessions
  • Concessions on sovereignty
  • The sending back of the brothers and sisters who had come from Turkey
  • The creation of artificial problems

The Late 2000s and New Searches

The Christofias-Talat Talks

Dimitris Christofias, who was elected president after Papadopoulos, met with TRNC President Talat 71 times from March 2008 to April 2010, but because of the pressure and threats of the Greek Cypriot National Council on Christofias, no tangible result could be obtained.

Turkey’s Rising Power and Regional Leadership

While the world experienced a global economic contraction, states going bankrupt in the EU and bankruptcies in America, Turkey’s growth of 11.4 percent in the first quarter of 2010 consolidated its regional leadership and began to influence the Cyprus negotiations in favor of the Turks.

The Eroğlu Era and New Conditions

Dr. Derviş Eroğlu, who was Prime Minister in the UBP Government that came to power with the April 2009 elections, was elected President of the TRNC in the first round of the April 2010 presidential elections and announced his conditions for negotiation:

Basic Negotiation Conditions

  • A solution that is sustainable and that both peoples would say “YES” to
  • A new state to be established by two peoples who are politically equal
  • Turkey’s effective and actual guarantee
  • The continuation of Turkey’s guarantorship

Eroğlu, who entered into close cooperation with the Republic of Turkey with his 34 years of political experience, began to overwhelm the Greek Cypriot side and the Greek Cypriot Leader Christofias with the proposals oriented toward peace and toward a solution that he made in the negotiations.

The Crans Montana Process and Recent Developments

The Anastasiades Era and the Economic Crisis

When Anastasiades, who was elected Greek Cypriot President in February 2013, was reluctant to come to the table as the leader of a country that was in a state of bankruptcy because of the economic crisis, the negotiations were postponed until February 2014.

The Akıncı-Anastasiades Negotiations

With Mustafa Akıncı’s winning of the TRNC Presidency in April 2015, the negotiations continued from where they had been left off. In the negotiations conducted between Anastasiades and Akıncı, the Turkish side acted very constructively and accepted all of the demands of the Greek Cypriots apart from their demands for “Zero troops and Zero Guarantees.”

Greek Cypriot Demands Accepted by the Turkish Side

Political Rights and Representation:

  • The abolition of the Turkish Cypriots’ right to a separate voting majority that existed in the 1960 Constitution in both the legislature and the executive
  • Because of the 20% cross-voting principle in the election of the Head of State, the Greek Cypriots living in the Turkish region casting 20% of the vote in the election of the Turkish Cypriots’ President
  • The terms being unequal under a rotating Presidency

Demographic and Territorial Arrangements:

  • The granting of the 4 freedoms to the Greek Cypriots in the Turkish regions
  • The settlement of Greek Cypriots in Turkish territory at a ratio of one quarter of the population
  • The freezing of the Turkish population at a ratio of one quarter
  • The reduction of the Turkish Cypriots’ territory to 29.2% after the return to the Greek Cypriots of one fifth of TRNC territory and around 40 settlements

Employment and Administrative Structure:

  • A ratio of 70 Greek Cypriots to 30 Turks in state employment
  • The removal of the employment ratio of 60 Greek Cypriots to 40 Turks in employment in the police and the military

Property and Freedom of Movement:

  • The automatic return to the Greek Cypriots of the 4 categories of immovable property the day after the agreement
  • The settling of the property issue on an individual basis rather than between the two federal states
  • Greeks being able to enter the island of Cyprus freely, while the Turks would be able to enter by obtaining a Schengen visa

The Collapse of Crans Montana

At Crans Montana, all of the Greek Cypriots’ efforts were aimed at window dressing. When, at the final meeting, the Greek Cypriots’ proposal that they could accept the “rotating presidency” if the Turkish side accepted the issues of the “map they themselves had presented on territory” and “Zero troops and Zero guarantees” was rejected by the Turkish delegation, the Greek Cypriots ended the negotiations.

The Tatar Era: The Two-State Solution Paradigm

The 2020 Presidential Elections and a New Approach

Ersin Tatar, who received 51.74% of the vote in the second-round presidential elections held in the TRNC on 18 October 2020, was elected President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

Having announced during his election campaign that he would sit down at the negotiating table only after a “Equal, Sovereign, Two-State Solution” was accepted by the UN and the relevant parties, President Ersin Tatar has kept his word and, despite all the demands and pressures of the UN, the EU and the USA, has successfully maintained his stance of not sitting down at the negotiating table until this condition is met.

International Representative Initiatives

Maria Angela Holguín Cuéllar, whom UN Secretary-General António Guterres appointed as his personal envoy on the Cyprus problem, began her round of contacts with all stakeholders in the Cyprus problem from New York and is continuing her individual meetings with the relevant parties.

Changing Geopolitical Balances and a Future Perspective

The Shift in Global Power Balances

The fact that the USA has entered a period of stagnation and the EU a period of decline, and that Turkey, contrary to the expectation that it would weaken over the course of the process, has instead become the political leader of the region and built a strong army, has caused the demands of the Turkish side to come to the fore, as is required by the fundamental nature of politics.

Turkey’s Rising Power

Turkey’s economic, military and political power, which entered an upward trend after 2002, carried Turkey over the course of the process into a position of regional leadership and caused the old balances on the Cyprus issue to change fundamentally.

All the parties to the Cyprus issue now thoroughly understand that, for the Turkish Cypriots to sit down at the table and for the Guarantor Turkey to say “Yes” to this, the reality of an “Equal, Sovereign and internationally recognized TRNC” must come into being.

International Family Ties and Diplomatic Relations

The Greek Origins of European Royal Families

In order to assess the past, the present and the future more realistically, it is of great importance to be aware of the family ties of the Greek Cypriots and the Greeks with the EU and the USA. The answer to many of the questions that puzzle people on the Cyprus issue lies within these family ties.

Connections to the British Royal Family

Prince Philip Mountbatten, the father of King Charles of England:

  • Place of Birth: Corfu, Greece
  • Real Name: Philippos S. H. S. Glücksburg
  • Title: Prince of Greece and Denmark
  • Spouse: Queen Elizabeth of England
  • Children: King Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Edward

Other European Royal Family Connections

King Constantine of Greece:

  • Spouse: Queen Anne-Marie (daughter of King Frederik and Queen Ingrid of Denmark)

Queen Sofia of Spain:

  • Father: King Paul of Greece
  • Mother: Queen Frederica of Greece
  • The Family’s Relatives: The Russian Tsars, the German Emperors, Queen Victoria of England

The Place of the Greek Dynasty in European Monarchies

Historical Greek Dynastic Marriages:

19th- and 20th-Century Connections

  • King George I of Greece (1845-1913) – Spouse: Grand Duchess Olga (Russian Dynasty)
  • King Constantine I of Greece (1868-1923) – Spouse: Princess Sophia of the Prussian Dynasty
  • King George II of Greece (1890-1947) – Spouse: Princess Elisabeth of Romania
  • Princess Alexandra of Greece (1921-1993) – Spouse: King Peter II of Yugoslavia
  • Princess Helen of Greece (1896-1982) – Spouse: King Carol II of Romania

Contemporary Connections

  • King Paul I of Greece (1901-1964) – Spouse: Friederike, of Hanover, Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg
  • Prince George of Greece (1869-1957) – Spouse: Princess Marie Bonaparte (French)
  • Princess Olga of Greece (1903-1997) – Spouse: Prince Paul of Yugoslavia

Future Scenarios and Expectations

The Greek Cypriot Side’s Narrowing Room for Maneuver

Pressure has begun to be applied to the Greek Cypriots for the genuine and humane rights of the Turkish Cypriots to be granted, so that negotiations can begin with the aim of finding a solution to the Cyprus issue.

The Greek Cypriots no longer appear to have much of a corner to flee to, nor much of the prestige and strength to withstand these pressures.

A Projection of the Future of the Negotiation Process

Sooner or later, it appears on the horizon that the Greek Cypriots and Greece will be unable to withstand the political pressures that the EU and the USA will exert, will accept the preconditions of the Turkish Cypriots and Turkey, and that the negotiations will begin on the condition of a time limit.

It has now become clear and certain that the negotiations for a solution to the Cyprus problem will proceed with a predominantly Turkish character.

Conclusion

The analysis of the origins of the Cyprus problem shows that it is the product of a complex historical process extending from the 1940s to the present day. The process – extending from the Turkish communal organization begun under the leadership of Dr. Fazıl Küçük and Rauf R. Denktaş, through Makarios’s Enosis strategy, EOKA terrorism, the 1974 Peace Operation, the declaration of the TRNC, and on to the Two-State Solution approach in the recent period – clearly demonstrates the effect of the changing geopolitical balances.

Turkey’s rise as a regional power and the relative weakening of the EU and the USA are causing new paradigms to emerge in the solution of the Cyprus problem. The “Sovereign Equality” and “Two-State Solution” approach adopted during the Ersin Tatar era is regarded as a realistic alternative in light of these changing balances.

It is clear that, in the period ahead, the negotiation processes will be shaped within the framework of the Turkish side’s priorities, and that the principle of equal sovereignty has become essential for sustainable peace.

This analysis was prepared in accordance with academic standards on the basis of Prof. Dr. Ata Atun’s study titled “The Origins of the Cyprus Problem.” The experience and expertise that Prof. Dr. Atun possesses as a Member of the Advisory Board to the 1st, 3rd and 5th Presidents of the TRNC and as a 1st-term UBP Member of Parliament for Famagusta in the Assembly of the Republic of the TRNC constitute the fundamental basis of this study.