Northern Cyprus - Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus

Northern Cyprus - Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus

The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) (Turkish: Kuzey Kibris Türk Cumhuriyeti) is a breakaway de facto country proclaimed in the northern third of the island of Cyprus in 1983. Its predecessor from 1975 to 1983 was the Turkish Federative State of North Cyprus.

So far, Turkey is the only country which recognises the TRNC, while all other governments and the United Nations recognise the sovereignty of the Republic of Cyprus over the whole island.

The TRNC has a population of about 200,000 and an area of 3,355 square kilometres (including the tiny exclave of Kokkina (Turkish: Erenköy). Its population is almost entirely Turkish-speaking ethnic Turks, and consists of two main communities: indigenous Turkish Cypriots and migrant Anatolian Turks. There are also small populations of enclaved Greek Cypriots and Maronites. The TRNC includes the northern part of the city of Nicosia (Turkish: Lefkosa, Greek: Lefkosia), which serves as its capital. A large share of the people living in Northern Cyprus before the Turkish Military Intervention of 1974 now reside in various parts of the world, particularly in Western Europe, and have subsequently been replaced by settlers from Turkey.

From the tip of the Karpass Peninsula (Cape Apostolos Andreas) in the northeast, the TRNC extends westward to Morphou Bay and Cape Kormakitis (the Kokkina/Erenköy exclave marks the westernmost extent of the TRNC), and southward to the village of Akincilar. The territory between the TRNC and the remainder of Cyprus is separated by a United Nations-controlled buffer zone.

History

1960 - Creation of the Republic of Cyprus - The Republic of Cyprus was created after the island gained independence from the UK. The Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities living on the island were given full participation in governing the new Republic. Both groups were allocated seats in government chambers and positions in the civil service. Greece, Turkey and the UK become guarantor powers of the republic under the 1960 Treaty of Guarantee.
1963 - Inter-Communal fighting and Constitutional Collapse - In December 1963, the government of Cyprus collapsed after a 3 year stall in legislation, result of the constant inability of the 2 communities to reach decisions (this was also a result of the problematic constitution that was drafted for Cyprus). Fighting broke out between Greek and Turkish Cypriots. As the fighting continued, Turkish Cypriots living in rural areas retreated into enclaves. The Turkish Cypriot Enclaves were blockaded and embargoed by the Greek Cypriot authorities. The Turkish Cypriots remained in the enclaves for 11 years until the island was partitioned by the Turkish Invasion. From 1964 to 1974, there were numerous clashes between the two groups. Turkey and Greece came close to war on more than one occasion, particularly during the Kokkina/Erenköy incident , and in 1967 when George Grivas attacked the southern Turkish Enclaves of Agios Theodoros & Kofinou which connected had effectively cut of the main road connecting Larnaca with Limassol and Pafos.
1974 - Greek and Turkish Military Actions - In July 1974, the Greek military junta of 1967-1974 backed a military coup in Cyprus. President Makarios was removed from office and EOKA-B member Nikos Sampson took control of the country. The aim of the coup was Enosis (annexation of the island to Greece). In response to the coup, Turkey sent troops into Cyprus, interpreting it as a necessary intervention to protect the Turkish Cypriot populace according to the 1960 Treaty of Guarantee. The coup promptly failed and Makarios returned to power. The failure of Turkey to withdraw its troops from the island and restore the Republic of Cyprus after the collapse of the coup attempt is widely regarded internationally as a violation of the Treaty of Guarantee, UN resolutions and international law. The island of Cyprus was in effect partitioned into a Turkish-controlled north and a Greek Cypriot-controlled south.
1975 - From Federation to Independence - In 1975, the Turkish Federated State of North Cyprus was declared in an attempt to unite with the south as part of a larger Federal Cyprus. The offer was rejected by the Republic of Cyprus, by the UN and by the international community. After 8 years of failed negotiations with the Republic of Cyprus, the north declared its independence in 1983 under the name of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. The UDI of the TRNC was rejected by the UN and the Republic of Cyprus.

Politics of Northern Cyprus

The status of the TRNC is disputed. It is not recognised by the international community except Turkey, and as such the terms associated with politics (President, Prime Minister, elections, government, parliament) remain controversial when used in relations to the TRNC

It's electoral system has a president elected for a five-year term. Its legislature is the House of Representatives (Temsilciler Meclisi), which has 50 members elected by proportional representation from five electoral districts. In the elections of February 2005 the Republican Turkish Party, which favours a peace settlement and the reunification of Cyprus, retained its position as the largest parliamentary party, but failed to win an overall majority.

Foreign Relations of Northern Cyprus

The international community - with the exception of Turkey - does not recognize the TRNC as a sovereign nation (Note: the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic, an exclave of Azerbaijan, does regard the TRNC as sovereign, while the rest of Azerbaijan officially has not followed suit). The Organization of the Islamic Conference gives the TRNC the status of a constituent state, and it is an observer member of this organization.

Since the 2004 referendum on the United Nations Annan Plan, the attitude of the international community towards the TRNC has begun to improve. Günter Verheugen, the EU's Enlargement Commissioner, was reported as saying that the EU was considering opening a representative office in the TRNC. EU foreign ministers agreed to give the TRNC 259 million euros (US$307 million) in aid, but the blocking of the aid by the Greek Cypriot Administration resulted the decision to be postponed, and half of the money to be lost

Legally, however, the European Union continues to consider northern Cyprus as EU territory under foreign military occupation and thus indefinitely exempt from EU legislation until a settlement has been reached. While certain outlying regions of the EU can and do obtain exemptions from EU law, Northern Cyprus is the only part of the Union where such laws are not enforceable. The number of seats assigned to Cyprus in the European Parliament (6 seats) is based on the population of the entire island. By comparison, Malta, with a population equal to that of the government-controlled southern part of Cyprus, holds 5 MEP seats. Despite the fact that the Turkish Cypriot residents of Northern Cyprus - and possibly some of the naturalized Anatolian Turks - are EU citizens, very few Northerners voted in the 2004 elections. There is no support for admitting two Cypriot member states into the EU.

Communications and Transport

Because of its status, the TRNC is heavily dependent on Turkish military and economic support. It uses the New Turkish Lira as its currency. All TRNC exports and imports are via Turkey, as are its communication links. International telephone calls are routed via a Turkish dialling code, +90 392, on the Internet TRNC is under the Turkish second-level domain .nc.tr, and mail must be addressed via Mersin 10, TURKEY as the Universal Postal Union refuses to recognise the TRNC as a separate entity.

Flying to Northern Cyprus is somewhat problematic, since the airports of Geçitkale (Greek: Lefkoniko) and Ercan (Greek: Tymbou) are only recognized as legal ports of entry by Azerbaijan and Turkey, so all flights to Northern Cyprus must currently land in those countries first (Note: Following a 2005 visit by three members of the U.S. Congress to Ercan, indications are that the airport satisfies US security standards for international flights. Ercan was in particular subject to extensive security checks some months prior to the June 2005 landing. In June 2005, President George W. Bush instructed Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to make an investigation into the practicality of direct commercial airline flights from the United States to Ercan).

TRNC's sea ports had been declared closed to all shipping by the Republic of Cyprus since the Turkish invasion in 1974. Turkey however ignores this declaration while TRNC-registered vessels have free access to Turkish sea ports (Note: In retaliation for the closure order, Turkey also refuses Cypriot-flagged ships to enter Turkish territorial waters, despite the signing of the EU Customs Union Protocol. In return, the European Union has demanded the lifting of the Turkish ban on Cypriot shipping and aviation and the recognition of the Republic of Cyprus as preconditions of Turkey's EU accession).

Anyone who has a TRNC immigration stamp may be refused entry by the Republic of Cyprus or Greece, although after the accession of the Republic of Cyprus to the EU such restrictions have been eased following confidence-building measures by the Cypriot government. The Republic of Cyprus allows unrestricted passage across the Green Line from the part of Nicosia that it controls (as well as a few other selected crossing points), since the TRNC does not require a visa or leave entry stamps for such visits.

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