MARIA ANTONIA DI CASOLA

Cipro: uno stato difficile, 1960-1986

N.3/1986

Summary — More than thirty years since the Cyprus problem has been a source of international tension in the Eastern Mediterranean. The two sides of the population of the island, the Greek-Cypriot and the Turkish-Cypriot, amounting respectively to about 77 and 18 per cent, share with a number of major parties interested as Great Britain, Greece, Turkey, United States and Soviet Union the responsibilities for the present situation.

While in ancient times, up to the Venetian domination and since 1571, under the Ottoman conquest, the two communities were able to coexist peacefully, the modern phase of the history of Cyprus has seen the competition of two nationalisms, fed on a mixture of traditional irredentism and contemporary anticolonialism, clashing with the overriding strategic interests of external powers.

Three phases can be seen in the Cyprus problem. The first, from 1878 to 1960, which saw the conclusion of the colonial struggle against Great Britain with a difficult compromise between Cypriot and international interests; an independent Republic of Cyprus was then created while England maintained sovereign bases at Akrotiri and Dhekelia. The second, from 1960 to 1974, saw the failure of the compromise and a series of dramatic attempts to reach an accomodation on new bases between Greek and Turkish priorities, which ultimately, after the coup by the Greek military Junta of 15 July 1974, turned into the invasion by Turkish troops. Since then, new and even more unhappy attempts to arrive at a solution have seen the creation of a Turkish Federal State of Cyprus on February 1975 and his recent declaration of independence as Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus on 15 November 1983.

Difficulties about the fulfilment, in the course of time, of a sole Cypriot solidarity are here analysed.

In the persistence of the spirit of the ancient project of Enosis, variously backed up by the Greek Orthodox Church and by the EOKA military organization even after the establishment of the State of Cyprus in 1960, are seen the major obstacles to the implementation of a bi-communal structure on which bilateral talks under the aegis of the ONU Secretary General are at work.