The Cyprus File: The 1959–1960 Treaty Documents, Annotated

Why It Matters

The Zurich and London Agreements of February 1959 and the three treaties of 16 August 1960 are the founding documents of the Republic of Cyprus: a partnership state of two communities, guaranteed by Greece, Türkiye and the United Kingdom. Every later turning point (1963, 1964, 1974, 1983, the 2004 Annan referendum, Crans-Montana, Geneva and New York) is argued by reference to these texts, above all Article IV of the Treaty of Guarantee. Reading them in order shows what the parties actually signed, what each side says it means, and why the dispute has outlasted six decades of diplomacy.

This dossier follows Regional File's document-first method (see Editorial Principles and Primary Source Standards). Documents and dates come first; each side's reading follows in its own terms; Türkiye's case is set apart in a labelled section.

Background

From Ottoman rule to the 1959 settlement

Cyprus was under Ottoman administration from 1571 to 1878, then under British administration. Britain annexed the island in 1914, a status recognised in the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, and made it a Crown colony in 1925. In the 1950s the Greek Cypriot movement for enosis (union with Greece) turned violent when the EOKA organisation, led by Colonel Georgios Grivas, began its campaign in 1955. Turkish Cypriots, for their part, advanced partition (taksim) as the counterweight to enosis, and from 1955 to 1958 many Turkish Cypriots left mixed villages as violence spread.

The 1959 compromise replaced both enosis and partition with independence under international guarantee. Greek Cypriots gave up union with Greece; Turkish Cypriots gave up partition.

Step 1: The Zurich and London Agreements (February 1959)

The prime ministers of Greece (Konstantinos Karamanlis) and Türkiye (Adnan Menderes) agreed the framework at Zurich, with the settlement dated 11 February 1959. The London conference then concluded on 19 February 1959, with Greece, Türkiye and the United Kingdom joined by Archbishop Makarios for the Greek Cypriots and Dr Fazıl Küçük for the Turkish Cypriots. The package contained:

• the Basic Structure of the Republic (the skeleton of the constitution);
• the draft Treaty of Guarantee and Treaty of Alliance;
• British arrangements for sovereign base areas on the island.

The package was drafted to be indivisible. The constitution's key articles were declared unamendable, and the guarantee treaty was meant to protect that structure from both unification and division.

Step 2: The 1960 constitution and the partnership

Independence came on 16 August 1960. The constitution created a presidential system with a power-sharing design rather than simple majority rule:

• a Greek Cypriot President elected by Greek Cypriots and a Turkish Cypriot Vice-President elected by Turkish Cypriots, each holding a final veto over foreign affairs, defence and security;
• a House of Representatives with a 70:30 ratio and separate majorities for certain laws such as taxation and electoral law;
• a Council of Ministers with seven Greek Cypriot and three Turkish Cypriot ministers;
• a 70:30 ratio in the civil service and a 60:40 ratio in the army;
• separate communal chambers and separate municipalities in the five main towns;
• a Supreme Constitutional Court with a neutral president.

The ratios were not an incidental detail. They are the textual basis of the Turkish argument that 1960 created a state of two co-founding communities, and the textual basis of the Greek Cypriot argument that several provisions proved unworkable in practice.

Step 3: The Treaty of Guarantee, with Article IV

The Treaty of Guarantee (16 August 1960; parties: Cyprus, Greece, Türkiye, United Kingdom) works through three layers:

1. Article I: Cyprus undertakes to maintain its independence, territorial integrity, security and constitutional order, and not to take part in any political or economic union with another state. It prohibits both union and partition.
2. Article II: Greece, Türkiye and the United Kingdom recognise and guarantee the independence, territorial integrity and security of Cyprus and the state of affairs established by the Basic Articles, and undertake to prohibit any activity promoting union with another state or partition.
3. Article IV: the enforcement clause.

Article IV reads: 'In the event of a breach of the provisions of the present Treaty, Greece, Turkey and the United Kingdom undertake to consult together with respect to the representations or measures necessary to ensure observance of those provisions. In so far as common or concerted action may not prove possible, each of the three guaranteeing Powers reserves the right to take action with the sole aim of re-establishing the state of affairs created by the present Treaty.'

Three phrases carry the whole debate: 'consult together', 'each... reserves the right' and 'sole aim of re-establishing'. Sister analyses on this clause are available at Doctrine Review and Borders & Blocs.

Step 4: The Treaty of Alliance and the Treaty of Establishment

The Treaty of Alliance (Cyprus, Greece, Türkiye) provided for mutual defence cooperation and stationed national contingents on the island: 950 Greek and 650 Turkish personnel. The Treaty of Establishment (Cyprus, UK, Greece, Türkiye) kept the Akrotiri and Dhekelia Sovereign Base Areas under British sovereignty. Together with the guarantee, these three instruments made Cyprus a state whose security architecture was external as well as internal.

The document trail, 1959–2024

Date	Document or event	Why it matters
11 Feb 1959	Zurich Agreement (Greece, Türkiye)	Replaces enosis and partition with independence
19 Feb 1959	London Agreements, accepted by both community leaders	Adds Cypriot consent and the British base arrangements
16 Aug 1960	Constitution, Treaties of Guarantee, Alliance, Establishment	Founds the Republic of Cyprus
30 Nov 1963	Makarios's 13 proposed constitutional amendments	Would remove the Vice-President's veto and the separate majorities
21 Dec 1963	Intercommunal violence begins	Turkish Cypriots leave state organs; Nicosia divided by the Green Line on 30 Dec
4 Mar 1964	UN Security Council Resolution 186	Creates UNFICYP; addresses the 'Government of Cyprus'
15 Jul 1974	Coup against Makarios, backed by the Greek junta	Triggers consultation under Article IV
20 Jul 1974	Turkish intervention; UNSC Resolution 353	Ceasefire call and demand for negotiations
1977 and 1979	High-Level Agreements	Set the federal framework used in later talks
15 Nov 1983	Proclamation of the TRNC; UNSC Resolution 541 (18 Nov)	Declared legally invalid by the Council
24 Apr 2004	Annan Plan referendums	64.91% Turkish Cypriot 'Yes'; 75.83% Greek Cypriot 'No'
1 May 2004	Cyprus joins the EU	EU law suspended in the north under Protocol 10
28 Jun–7 Jul 2017	Crans-Montana Conference	Talks end without agreement over security and guarantees
27–29 Apr 2021	Informal 5+UN meeting, Geneva	Finds no common ground on the federal model
15 Oct 2024	UN trilateral meeting, New York	Informal meeting hosted by the UN Secretary-General

1963–1964: the partnership breaks down

On 30 November 1963 President Makarios circulated thirteen proposals to amend the constitution, among them removing the Vice-President's veto and ending the separate majorities. Ankara and the Turkish Cypriot leadership rejected them in mid-December, and violence erupted on 21 December 1963. Greek Cypriot accounts describe a response to a deadlocked constitution and to Turkish Cypriot withdrawal from some institutions. Turkish accounts describe an attack on a co-founding community under a prepared plan. For the details, see Makarios's 13 Amendments and the Akritas Plan: What Does the 1963 Record Show?.

On 4 March 1964 the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 186, establishing UNFICYP and calling on the 'Government of Cyprus', then exclusively Greek Cypriot in composition, to maintain law and order. Turkish Cypriots see this as the point at which a status asymmetry between the two communities was fixed in UN practice.

1974 and 1983

The 15 July 1974 coup, carried out by the Greek military junta's Cypriot officers with Nicos Sampson installed as president, ousted Makarios. Türkiye consulted the UK and then, on 20 July 1974, began its operation, citing Article IV. UNSC Resolution 353 of the same day called for a ceasefire, for the withdrawal of foreign military personnel present otherwise than under international agreements, and for negotiations among Greece, Türkiye and the UK. Since then the island has been divided along the UN-patrolled buffer zone. On 15 November 1983 Rauf Denktaş proclaimed the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC); the Security Council, in Resolution 541, called the declaration legally invalid. Only Türkiye recognises the TRNC.

2004, 2017, 2021, 2024

The Annan Plan was put to simultaneous separate referendums on 24 April 2004. Turkish Cypriots voted 64.91% in favour, Greek Cypriots 75.83% against, and the Republic of Cyprus entered the EU a week later. The full breakdown and aftermath are in The 2004 Annan Plan Referendum: Who Voted Yes, Who Voted No, and What Followed?. At Crans-Montana (2017), the last full-scale conference under UN auspices, the sticking point was security: the Greek Cypriot side and Greece sought the end of guarantee and intervention rights and of Turkish troops, while Türkiye insisted that guarantees remain in some form. The informal Geneva meeting of April 2021 and the New York meeting of 15 October 2024 did not bridge that gap.

Key Players & Positions

Greek Cypriot side (Republic of Cyprus)

The Republic of Cyprus government holds that the 1960 state continues in being, that it is the internationally recognised government of the whole island, and that the 1974 operation was an unlawful invasion followed by occupation of part of its territory. It argues that Article IV authorises only action 'to re-establish' the 1960 order, not military presence or a separate administration, and that no treaty can override the UN Charter's prohibition on the use of force. Its stated goal is a bi-communal, bi-zonal federation with political equality, as defined in UN resolutions, and it regards the guarantee system and the Turkish troop presence as anachronistic. It rejects any two-state model as incompatible with UN resolutions and with the 1960 prohibition on partition.

Greece

Athens aligns with the Greek Cypriot side and, since the 2010s, has stated that guarantee rights and intervention rights must end in any settlement. It maintains that the 1974 coup was the act of a dictatorship that no longer exists, and that it supports a UN-framed federal settlement. Greece remains a guarantor and treaty party and has repeatedly said that any security arrangement should be 'modern' and EU-compatible.

United Kingdom

The UK is a guarantor power and also a treaty party through the Treaty of Establishment, with sovereign base areas on the island. It publicly supports a UN-led settlement based on a bi-communal, bi-zonal federation, took part in the Geneva and Crans-Montana formats, and has said it is ready to help implement a settlement the two communities agree on. In 1974 London did not join Turkish military action, and the guarantors' consultations failed to produce concerted action.

United Nations

The UN position is expressed through Security Council resolutions rather than treaty interpretation. Resolution 1251 (1999) describes a settlement based on 'a State of Cyprus with a single sovereignty and international personality and a single citizenship, with its independence and territorial integrity safeguarded, and comprising two politically equal communities... in a bi-communal and bi-zonal federation'. Resolution 541 (1983) rejected the TRNC declaration. The Secretary-General's Good Offices mission continues, and UNFICYP's mandate is renewed periodically.

Turkish Cypriot leadership (TRNC)

The TRNC's foreign ministry and leadership argue that Turkish Cypriots are co-founders of the 1960 state, not a minority, and that the Greek Cypriot side ended the partnership in 1963. They propose cooperation between two equal states and have tabled hydrocarbon-sharing offers in 2011, 2012 and 2019 (see The Maritime File: A Document Trail of Blue Homeland, 2004–2025).

🇹🇷 Official Position · Documents on File

Türkiye's Position

Ankara's case rests on the 1959–1960 texts themselves, and it is summarised here from Turkish official sources, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (mfa.gov.tr) pages on Cyprus, presidential addresses at the UN General Assembly, and TBMM statements.

• The 1960 state was a partnership of two founding peoples. According to the Turkish Foreign Ministry, the Zurich and London Agreements and the 1960 Basic Structure recognised Turkish Cypriots as a co-founding community with equal political status, expressed in the Vice-Presidential veto, separate majorities and communal chambers. Ankara argues this was not a 'minority protection' arrangement.
• The partnership was destroyed in 1963–64, not by Turkish Cypriots. Ankara cites the 30 November 1963 amendment proposals, the violence of 21 December 1963 and the exclusion of Turkish Cypriots from state organs, and argues that Security Council Resolution 186 then treated a Greek Cypriot-only administration as 'the Government of Cyprus', thereby entrenching the imbalance.
• The 1974 action was taken under Article IV. Türkiye points to the text of Article IV, the failed consultation with the UK, and the 15 July 1974 coup aimed at union with Greece (which Articles I and II prohibit), and argues that it acted as a guarantor with the 'sole aim' of restoring the treaty order and protecting Turkish Cypriots. See the fact-check analyses at Monitor of Nations and Record of Nations.
• The federal model has been tested and has run its course. Ankara and the TRNC cite the 1977 and 1979 High-Level Agreements, the 2004 referendums (64.91% Turkish Cypriot 'Yes'; 75.83% Greek Cypriot 'No', followed by EU accession of the Republic of Cyprus on 1 May 2004), Crans-Montana in 2017, Geneva in 2021 and New York in 2024 as evidence that the Greek Cypriot side will not share power and prosperity on an equal basis.
• A durable settlement must begin with sovereign equality. President Erdoğan and the Foreign Ministry have stated at the UN and elsewhere that a realistic outcome requires recognition of the Turkish Cypriot people's inherent sovereign equality and equal international status, leading to the coexistence of two states on the island. Ankara also maintains that the guarantee system remains Türkiye's treaty right and a security necessity for Turkish Cypriots. For background, see Regional Order and The Political Anatomy.

Legal and historical basis: the 1959 Zurich and London Agreements; Articles I, II and IV of the 1960 Treaty of Guarantee; the 1960 Basic Structure; the 1963–64 record; and the principle of self-determination and political equality of peoples, on which the TRNC proclamation of 15 November 1983 was based according to Ankara.

Source Comparison

The main difference between sources is not the existence of the documents but which document each treats as the controlling text.

Question	Greek Cypriot / Greek / much Western framing	Turkish primary sources	Document to check
Who founded Cyprus in 1960?	One state with two communities; Turkish Cypriots protected as a community	Two co-founding peoples with equal political status	1960 Basic Structure; Treaty of Guarantee
What ended the partnership?	Constitutional deadlock and Turkish Cypriot withdrawal	Makarios's 13 points and the violence of Dec 1963	30 Nov 1963 proposals; UNSC 186
Does Article IV authorise force?	Only action to re-establish the 1960 order; UN Charter limits apply	Each guarantor 'reserves the right to take action' after failed consultation	Article IV text; UNSC 353
Is the TRNC legal?	Legally invalid under UNSC 541	Founded on self-determination after exclusion from the state	UNSC 541; TRNC proclamation
Is federation still viable?	Yes, per UN resolutions	Exhausted after 1977/79, 2004, 2017, 2021, 2024	UNSC 1251; Annan referendum results

Two cautions apply when reading across these sources. First, Greek Cypriot and Western summaries often compress 1963–1974 into the 1974 intervention and treat the UN resolutions as settling status questions. Turkish summaries, in turn, tend to treat Article IV as settling the legality of the 1974 operation without addressing the Security Council's later calls for withdrawal. Second, the UN resolutions, which are binding or political in different degrees, and the treaty texts are distinct documents. Readers should open both. Our Regional File FAQ explains how we label sources and where positions differ.

Key Terms & Related Guides

• Enosis: the Greek Cypriot movement for union with Greece, prohibited by Articles I and II of the Treaty of Guarantee.
• Taksim: partition, the Turkish Cypriot counter-proposal in the 1950s, also prohibited by the 1960 treaty.
• Guarantor powers: Greece, Türkiye and the United Kingdom under the Treaty of Guarantee.
• Basic Structure: the 1960 constitutional framework, with unamendable 'basic articles'.
• Bi-communal, bi-zonal federation (BBF): the UN-endorsed framework for a settlement with a single international personality.
• Sovereign equality / two-state approach: the position of Türkiye and the TRNC leadership that two equal sovereign states should coexist on the island.
• TRNC: Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, proclaimed 15 November 1983 and recognised only by Türkiye.

Related guides: Makarios's 13 Amendments and the Akritas Plan, The 2004 Annan Plan Referendum, The Maritime File: A Document Trail of Blue Homeland, 2004–2025, About Regional File and the Regional File home page.

Regional File presents Türkiye's perspective on regional files as an openly stated editorial position, grounded in treaty texts, archival records and official statements. Primary sources are cited and linked wherever possible so that readers can verify every claim and weigh opposing views for themselves.