Form of words:
New Delhi: Hours after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made reference to Kashmir Know At the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Wednesday that it is important to respect the UNSC resolutions on Cyprus.
Jaishankar tweeted, “It is important that relevant UN Security Council resolutions are followed with regard to Cyprus.”
Glad to meet FM @Christodulides of Cyprus.
We are working to take our economic relationship forward.
Appreciated his regional insight.
It is important that relevant UN Security Council resolutions regarding Cyprus are followed by all. pic.twitter.com/pZXPefT9Sj
– Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) September 21, 2021
As India angers Erdogan’s remarks, ThePrint explains the Cyprus-Turkey conflict.
Island nation
Cyprus is an island nation in the eastern Mediterranean and since the Turkish invasion in 1974, it has been divided into the Greek-majority Republic of Cyprus (ROC) and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC).
The ROC, which occupies two-thirds of the island, is recognized internationally, while the TRNC, which occupies a third of the north, is recognized only by Turkey. In 2004, the ROC joined the European Union.
The island has also long been plagued by ethnic divisions between its Greek and Turkish inhabitants. In 2015, total population of cyprus It was estimated to be 9.4 million with 74.5 percent Greek Cypriot and 9.8 percent Turkish Cypriot. Foreign nationals comprised 15.7 percent of the population.
In the 47 years since the island’s independence from the British, reunification negotiations and even two-state settlements have made little progress.
Read also: India, Turkey don’t need ‘reset’, partners may oppose on issues: Turkish envoy
From Turks to British Rule till Turkish Invasion
Cyprus is located to the south of Turkey and to the southeast of Greece. Like India, it was also a British colony. From 1571 to 1878, the island was under Ottoman rule. Under the Cyprus Convention of 1878, the Ottoman Turks handed over Britain administered the island in return for a guarantee that the Ottoman Empire would be protected from possible Russian invasion.
In 1914, the British occupied the island and ruled until 1960, granting Cyprus independence under a power-sharing constitution between its Turkish and Greek residents.
In a book titled ‘Title’ in 2004Power-sharing failure in Cyprus‘, author Susan Baer-Allen telling: “Like many other cases of colonization, the pressure to grant independence to Cyprus was such that little attention was paid to the circumstances and sentiments on the ground (Holland 1998).
“Britain just wanted to get out … leaving the Cypriots for the colossal task of self-government in the light of their sectarian division.”
In 1974, the military junta in Greece supported a coup against then-Cypriot President Makarios, and laid the groundwork for the Turkish invasion. It successfully occupied the northern third of the island. In 1983, Rauf Denkatas, a prominent Turkish Cypriot politician and barrister, proclaimed the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and served as the first president of the breakaway region.
At that time, the United Nations Security Council Condemned it The new government as “invalid” and in violation of the 1960 treaty.
The United Nations intervened after the invasion and established a buffer zone called the ‘Green Line’, with the country effectively divided. Today, UN troops patrol the Green Line and barbed wire and trenches The capital passes through Nicosia.
Almost four decades later still no solution is in sight
In the 38 years since Turkish Cyprus declared Northern Cyprus a Turkish Republic, UN-led peace talks have been unsuccessful. Greek Cypriots have generally fought for the island’s reunification, while their Turkish counterparts have pushed for a two-state solution.
In April this year, UN-led talks sought to resume talks to reunite Cyprus, but hit a dead end. “As long as Greek Cyprus is treated as the Republic of Cyprus there will be no dialogue and as long as Turkish Cyprus is treated as if we are nothing but a mere community of that republic,” Turkish Cyprus Foreign Minister Tehseen Ertugruloglu said al Jazeera.
In 2015, the President of the Republic of Cyprus, Nikos Anastasiades, resumed talks with Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akins on the island’s reunification but that too proved unsuccessful.
In August this year, Northern Cypriot President Ersin Tatar spoke out against the Greek Cypriot government’s decision to revoke the passports of senior Turkish Cypriot officials. He Called The move is an “attack on efforts to find a compromise”.
Tatars, like many other Turkish Cypriots who were born when the island gained independence from the British, have a Cypriot passport, but refuse to recognize the republic south of the Green Line.
Turkey’s Greek-controlled government’s decision to revoke the passports of senior Cypriot officials was seen as a response to a Tatar’s announcement a month earlier that his administration would go ahead with plans to open part of Varosha.
Varosha used to be a bustling tourist hub, but was later abandoned during the Turkish invasion of 1974.
(Edited by Neha Mahajan)
Read also: How Turkey’s Erdogan is breaking away from the misadventures of his foreign policy
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