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The Greek Cypriot co-founder partner of the 1960 partnership Republic resorted to violence in December 1963 and usurped the state machinery by force of arms. Thus, ever since 1963, the "Republic of Cyprus" has been merely a Greek Cypriot entity, which has illegally claimed to represent the whole island.
During 1963 - 1974, hundreds of Turkish Cypriots were killed by armed Greek Cypriot paramilitaries and a quarter of the Turkish Cypriot population (some 30,000 people) rendered homeless. Hundreds more were abducted or subjected to enforced disappearance, never to be seen or heard again. There is ample evidence of a genocidal campaign of ethnic cleansing perpetrated by the Greek Cypriots during 1963-74.
Turkish Cypriots were relieved from this agony and were saved from total extermination, only by the timely intervention of Turkey in 1974, after the Greeks had made a bloody attempt at the final takeover of Cyprus by Greece, through a coup d'etat organized by the junta in Athens and its collaborators in Cyprus.
It is true that there was an invasion in Cyprus in 1974 and, in fact in the preceding 11 years before then, but this was the Greek invasion of Cyprus clearly identified as such by the Greek Cypriot Leader Archbishop Makarios in his dramatic speech to the Security Council in July 1974. Turkey's intervention, which prevented the illegal annexation of Cyprus by Greece, was undertaken in accordance with her rights and obligations under the Treaty of Guarantee of 1960, and was fully legal and legitimate under Article 4 of the said treaty.
The legality of the Turkish intervention on Cyprus has also been underlined by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in its Resolution 573 (1974), adopted on 29 July 1974 and by the Athens Court of Appeals in its decision of March 21, 1979.
It is abundantly clear from the foregoing that the current division of the island has not come about overnight in 1974, as a result of the so called "invasion and occupation of Cyprus by Turkey", but is the result of a long history of events, perpetrated by the Greeks in order to bring Cyprus under their domination and unite it with Greece. It is noteworthy, in this connection, that in the absence of a comprehensive political settlement, the Turkish military presence on the island is a vital security requirement for the Turkish Cypriot people.
The practical consequences of the events of 1963 - 1974 has been the emergence of parallel administrative, judicial and legislative organs for each of the two peoples. The institutional organisation of the Turkish Cypriot people developed through various stages and culminated in 1983 in the setting up of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
The Turkish Cypriot people have formed a democratic and secular state, with a plural system based on free elections, social justice and the rule of law, with its citizens enjoying all human rights and liberties. In spite of this, however, in the international field, the Turkish Cypriots are denied the full exercise of their basic rights. Their right to freely travel abroad, to trade, to communicate, to compete in sports or to take part in cultural activities, not to mention their right to be represented at or being heard in all international forums, are all being denied.
Against this background, the prospects for reaching a fair, balanced and peaceful accommodation between the two sides in the island have not improved over the years. Throughout the process of negotiations held under the auspices of the UN Secretary General, the Greek Cypriot side has demonstrated very clearly that it lacks the necessary good will and commitment in pursuing a peaceful settlement, based on political equality and mutual respect, between the two sides in Cyprus.
On the contrary, the Greek Cypriot side is continuing to build up its arms and armed forces by spending in the order of two million dollars a day on sophisticated arms and equipments. The Greek Cypriot administration is also trying to forward its application for full membership of the EU, which is based on the claim that it can unilaterally determine the future of the entire island and create international obligations on behalf of the Turkish Cypriot people as well.
Perpetuating the fallacy of treating the illegal Greek Cypriot regime as the legitimate government can only block the way to a peaceful settlement between the two sides. The prospects for a settlement can only be enhanced if it is acknowledged that there are two separate sovereign peoples and entities on the island and the international community of nations can help bring this about by treating the two sides equally and fairly."
