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Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of the TRNC

Cyprus dispute Annan Plan referendum Constitution President Mehmet Ali Talat Prime Minister Ferdi Sabit Soyer Assembly of the Republic Political parties Elections Foreign Relations See also: Politics of Cyprus

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The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, due to its unrecognized status internationally, is dependent upon Turkey to facilitate its contacts with the international community. The so-called "TRNC" is a self-proclaimed illegal entity. This is due to Turkey's illegal invasion on the island which occurred in 1974. This was condemned through a series of UN brokered resolutions; which call upon Turkey to immediately withdrawal all of its 35,000 troops and colonists from the occupied territories of Cyprus.

Contents 1 Developments since 2004 2 Diplomatic representations 3 Foreign Minister 4 Disputes 4.1 Republic of Cyprus 4.2 European Union 4.3 United Nations 4.4 Turkey 4.5 Universal Postal Union 5 Outlook 6 International Organizational Membership 7 See also

Since the 2004 referendum on the Annan Plan, the attitude of the international community towards the TRNC has begun to change. Azerbaijan has commenced (though charter only) direct air links with the TRNC, whereas before, all flights had to originate or stop off in Turkey first. The Organization of the Islamic Conference (of which the Secretary General is Turkish) has upgraded the TRNC's status from a community to an observer-state), and a delegation from the U.S. congressmen have been in direct contact with the TRNC Government, arriving in the TRNC without first going through the southern part of the island, and meeting the representatives in their ministries.

Following Azerbaijan's lead, several (all Turkic) states in Central Asia are expressing interest in commencing their own air links with the TRNC (However, Azerbaijan is experiencing strong diplomatic pressure from the EU to break off its links after its 2005 direct charter flights to the TRNC).^{[citation needed]}

At the September 2005 Session of the Turkish-controlled Organization of the Islamic Conference meeting in New York, the OIC issued resolutions calling upon member nations and other states to break UN resolutions and restrictions imposed upon the TRNC, and to open more direct links with the TRNC.

In October 2005, a large parliamentary delegation from Kyrgyzstan arrived in the TRNC for the purpose of proposing closer economic, cultural, and sporting ties.

In September 2006, President Mehmet Ali Talat made an official state visit to Pakistan at the invitation of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. Despite the official line from the Pakistani PAO that the visit did not imply any recognition of TRNC, the fact that official photographs showed both presidents seated together with their respective national flags clearly visible behind them shows that Pakistan has close ties with the TRNC.

At the present time, only Turkey maintains a formal embassy in the TRNC, while the TRNC has an embassy and consulates in Turkey. In various other countries, the TRNC has unofficial representative offices which serve as de facto embassies and consulates. Turkey represents the TRNC's interests in countries without such offices. In Northern Nicosia (the Turkish occupied northern half), both the British High Commissioner to Cyprus and the United States Ambassador to Cyprus have their formal residences, though since these residences had been in use since before 1963, it is not indicative of formal recognition of the TRNC from the United Kingdom or United States.

Azerbaijan and the Gambia have recently announced their willingness to eventually formally recognize the TRNC. They so far have not followed through, but their informal contacts have increased. Also, diplomats from other countries have recently officially visited the TRNC Embassy in Ankara to hold meetings with the TRNC Ambassador. The latest nation to state their intention to (positively) change their policy towards TRNC is Paraguay.

Honorary Representatives are also appointed by the TRNC in various other cities to represent the TRNC and to assist the primary TRNC Representative Offices.

Ozgur Party (Minority partner in the TRNC Government) Leader Turgay Avci serves as the Foreign Minister (as well as Deputy Prime minister). He replaced Serdar Denktaş (son of the former Turkish Cypriot President Rauf Denktas) on 27 September 2006.

The internationally recognized Cyprus Government refuses to give any official status to the government of the TRNC, and actively dissuades any other country from doing so. This is backed up by United Nations Security Council resolutions. The Cyprus Government regards the TRNC in such terms as: "illegitimate entity", "Turkish military occupied territory" and "a puppet state of Turkey". Phraseology such as "pseudo" or "so-called" are used by the Cyprus Government to describe government officials and institutions in the TRNC.

The de facto TRNC President is referred to simply as the "Turkish Cypriot Leader" by the Cyprus Government, the EU and the United Nations. (It is however interesting to note that under the 1960 Constitution of Cyprus, the Leader of the Turkish Cypriots is regarded as the Vice-President of the Republic of Cyprus with wide veto powers, but this status has not been acknowledged by the Cypriot government since December 1963^{[citation needed]}). Due to this stance, the TRNC refuses any official recognition of the Cyprus Government, calling it the "Greek Cypriot Administration of Southern Cyprus", and referring to its President as the "Greek Cypriot Leader". Turkey backs this position.

There have been some inter-Cypriot diplomatic successes recently however, the most recent being the opening of several checkpoints along the Green Line, allowing Greek and Turkish Cypriots to visit either side of the Green Line.

Negotiations between both Cypriot communities have been complicated by the accession of the Republic of Cyprus to the European Union in 2004. The TRNC views the EU accession as illegal as they had not been consulted (as the 1960 constitution stipulates), and that the Cyprus Government does not represent the Turkish Cypriot populace. Legally, the EU regulations cover the whole island, but in practice, only the southern portion of the island enjoys the benefits of EU membership.

The Cyprus Government have used their EU position to veto promised aid packages from the EU to the TRNC, and are using their membership to add pressure on Turkey to end their support for the TRNC. This is being viewed in an increasingly negative way by countries such as Britain and the United States, though Turkey's non-recognition of the Republic of Cyprus despite its signing of the customs union between itself and the EU is an additional bone of contention.

Legally, the EU continues to consider Northern Cyprus as EU territory under foreign military occupation and thus indefinitely exempt from EU legislation until a settlement has been reached. The number of seats assigned to Cyprus in the European Parliament (6 seats) is based on the population of the entire island, despite the fact that the residents of Northern Cyprus currently cannot participate in the election process. Unlike the 1960 constitution where Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots were voting separately their members in the Cypriot Parliament, until the solution of the Cyprus Problem, because of the current status quo, the Turkish Cypriot voters can vote only together with Greek Cypriots for Cypriot Members of the European Parliament. In the last European Parliament elections, 97 Turkish Cypriots voted. There is no support as yet for admitting two Cypriot member states into the EU.

In 1983, The United Nations issued two Security Council resolutions calling the TRNC's UDI illigitimate and calling upon the other UN member nations not to recognize it. The policy of the UN is to reunify both communities under a federal structure. The TRNC calls the UN action hypocritical, given their recognition of Bangladesh in 1972 after it broke off from Pakistan. The United Nations still maintains a United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus]] along the Green Line.

In 2005, moves were made by TRNC to regulate Turkish migrants. This was in reaction to employment shortages and an increase in crime. This is the first major area of disagreement between TRNC and Turkey, which wants to preserve the Turkish majority demographic status quo through continued ethnic Turkish migration.

In late 2006, The Turkish military objected to President Talat's decision to remove a footbridge located on the Turkish side of the Ledra Street Barricade. President Talat made it clear that the decision to demolish the footbridge was the sole preogative of the TRNC Government.

The Universal Postal Union does not recognize TRNC as a separate entity, and as all mail addressed to the TRNC will be returned to the sender as 'undeliverable', TRNC-bound mail has to be routed through Turkey first (mail must be addressed to Mersin 10, TURKEY). However, the TRNC postage stamps - unlike postage stamps from Rhodesia between 1965 - 1980 are recognized.

While the stance of the Republic of Cyprus has been the main source of the international isolation of the TRNC, sympathy for the Turkish Cypriot people has increased since their support for reunification in the failed 2004 referendum on the Annan Plan. Some observers believe that with the continued chipping away of the embargo, the TRNC could end up with a political status similar to that of the Republic of China (which has diplomatic relations with only 25 states, but otherwise no barriers to trade, tourism, and sport and de facto relations with most countries in the world in the form of "economic and cultural" offices). Formal recognition would only be likely in the short to medium term from a handful of OIC nations (most probably the Turkic states of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, and Uzbekistan). Most other nations would not follow suit while the UN Security Council resolutions (550, 541) are still in force.

The TRNC fully supports Turkey's bid to join the European Union. As part of this bid, Turkey recently signed a protocol extending its customs union to the new EU members, including the Republic of Cyprus, which Turkey does not recognise. Turkey made sure this was not tantamount to recognition with the inclusion of a declaration, stipulating their continued policy of non-recognition of what they describe as the "Greek Cypriot administration of Southern Cyprus" until a settlement is reached. The TRNC views any move by the EU to force Turkish recognition of the Republic of Cyprus as an effort to cut them off from their base of support. Turkey has pledged not to abandon the TRNC, but the upcoming negotiations with the EU will put this pledge sorely to the test.

The TRNC is an observer-state member of the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

• Politics of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
• TRNC Representative Office in New York
• TRNC Representative Office to the United States
• Turkish Cypriot diaspora
• Embassy of Turkey in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
• TRNC Embassy in Turkey