The political conflict between the two communities on the island began in 1878, when Greek Cypriots desired ENOSIS ( Union with Greece ) and Turkish Cypriots rejected it. In 1955, Greek Cypriots had started an armed campaign of terror in order to unite the island with Greece , while Turkish Cypriots rejected and resided the colonization by Greece . Therefore, by having Turkey, Greece, and Great Britain as the guarantor powers, the International Treaties of 1960, named the Republic of Cyprus , and gave Cyprus its independence from Great Britain . It was thought to be a good compromise as it guaranteed a permanent settlement. It is the London-Zurich Treaties of February 1959, which gave Cyprus its independence but still it was not a full one. It guaranteed ‘that the two communities should be co-founder partners with equal political rights; that communal matters would be in the autonomous domain of elected communal chambers; that there would be no fear and no likelihood of one community dominating the other’. The 1960 partnership Republic was, for the sake of self-preservation, not a fully independent Republic. The international treaties of 1960, by prohibiting Enosis or Partition, restricted the independence of Cyprus . Not a nation, but a bi-national partnership state was created in 1960.

However, shortly after the founding of the Republic, serious differences arose between the two communities about the implementation and interpretation of the constitution. The Greek Cypriots argued that the complex mechanisms introduced to protect Turkish Cypriot interests were obstacles to efficient government. On 30 November 1963 , President Makarios advanced a series of constitutional amendments designed to eliminate some of these special provisions named “13 Points”. The Turkish Cypriots opposed such changes. The confrontation prompted widespread intercommunal fighting in December 1963, after which Turkish Cypriot participation in the central government ceased.

On 4 March 1964 , after the brutal Greek Cypriot attacks on the Turkish Cypriot community, the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution (186), which provided stationing a United Nations Peace Keeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP). The aim was “to use its best efforts to prevent a recurrence of fighting and as necessary, to contribute to the maintenance and restoration of law and order and a return to normal conditions.

A Turkish woman with her three children killed mercilessly by Greek Cypriot gunmen in Lefkosa, in 1963.

Although the Republic of Cyprus, founded in 1960, ended in 1963, when the Greek organs of government, administration and legislation proceeded to disregard the Turkish participatory rights as guaranteed by the Constitution of 1960, in the same resolution mentioned above (Resolution 186 of 1964), UN Security Council referred to the Government of Cyprus in a way which implied that the government manned only now by the Greek Cypriots, was the legitimate Government of Cyprus. Since then, the Greek Cypriots continue to usurp the titles of the bi-communal state. In fact, they are ‘the government of a state whose territory is restricted to the southern part of Cyprus and whose people are restricted to the Greek Cypriots living there’ (Heinze, 1997: 187). The Republic of Cyprus of today was created

when between 1963 and 1974, Greek organs of the Republic of Cyprus and parts thereof and new organs founded by these or by Greek Cypriots, seized power over a part of the island’s territory in a revolutionary process. They ceased to recognize fundamental parts of the Constitution of Cyprus of 1960 and ...separated themselves, and the Greek community from the Republic of Cyprus (Heinze, 1997: 188-89).

Unfortunately, the arrival of UNFICYP did not prevent Greek attacks on Turkish Cypriots and 1964-1974 period had been a harsh period for the Turkish side. For them, those years were marked by injustice, oppression, violence and discrimination. In 1967, the situation deteriorated, when a military junta seized power in Greece . In that year, Greek Cypriot House of Representatives unanimously passed a resolution, declaring that their struggle in Cyprus will continue until the union of Cyprus with Greece is achieved and they continued their attacks against Turkish Cypriots to force them to accept ENOSIS. No effort of UNFICYP was enough to halt the Greek Cypriot atrocities.

All these events forced the Turkish Cypriots to organize their own national administration and this resulted in establishing the provisional Turkish Cypriot Administration, on 28 December 1967 . Up to the year 1974, both communities led a political life of their own.

In 1974, the attempted genocide against the Turkish Cypriots was repeated once more. On 15 July 1974 , a coup d’etat, led by Greek officers took place. The coup was organized by the military junta then ruling Greece , with the aim of overthrowing Makarios, the President of the Republic of Cyprus , and setting up a government, that would unite the island with Greece .