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Turkey , one of the guarantor states, called upon Britain , as the other guarantor, for joint intervention, but the British politicians declined to take action. On 20 July 1974 , Turkey intervened exercising its legitimate right granted to it under the article 4 of the Treaty of Guarantee of 16 August 1960 , to end the problem in Cyprus .  

On 25-30 July 1974, Foreign Ministers of Turkey, Greece and the UK , held a conference on Cyprus in Geneva . A declaration was signed at the end of the conference declaring, that ‘all Turkish enclaves occupied by Greek or Greek Cypriot Forces should be immediately evacuated’ and ‘a security zone should be set up’ between the two zones. But Greek Cypriots continued their attacks on Turkish Cypriots and the second Geneva Conference (9-13 August 1974) was unsuccessful. On 14 August 1974, Turkey held the second phase of “Peace Operation” as the Turkish side calls it, and liberated Turkish Cypriots in the North and let them live in peace. At the end of the second intervention, Turkish troops took control of 38 % of the island. Many Greek Cypriots fled South, while many Turkish Cypriots fled North. Since then the Southern part of the country has been under the control of the Greek Cypriots and the Northern part has been under the control of the Turkish Cypriots.

On 13 February 1975 , the Turkish Federated State of Cyprus was proclaimed as the Turkish Cypriot wing of a future Federal Republic of Cyprus. Also in the same year, during the Vienna Talks, under the auspices of the UN Secretary General, both sides agreed on the voluntary moving of populations. Greeks agreed to transfer Turks from South to North and the Turks agreed to transfer Greeks form North to South.

Between the years 1975 and 1983, attempts to solve the problem continued. On 12 February 1977, Denktash, the Turkish Cypriot leader, and Makarios, the Greek Cypriot leader, agreed to settle the problem as two equal parties, on the basis of a bi-zonal, bi-communal federal republic and ruled that ‘bi-zonality should not be watered down or destroyed under any plea or excuse’ (Necatigil, 1996:154).

In May 1983, U.N. General Assembly debated the Cyprus question and with the resolution (A/37/253) of 13 May 1983 , demanded immediate withdrawal of all “occupation forces” and voluntary return of refugees to their former homes. Turkish Cypriots described this resolution as a “Death Warrant” and the intercommunal talks were deadlocked. This resolution of the U.N. General Assembly resulted in the proclamation of Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) on 15 November 1983 . Two days after the proclamation, on 18 November 1983 , the United Nations Security Council (Resolution 541) stated that the attempt to create TRNC was “legally invalid” and asked all countries for non-recognition. Since then, the TRNC has not been recognized by any state except Turkey .

The intercommunal negotiations resumed after the establishment of the TRNC. UN Security Council continued adopting resolutions condemning “all secessionist actions”, (550/ 11 May 1984 ) as “illegal and invalid”. In August 1984, UN Secretary General presented to the two communities his ideas described as “working points”, which envisaged a bi-communal, bi-zonal federation, and both sides are asked to join in “proximity talks”. As the result of three rounds of “proximity talks” UN Secretary General submitted his document entitled “The Draft Agreement on Cyprus ”, but the Greek Cypriots rejected it. Despite discouraging signals, the Turkish Cypriots continued entering into informal talks with the UN Secretaritat to achieve an overall agreement.

By adopting its resolution 649, on 12 March 1990 , UN Security Council made the situation on Cyprus clear. Firstly, this resolution agreed on the basis of the solution as a bi-communal and bi-zonal federation, and stressed once more the importance of the UN Secretary General’s mission of good offices. Secondly, it addressed the two leaders in Cyprus as political equals, and called on them “to reach freely a mutually acceptable solution providing for the establishment of a federation that will be bi-communal as regards the constitutional aspects and bi-zonal as regards the territorial aspects”. The Turkish side welcomed the resolution and said that it was a long sought step in the right direction.

However four months later, on 3 July 1990 , the Greek Cypriots applied for full membership in the European Economic Community (EC), the European Union of today (EU), and brought all efforts for a negotiated settlement to the brink of total collapse. The Turkish Cypriots opposed this move of the Greek Cypriots, by saying that the Greek Cypriot Administration cannot represent Cyprus and is not entitled to apply for membership on behalf of Cyprus as a whole. For the Turkish Cypriots, this application considered as unlawful and contrary to the Rule of Law.

During the Gulf Crisis, which erupted one month later, the Greek Cypriots drew parallelisms between Iraq ’s occupation of Kuwait and Turkey ’s intervention in Cyprus and demanded application of UN Resolutions on Cyprus . U.S. Secretary of State and British Prime Minister of the time, stated that no such linkages exist between the Gulf crisis and Cyprus , and added that they are different events.

The most important event of 1992 was the new UN Secretary General, Boutros-Boutros Ghali’s new initiative, named the “set of ideas”, in which he said that “the relationship of the two communities is that of two politically equal communities and not that of a minority and majority”. The Turkish Cypriot side affirmed that it agreed with 91 out of the 100 paragraphs. On the other hand, the Greek Cypriot side stated that it accepted the “set of ideas” as “a basis for reaching an overall framework agreement” but subject to negotiation. They tried to look constructive but deadlocked the process.

The situation did not change in 1994, when proximity talks on the implementation of the Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) were held with the UN representatives in Cyprus . Whereas the Turkish Cypriot side expressed its readiness to conclude and sign a CBM agreement, the Greek Cypriot side declared the package of CBMs and the process as dead. The Greek Cypriots continued putting the EU membership of “ Cyprus ” as a precondition for talks, and made it clear that they did not want to discuss the CBMs until after a settlement. During 1995, the attempts of the Turkish side, to implement the UN sponsored CBMs and to begin talks without preconditions towards a viable bi-communal, bi-zonal Federal solution, failed.

Still, under the auspices of the United Nations, efforts to reunite the island under a federal structure continue.

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  Turkey intervened exercising its legitimate right granted to it under the article 4 of the Treaty of Guarantee of 16 August 1960

A Greek Cypriot passed through the UN troops trowing something to the Turkish Cypriots with Greece flag after him...

The Cyprus talks between the Cypriot leaders, under the auspices of the United Nations, New York.