Searching for a Cyprus settlement: Considering options for creating a federation, a confederation, or two independent states

Publius: The Journal of Federalism

Volumn 30, Issue 1, 2000, Pages 203-215

  Bahcheli, Tozun ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 0041036355     PISSN: 00485950     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.pubjof.a030061     Document Type: Article

References (32)

1. The Turkish Cypriot leaders first established a separate administration in several enclaves following the collapse of bicommunal government in 1963.
2. For the text of the 1960 Constitution, see Great Britain, Cyprus, Cmd. 1083 (London: H. M. Stationery Office, 1960).
3. Constitutional amendments required a two-thirds majority of both communities' legislators.
4. See Joseph S. Joseph, Cyprus: Ethnic Conflict and International Politics (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1997), pp. 24-30; Stanley Kyriakides, Cyprus: Constitutionalism and Crisis Government (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1968), pp. 166-170.
5. See Joseph S. Joseph, Cyprus: Ethnic Conflict and International Politics (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1997), pp. 24-30; Stanley Kyriakides, Cyprus: Constitutionalism and Crisis Government (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1968), pp. 166-170.
6. Nicos Peristianis, "A Federal Cyprus in a Federal Europe." Cyprus and the Europian Union, eds. Andreas Theophanous, Nicos Peristianis, and Andreas Iannou (Nicosia: Intercollege Press, 1999), p. 130.
7. For the text of the treaties of Guarantee and Alliance, see Great Britain, Conference on Cyprus: Documents Signed and Initialled at Lancaster House on February 19, 1959 (London: H. M. Stationery Office, 1964).
8. Makarios' proposals for constitutional revisions are discussed in Zaim Necatigil, The Cyprus Question and the Turkish Position in International Law (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989), pp. 21-22.
9. Christopher de Bellaigue, "Conciliation in Cyprus?" The Washington Quarterly 22 (Spring 1999): 185.
10. While most Turkish Cypriots experienced economic hardships, Greek Cypriots prospered as the island's economy experienced remarkable growth after 1963. Using figures provided by Greek Cypriot authorities, Kyriacos Markides reported that "between 1960 and 1970, the per-capita income in Cyprus grew by an average of 7 percent a year; unemployment reached a low 0.9 percent." Kyriacos Markides, The Rise and Fall of Cyprus Republic (New Haven: Yale University Press 1977), p. 77.
11. A succinct description of the Turkish Cypriot local-autonomy plan is found in Richard A. Patrick, Political Geography and the Cyprus Conflict, 1963-1971, No. 4 (Waterloo, ON: University of Waterloo, Department of Geography Publication Series, 1976), p. 174.
12. According to the Agence France Press (24 December 1998), Turkey's annual aid to the TRNC was estimated at $100 million. The same source reported that "under a separate protocol . . . Ankara has pledged to provide the Turkish Cypriots with an additional 250 million dollars to support several infrastructure projects."
13. In 1960, the last year when an island-wide census was taken, the Turkish Cypriot population comprised roughly 20 percent of the island's total 571,500. (Cyprus, Statistics and Research Department, Statistical Abstract, Nicosia: 1963, p. 22.) It is widely assumed that the population ratio between Greek and Turkish Cypriots did not change significantly during 1960-1974. However, the census taken by Turkish Cypriot authorities on 15 December 1996 reported a population of 200,587 (Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, Statistics and Research Department, State Planning Organization, Census of Population, Social and Economic Characteristics of Population, 1999, p. 10.) Figures provided by the Republic of Cyprus indicate the Greek Cypriot population to be 645,300. (Republic of Cyprus, Press and Information Office, The Almanac of Cyprus: 1988, Nicosia: 1998, p. 8.) These figures show that the Turkish Cypriot proportion of the population has increased roughly from 20 percent to 24 percent since 1974. This increase has been primarily due to the settlement of immigrants from Turkey since the island's division.
14. In 1960, the last year when an island-wide census was taken, the Turkish Cypriot population comprised roughly 20 percent of the island's total 571,500. (Cyprus, Statistics and Research Department, Statistical Abstract, Nicosia: 1963, p. 22.) It is widely assumed that the population ratio between Greek and Turkish Cypriots did not change significantly during 1960-1974. However, the census taken by Turkish Cypriot authorities on 15 December 1996 reported a population of 200,587 (Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, Statistics and Research Department, State Planning Organization, Census of Population, Social and Economic Characteristics of Population, 1999, p. 10.) Figures provided by the Republic of Cyprus indicate the Greek Cypriot population to be 645,300. (Republic of Cyprus, Press and Information Office, The Almanac of Cyprus: 1988, Nicosia: 1998, p. 8.) These figures show that the Turkish Cypriot proportion of the population has increased roughly from 20 percent to 24 percent since 1974. This increase has been primarily due to the settlement of immigrants from Turkey since the island's division.
15. In 1960, the last year when an island-wide census was taken, the Turkish Cypriot population comprised roughly 20 percent of the island's total 571,500. (Cyprus, Statistics and Research Department, Statistical Abstract, Nicosia: 1963, p. 22.) It is widely assumed that the population ratio between Greek and Turkish Cypriots did not change significantly during 1960-1974. However, the census taken by Turkish Cypriot authorities on 15 December 1996 reported a population of 200,587 (Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, Statistics and Research Department, State Planning Organization, Census of Population, Social and Economic Characteristics of Population, 1999, p. 10.) Figures provided by the Republic of Cyprus indicate the Greek Cypriot population to be 645,300. (Republic of Cyprus, Press and Information Office, The Almanac of Cyprus: 1988, Nicosia: 1998, p. 8.) These figures show that the Turkish Cypriot proportion of the population has increased roughly from 20 percent to 24 percent since 1974. This increase has been primarily due to the settlement of immigrants from Turkey since the island's division.
16. Although there are no reliable statistics on the Turkish settlers, two researchers have estimated that they represent about 40 percent of the population in the TRNC. See Tozun Bahcheli and Nicholas X. Rizopoulos, "The Cyprus Impasse: What Next?" World Policy Journal 13 (Winter 1996/97) 36.
17. "Greece says Italy's views on Cyprus 'outrageous'," Reuters, 26 August 1997.
18. The Greek Cypriot per-capita GDP was reported to be $13,000, while the Turkish Cypriot per-capita GDP was given as $4158 by the Economist Intelligence Country Report, Cyprus (3rd Quarter, 1988), pp. 7, 29.
19. Only citizens of the Aland islands "may acquire, possess, or lease lands in the islands without the need for special permission from the provincial (i.e., Alands) government." See Ruth Lapidoth, Autonomy: Flexible Solutions to Ethnic Conflicts (Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace, 1997), p. 75. The European Union, prior to Finland's accession in 1995, endorsed these exceptions, or derogations. The islands have a population of about 25,000 who are Swedish-speakers. Although the Alands are technically a province of Finland, they have enjoyed a wide measure of autonomy for more than 75 years.
20. "Denktash proposes loose Cyprus confederation of two states," Agence France Press, 31 August 1998.
21. Greek Cypriot Foreign Minister loannis Kasoulides has reiterated that "confederation is worse than partition." Cyprus News Agency, 2 March 2000, as reported by Foreign Broadcast Information Service, WEU-2000-0302.
22. See Ivo D. Duchachek, "Dyadic Federations and Confederations," Publius: The Journal of Federalism 18 (Spring 1988): 5-31; R. S. Milne Politics in Ethnically Bipolar States (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1981).
23. See Ivo D. Duchachek, "Dyadic Federations and Confederations," Publius: The Journal of Federalism 18 (Spring 1988): 5-31; R. S. Milne Politics in Ethnically Bipolar States (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1981).
24. R. S. Milne, "Bicommunal Systems: Guyana, Malaysia, Fiji," Publius: The Journal of Federalism 18 (Spring 1988): 101-113.
25. Ibid., 113.
26. Will Kymlicka, "Is Federalism a Viable Alternative to Secession?" Theories of Secession, ed., Percey B. Lehning (London and New York: Routledge, 1998), p. 142.
27. Daniel J. Elazar, Federalism and the Way to Peace (Kingston, ON: Institute of Intergovernmental Relations, Queen's University, 1994), p. 167.
28. Daniel J. Elazar, Constitutionalizing Confederation: The Postmodern Revival of Confederal Arrangements (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 1998), p. 219.
29. This observation is based on interviews that the author conducted with several Greek Cypriot academics and journalists in 1998 and 2000.
30. Kalypso Nicolaidis, "Exploring Second-Best Solutions for Cyprus," Survival 40 (Autumn 1998): 31.
31. See Annex "Set of Ideas on an Overall Framework Agreement on Cyprus," Report of the Secretary-General on his Mission of Good Offices in Cyprus, Doc. S/24472, 21 August 1992. The "Ghali map" was attached to the "Set of Ideas."
32. This opinion is based on the author's interviews with numerous United Nations and United States officials who were engaged in the Cyprus issue during the first half of the 1990s, on the basis of non-attribution.