Cyprus

Cyprus

The Cypriot conflict, in contrast to CORE’s other case studies, remains frozen due to an obsessive concern about sovereignty and lack of inter-communal interaction between the two feuding communities of respectively Turkish and Greek origin. As much as the geographical and political separation of the two states of Cyprus may have facilitated people’s everyday lives in the aftermath of the hostilities, the partition has aggravated inter-communal confidence-building between the Turkish and Greek Cypriots. 

After the independence in 1960, Cyprus has been an arena for conflict, fusing the effects of international politics with regional and local tensions. Fights erupted December 1963 between Greek and Turkish Cypriots and the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) was deployed on the island only four months after the violent clashes broke out. Several rounds of failed talks were held before 1974 when a coup d’état took place with the attempt by Greece to annex the island. As a response Turkey launched a military invasion in the northern part of the Island. As a consequence, the so-called Green Line was established, dividing the country into two ethnically homogenous communities with the Greek south and the Turkish north. The EU attempted in the early 2000 to offer serious incentives for conflict resolution by offering Cyprus EU accession in return for the acceptance of the Annan Plan, which proposed the creation of the United Cyprus Republic. The Plan was presented to the people of Cyprus in a referendum and although the voters of the north voted in favour the Greek part of Cyprus rejected the plan. Nevertheless, EU membership was given to the Republic of Cyprus while the Turkish side of the island was further isolated. Whilst the conflict has de-escalated in terms of violence both sides have been reluctant to compromise to find a final solution, yet a general form for settlement has recently emerged.

As this case study will suggest, seeking reconciliation and conflict settlement in Cyprus requires institutions of shared or at least mutually accepted governance. Therefore the project will particularly analyse private and public institutions aiming to foster good relations between the two state entities.