of the President the President of the House of Representatives acts for him. Similarly in the absence or incapacity of the Vice-President, the Vice-President of the House of Representatives acts for him. Legislative authority other than in matters expressly reserved to the Communal Chambers is vested in the House of Representatives, whose 50 members are elected for a period of five years by universal suffrage. Each of the two communities elect their separate representatives, there being 35 Greek Cypriot members and 15 Turkish Cypriot members. The Greek and Turkish Cypriot members have not sat together since December 1963. The President and Vice-President of the Republic, separately and conjointly, have the right of veto on any law or decision of the House concerning foreign affairs, and certain questions of defence and security, and may also return all laws and decisions to the House of Representatives for reconsideration. In matters where laws and decisions of the House are considered by the President or Vice-President as discriminating against either of the two communities, the Supreme Constitutional Court may annul, confirm or return the measures to the House for reconsideration in whole or in part. The Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities each have a Communal Chamber (but see below) which exercises authority in such matters as religion, education, co-operative societies and other questions of a communal nature. Citizens of the Republic who are neither of Greek origin nor of Turkish origin are required to opt to belong either to the Greek Cypriot or the Turkish Cypriot community. The Communal Chambers have the right to impose taxes and levies on the members of their community. The judicial provisions of the Constitution concern the Supreme Constitutional Court, the High Court and the Subordinate Courts. The Supreme Constutional Court consists of a Greek Cypriot judge, a Turkish Cypriot judge and a neutral judge, the neutral judge being President of the Court. The High Court is composed of two Greek Cypriot judges, one Turkish Cypriot judge and a neutral judge, the neutral judge being the President of the Court and having two votes. (These provisions are, however, in abeyance at present). Other provisions of the Constitution concern fundamental rights and liberties, the Public Service, the independent officers of the Republic, the armed forces of the Republic, financial procedures, and various miscellaneous and transitional matters. It is provided that the Civil Service should be composed of 70 per cent Greek Cypriots and 30 per cent Turkish Cypriots, with this quantitative distribution applying as far as possible in all grades of the hierarchy. Other sections of the Constitution provide for the establishment of separate Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot municipalities in the main towns, for the use of Greek and Turkish as official languages, for the right of the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities to celebrate the Greek and Turkish national holidays, for the regulation of broadcasting, and for the constitutional validity of the Treaty of Guarantee concluded between the Republic, Greece, Turkey and Britain and the Treaty of Military Alliance concluded between Greece, Turkey and Britain. The Constitution provides further that the territory of the Republic should be one and indivisible and excludes the integral or partial union of Cyprus with any other state. The basic articles of the Constitution cannot be amended, although other articles may be modified by a majority of two-thirds of each of the representatives of the two communities in the House of Representatives. Despite this the Greek Cypriot members of the House have legislated on several occasions in the past five years on grounds of 'necessity' to amend basic articles of the Constitution. HISTORICAL LIST Archbishop Makarios, from 16th August 1960 Vice-President Dr Fazil Kutchuk, from 16th August 1960 GOVERNMENT Archbishop Makarios was elected by the Greek Cypriot community first President of the Republic of Cyprus on 13th December 1959. He received 144,501 votes against 71,753 cast for the rival candidate, John Clerides, who had the support of his own right-wing Democratic Union Party and also of AKEL (the Communist party). Dr Fazil Kutchuk was nominated to the office of Vice-President in the absence of any opposing Turkish Cypriot candidate. The first election to the House of Representatives took place on 31st July 1960. Under an electoral arrangement AKEL were allowed five seats in the House in exchange for an undertaking not to contest the other thirty Greek Cypriot seats against the Patriotic Front, the loosely organised supporters of Archbishop Makarios. The 15 Turkish Cypriot members returned were all members of the National Party supporting Dr Kutchuk. The terms of office of the President, Vice-President and members of the House of Representatives have been extended annually for a period of one year at a time since 16th August 1965. Elections for the Presidency and the Vice-Presidency were held in February 1968 for a further five-year term of office. In a contested election Archbishop Makarios received 95.45 per cent of the Greek Cypriot vote while Dr Kutchuk was returned unopposed. Elections to the two Communal Chambers took place on 7th August 1960. The majority of the candidates to the Greek Cypriot Communal Chamber were returned unopposed. In the Turkish Cypriot Communal Chamber all 30 members returned were members of the National Party. The Greek Cypriot Communal Chamber by its own motion dissolved itself on 23rd March 1965 and the Greek Cypriot members of the House of Representatives on 30th March legislated to dispose of its functions. A Ministry of Education was subsequently set up. Futher elections to the House of Representatives took place on 5 July 1970. The 35 Greek-Cypriot seats were contested by five parties-all, with the exception of AKEL, the Cyprus Communist Party, of recent formation. The results were: Unified Party (15 seats), AKEL (9 seats), Progressive Front (7 seats), Unified Democratic Union (2 seats), Independents (2 seats). The Turkish Cypriots held separate elections on the same day for the 15 Turkish-Cypriot seats in the House of Representatives and 15 seats in the Communal Chambers. All candidates stood on the same platform. The Breakdown of Law and Order, December 1963 Throughout 1963 there was a steady deterioration in political relations between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot Communities in Cyprus and it was apparent that the constitutional settlement resulting from the Zürich and London Agreements was in danger of breaking down. A principal source of contention were the constitutional provisions regarding municipal government in the main towns. Events were precipitated by the summary rejection in early December by the Turkish Government of certain proposals for constitutional reform which were presented by Archbishop Makarios to Dr Kutchuk on 30th November 1963. These proposals were designed to give the Greek Cypriots a greater control over the Government of the Republic. Following a succession of violent incidents, particularly in Nicosia, armed fighting broke out in the island on 22nd December. Four days later the Cyprus Government accepted an offer that the forces of the United Kingdom, Greece and Turkey, stationed in Cyprus, and placed under British Command, should assist them to secure the preservation of a ceasefire and the restoration of peace. A Joint Force Headquarters under British Command was established forthwith in Nicosia and carried out peacekeeping operations in the island. In January 1964 the London Conference, attended by delegates of Greece, Turkey, the United Kingdom and representatives of the Greek and Turkish communities in Cyprus, met to find a solution to the problem. No agreement was reached. Meanwhile the island remained in a very disturbed state and there were fresh outbreaks of fighting. The problem was eventually referred to the Security Council of the United Nations. On 4th March the Security Council passed a Resolution to set up a United Nations Peace-keeping Force in Cyprus for three months and this replaced the British Command on 27th March. Meanwhile, the United Nations Secretary-General appointed Mr Tuomioja to act as the United Nations Mediator in Cyprus and to attempt to evolve a satisfactory solution to the Constitutional problem. Under his chairmanship, unsuccessful talks were heldin Geneva in July/August 1964 between representatives of the US., Greek and Turkish Governments. He died on 9th September and was succeeded by Senor Galo Plaza. On 26th March 1965 Senor Plaza presented his report. It recorded the views of the interested parties and expressed the Mediator's personal opinion that settlement should be on the basis of an independent unitary state with a new constitution in which guarantess for the Turkish Cypriots would be incorporated. These were, however, no more than guide lines and not a firm recommendation. The Turkish Government declared that the Mediator had exceeded his mandate and the mediation effort lapsed. After meetings between the Greek and Turkish Foreign Ministers in London representatives of the Greek and Turkish Governments started dicussions in June 1965 in Athens and Ankara. These discussions were suspended in July 1965, resumed in July 1966 and suspended again in December 1966 following a further Greek political crisis. A final abortive attempt was made by Greece and Turkey to settle the Cyprus problem when Colonel Papodopoulos, who came to power in the Greek military coup in April 1967, met the Turkish Prime Minister at Euros in Thrace in September of the same year. This meeting was a failure. In November 1967 a long dispute about the right of the Cyprus police to patrol two Turkish villages in the Larnaca District came to a head and Greek Cypriot forces under General Grivas attacked the villages inflicting more than twenty casualties. Turkey reacted vigorously and a full scale international crisis resulted. Forceful intervention by Mr Cyrus Vance the Special Representative of President Johnson was successful in preventing a Turkish invasion of Cyprus. Following the crisis General Grivas was recalled to Athens (whence he has not returned) and several thousand Greek mainland soldiers in excess of the National contingent laid down in the Treaty of Alliance were withdrawn. Greek mainland officers serving with the National Guard remain. At a meeting of the Security Council held in December 1967, U Thant offered his good offices in helping to bring about a political settlement. The Cyprus Government have subsequently lifted the economic blockade that had been maintained on Turkish Cypriot areas and lifted the restrictions on the freedom of movement of Turkish Cypriots. They also permitted the return of Mr Rauf Denktash, the President of the Turkish Cypriot Chamber from exile in Ankara. Contacts subsequently took place between the Communities and in June 1968 Mr Denktash and Mr Clerides (President of the House of Representatives) began unofficial talks aimed at finding a basis for a new Constitution for Cyprus. These talks, now in their third phase, are still continuing Two Sub-committees have been set up to examine the functioning of the Legislature and the Para-statal organisations. The U.N. Force in Cyprus has had its mandate renewed sixteen times; it was last renewed on 10th June 1970 for a further period of six months. The Force has been able, with exceptions, to maintain the peace in the island. The major exception was in August 1964 when fighting between Turkish Cypriots in enclaves in the north-west part of the island and numerically superior Greek Cypriot forces, led to limited air strikes by the Turkish Air Force; and in November 1967 when the possibility of Turkish intervention was narrowly averted. F* THE PRESIDENT His Beatitude Archbishop Makarios VICE-PRESIDENT His Excellency Dr Fazil Kutchuk MINISTRY* Minister of Commerce and Industry: Andreas Loizidest Minister of Foreign Affairs: Spyros Kyprianou Minister of Defence: Osman Orek Minister of Communications and Works: Nicos Roussost TURKISH COMMUNAL CHAMBER President of the Chamber: Rauf Denktash PRESIDENT'S STAFF Under-Secretary: Patroclos Stavrou VICE-PRESIDENT'S STAFF HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Director-General: Chr. Haji Ioannou (acting) COUNCIL OF MINISTERS SECRETARIAT JUDICIARY SUPREME CONSTITUTIONAL COURT HIGH COURT (In Abeyance) The prefix 'His Excellency' is generally used for Ministers. † Appointed by President acting alone. (This also includes the additional acting capacities of the Minister of the Interior.) |