Pathways from Ethnic Conflict by John Coakley

Author:John Coakley [Coakley, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781317988465
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2013-09-13T00:00:00+00:00

6

Cyprus: Domestic Ethnopolitical Conflict and International Politics

Joseph S. Joseph

University of Cyprus

This article provides an essential background to the domestic setting of the conflict in Cyprus and some of its international repercussions. In doing so, emphasis is placed on the geographical, historical, social, cultural, institutional, and political roots of the conflict. The presentation and analysis of these aspects aims at examining the relationship between political division along ethnic lines and the generation and internationalization of the conflict. It places some emphasis on the factors that contributed to the maintenance and reinforcement of ethnic cleavages in a bicommunal society and the failure of the political system to counteract divisive forces.

Introduction

In recent decades, the Cyprus problem has gone through three phases. Until 1960, it was a colonial issue that was settled with the declaration of independence and the establishment of the Republic of Cyprus. From 1960 to 1974, the problem was essentially an internal dispute between the Greek Cypriots and the Turkish Cypriots in which external powers became involved —primarily Greece, Turkey, and Britain, the guarantor powers of the independence of Cyprus under the 1960 settlement, but also, during the second phase, the United States and the Soviet Union, by virtue of their superpower status. The third phase covers the period from 1974 to the present: following the Greek coup and the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974, the dominant element of the problem has been the de facto division of the island and the continuing occupation of its northern part by Turkey.

This article deals mainly with the period of ethnopolitical conflict from 1960 to 1974. Its purpose is to provide a basic context and an analysis of the political developments that followed the declaration of independence in 1960. In doing so, emphasis is placed on the geographical, historical, social, cultural, institutional, and political roots of the conflict on the island. The role of Greece and Turkey (the motherlands) during that same period is also examined. The three middle sections look at the operation of the 1960 blueprint in the early years of the Republic of Cyprus: its constitutional content, its political operation, and its ultimate failure. Finally, the article also looks at the efforts towards and prospects for a settlement, especially now that Cyprus is a member of the European Union.

Background to the Conflict

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