Declaration of Independence of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
Summary
The declaration of Independence of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus was a unilateral declaration of independence (UDI) from the Republic of Cyprus by the Turkish Cypriot parliament on 15 November 1983.
Eight years after the Turkish Federated State of Cyprus was proclaimed (in 1975), the declaration of North Cyprus was presented to the Turkish Cypriot parliament in North Nicosia by Turkish Cypriot Leader and Northern Cypriot State President Rauf Denktaş on 15 November 1983. Containing text espousing human rights and a desire to live side-by-side with the Greek Cypriot population, it ended with a declaration that Northern Cyprus was an independent and sovereign state, naming the entity the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). The Turkish Cypriot Parliament passed a unanimous resolution later that day ratifying the declaration.
Prior to 1960 the island of Cyprus was a British colony, having been taken from the Ottoman Empire during the First World War. The London and Zurich Agreements of 1959 provided for a constitution for an independent Cyprus which divided the population into ethnic-based communities, in which the President would be elected by Greek Cypriots and the Vice President elected by Turkish Cypriots. There would also be a national legislature called the House of Representatives to which the Greek and Turkish Cypriots would elect their own representatives, and a 10-member Council of Ministers of which 3 members would be Turkish Cypriots.
The Treaty of Guarantee, signed in 1960 by Cyprus, Greece, Turkey and the United Kingdom, banned Cyprus from entering into any political or economic union with another state. It also required the other signatories to guarantee Cypriot independence and territorial integrity, and to this end allowed the guarantor powers to take unilateral action to uphold the status quo in Cyprus. The treaty also allowed the United Kingdom to retain sovereignty over its military bases on the island.
By 1963 the constitutional framework began to fall apart when the legislature split along communal lines and became deadlocked.
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