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Part of a series on the Cyprus dispute |
Cyprus peace process |
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The Cyprus peace process refers to negotiations and plans aimed at resolving the Cyprus Problem.
The peace efforts had begun around the time of the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus, which split the multiethnic Republic of Cyprus into the Turkish-majority north and the Greek-majority south. The north later declared independence as the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, although Turkey is the only United Nations (UN) member to recognise this. A ceasefire has been in place ever since, but a permanent solution has not been agreed to, and UN peacekeepers still operate a buffer zone between the two regions. [1]
There are two major approaches to resolve the Cyprus dispute: the reunification of Cyprus into a single state (as attempted in the Annan plan) and the two-state solution, which would legalise the current status quo. The majority of the international community supports the reunification of Cyprus into a single state, as does the Republic of Cyprus. [2]
Korean reunification is the hypothetical unification of North Korea and South Korea into a singular Korean sovereign state. The process towards reunification of the peninsula while still maintaining two opposing regimes was started by the June 15th North–South Joint Declaration in June 2000, was reaffirmed by the October 4th Declaration in October 2007 and the Panmunjom Declaration in April 2018, and the joint statement of United States President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the Singapore Summit in June 2018. In the Panmunjom Declaration, the two countries agreed to work to officially end the Korean conflict in the future.
The Cyprus problem, also known as the Cyprus conflict, Cyprus issue, Cyprus dispute, or Cyprus question, is an ongoing dispute between the Greek Cypriot community which runs the Republic of Cyprus and the Turkish Cypriot community in the north of the island, where troops of the Republic of Turkey are deployed. This dispute is an example of a protracted social conflict. The Cyprus dispute's causes stem from ethnic Greek nationalist ideology, Greek-Cypriot sentiment, the Megali Idea and Enosis, and some of the ethnic Turkish peoples' desire for the partition of the island of Cyprus through Taksim as a means of protection of their people by what they considered to be the threat of Greek-Cypriots.
The Annan Plan, also known as the Cyprus reunification plan, was a United Nations proposal to resolve the Cyprus dispute. The different parts of the proposal were based on the argumentation put forward by each party in meetings held under the auspices of the UN. The proposal was to restructure the Republic of Cyprus to become the "United Republic of Cyprus", a federation of two states. It was revised a number of times before it was put to the people of Cyprus in a 2004 referendum, and was supported by 65% of Turkish Cypriots, but only 24% of Greek Cypriots.
The United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) is a United Nations peacekeeping force that was established under United Nations Security Council Resolution 186 in 1964 to prevent a recurrence of fighting following intercommunal violence between the Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, to contribute to the maintenance and restoration of law and order and to facilitate a return to normal conditions. Major General Ingrid Gjerde is the current Force Commander of UNFICYP, appointed in 2021, and preceded by Cheryl Pearce (Australia). Assistant Police Commissioner Satu Koivu (Finland) is the current Senior Police Adviser appointed in 2021.
Cyprus was part of the British Empire, under military occupation from 1914 to 1925, and a Crown colony from 1925 to 1960. Cyprus became an independent nation in 1960.
The Turkish invasion of Cyprus began on 20 July 1974 and progressed in two phases over the following month. Taking place upon a background of intercommunal violence between Greek and Turkish Cypriots, and in response to a Greek junta-sponsored Cypriot coup d'état five days earlier, it led to the Turkish capture and occupation of the northern part of the island.
Several distinct periods of Cypriot intercommunal violence involving the two main ethnic communities, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, marked mid-20th century Cyprus. These included the Cyprus Emergency of 1955–59 during British rule, the post-independence Cyprus crisis of 1963–64, and the Cyprus crisis of 1967. Hostilities culminated in the 1974 de facto division of the island along the Green Line following the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. The region has been relatively peaceful since then, but the Cyprus dispute has continued, with various attempts to solve it diplomatically having been generally unsuccessful.
United Nations Security Council resolution 774, adopted unanimously on 26 August 1992, after reaffirming all previous resolutions on Cyprus, the Council noted that while some progress had been made in negotiations between the two communities on Cyprus, there had still been some difficulties in fully implementing Resolution 750 (1992).
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1953, adopted on December 14, 2010, after reaffirming all resolutions on the situation in Cyprus, particularly Resolution 1251 (1999), the Council extended the mandate of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) for a further six months until June 15, 2011, calling for Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders to develop a plan for overcoming differences before the Secretary-General visit in January 2011.
Parliamentary elections were held in Cyprus on 22 May 2011 to elect the 56 Members of the House of Representatives. They were won by the Democratic Rally, who increased their seats from 18 to 20. The governing Progressive Party of Working People also gained a seat, bringing them up to 19. The Democratic Party lost two of their 11 seats and the European Party lost one of their three seats. The Movement for Social Democracy held on to their five seats.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1986, adopted unanimously on June 13, 2011, after reaffirming all resolutions on the situation in Cyprus, particularly resolutions 1251 (1999) and 1953 (2010), the Council extended the mandate of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) for a further six months until December 15, 2011, calling for an intensification of negotiations between the Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders.
The Syrian peace process is the ensemble of initiatives and plans to resolve the Syrian civil war, which has been ongoing in Syria since 2011 and has spilled beyond its borders. The peace process has been moderated by the Arab League, the UN Special Envoy on Syria, Russia and Western powers. The negotiating parties to end the conflict are typically representatives of the Syrian Ba'athist government and Syrian opposition, while the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria is usually excluded at the insistence of Turkey. Radical Salafist forces including the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant have not engaged in any contacts on peaceful resolution to the conflict.
A joint declaration was made on 11 February 2014 at the start of renewed negotiations to settle the Cyprus dispute. The following talks between Nicos Anastasiades, President of Cyprus, and Derviş Eroğlu, President of Northern Cyprus, were stalled in October 2014.
The 2008-2012 Cyprus talks were held as part of the long-going peace process, in order to resolve the Cyprus dispute. The talks failed to achieve their goals. An opinion poll conducted in 2010 reported that 84% of Greek Cypriots and 70% of Turkish Cypriots assumed that: "the other side would never accept the actual compromises and concessions that are needed for a fair and viable settlement". At the beginning of 2013, Cyprus negotiations were suspended because of a change of government in the Greek Cypriot community of Cyprus.
Talks to resolve the Cyprus problem starting from 12 May 2015 to 7 July 2017, when the President of the Republic of Cyprus Nicos Anastasiades and President of Northern Cyprus Mustafa Akıncı met for the first time and restarted peace talks. The talk was brought to a halt when both sides failed to negotiate a deal.
The two-state solution for the Cyprus dispute refers to the proposed permanent division of the island of Cyprus into a Turkish Cypriot State in the north and a Greek Cypriot State in the south, as opposed to the various proposals for reunification that have been suggested since the island was split into two by the 1974 Turkish invasion. The two-state solution would entail the legalisation of the status quo, where Greek Cypriots govern the southern part of the island and Turkish Cypriots govern the northern part, the latter of which is currently not recognised by any country other than Turkey.
Northern Cyprus and the United States do not have official diplomatic relations as the United States does not recognize Northern Cyprus as a sovereign nation and instead recognizes the region of Northern Cyprus as part of Cyprus. Despite no formal relations between the two nations, Northern Cyprus has appointed Ambassadors to the United States and has a representative office in Washington, D.C. which serves as its de facto embassy. Northern Cyprus also maintains a Representative office in New York City serving as a de facto consulate-general and as a de facto Permanent Mission to the United Nations. The United States on the other hand has a diplomatic office in North Nicosia as part of its embassy in Nicosia to Cyprus.
The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic and the United States do not have diplomatic relations as the United States since 2020 with the signing of the Israel–Morocco normalization agreement as part of the Abraham Accords recognized the region of Western Sahara as part of Morocco and the annexation of Western Sahara making it the first country to do so. Prior to 2020, the informal position of the United States was supporting Morocco's claim to Western Sahara under autonomy for the SADR without formally recognizing Morocco's annexation. The United States has often mediated proposals for both sides to find an amicable solution to the conflict mostly through the United Nations.