Pride and Prejudice: The Failure of UN Peace Brokering Efforts in Cyprus

Abstract

During the five decades of its involvement in the infamous ‘Cyprus problem’, the United Nations UN has undertaken several largescale attempts to lead the process of conflict resolution, however, the UN’s mediation has failed to produce a settlement on the island. The issue at the heart of the conflict, political inequality, remains the major stumbling block. This block is firmly and consistently embedded in the UN’s successive resolutions on Cyprus which continue to sustain the status of inequality and thus, perpetuate the problem. By drawing attention to the roots of the current conflict in Cyprus, and to the UN’s positioning in the conflict, this article challenges the UN’s myopic policy towards Cyprus. It is argued that the UN’s partiality protracts the conflict, and that attempts to reach a workable solution are deemed improbable as long as the UN’s stance on Cyprus remains uncontested

Keywords

• Cyprus conflict, UN mediation, UN policy towards Cyprus, peace-keeping, peace-making.

References

1. UN Security Council Resolution 186 (1964).
2. “Treaty Concerning the Establishment of the Republic of Cyprus, signed at Nicosia on 16 August 1960”, in Murat Hakkı (ed.), Cyprus: Selected Treaties and Documents (1878-2004), Volume I: Constitutional Issues, Morrisville, Lulu Enterprises, 2004, pp. 29- 134.
3. “Treaty of Guarantee between the Republic of Cyprus and Greece, the United Kingdom and Turkey”, in Hakkı (ed.), Cyprus: Selected Treaties and Documents (1878-2004), Volume I: Constitutional Issues, pp. 135-136.
4. “Treaty of Alliance between the Republic of Cyprus, Greece and Turkey”, in Hakkı (ed.), Cyprus: Selected Treaties and Documents (1878-2004), p. 136. 5 Ibid. 6 UN Report S/5950.
5. Rauf Denktaş, “How the Zürich Agreements Unravelled”, in Michael Moran (ed.), Cyprus: Unity and Difference, Istanbul Kultur University, Global Political Trends Center, 2009, pp. 113-114.
6. UN Report S/6253, paras 49-50
7. Makarios Droushiotis, “Zurich- from curse to blessing in disguise,” in Moran (ed.), Cyprus Unity and Difference, p. 109. 10 Ibid., p. 109. 11 Ibid., p. 110.
8. UN Reports S/5950 and S/6253.

9. UN Report S/5959. 14 Ibid.
10. UN Report S/6253. 16 Ibid.
11. UN Report S/8286. 18 Ibid.
12. Susanne Baier-Allen, Exploring the Linkage between EU Accession and Conflict Resolution: The Cyprus Case, Baden-Baden, Germany, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, 2004, p. 82.
13. Halil I. Salih, Cyprus: The Impact of Diverse Nationalism on a State, Tuscaloosa, University of Alabama Press, 1978, pp. 81- 82.
14. Stationery Office Limited, 2007, para 133.
15. UN Security Council Resolutions 367 (1975); 414 (1977); 440 (1978); 443 (1978).
16. Clement Dodd, The History and Politics of the Cyprus Conflict, Palgrave Macmillan, 2010, p. 139.
17. Ten-Point Agreement, 19 May 1979, in Hakkı (ed.), Cyprus: Selected Treaties and Documents (1878-2004), p. 347.
18. UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/30/34. 46 Ibid.
19. UN Security Council Resolution 541 (1983).
20. Dodd, The History and Politics of the Cyprus Conflict, p. 153.
21. UN Security Council Resolution 744 (1992).
22. Dodd, The History and Politics of the Cyprus Conflict, p. 174.
23. Corfu European Council, Presidency Conclusions, 24-25 June 1994, Section II B.
24. UN Security Council Resolution 939 (1994).
25. UN Report S/2004/437.
26. UN Security Council Resolution 2114 (2013).
27. Glafkos Clerides, Cyprus: My Deposition, Vol. 3, Nicosia, 1990, p. 105.
28. UN Charter, Preamble. 57 Ibid., Preamble.
29. Ibid., Chapter I Article 1.