The Excuse of State Necessity And Its Implications on the Cyprus Conflict

Abstract

Despite the de facto disappearance of the bi-communal legal government of the 1960 Republic of Cyprus ROC following the events of December 1963, the international community believes that this legal entity and its government continue to exist. This approach has been based on two main documents: 1 decision of the Greek-Cypriot Supreme Court titled ‘The Attorney General of the Republic v. Mustafa Ibrahim and Others’ in 1964 the Ibrahim Case ; 2 UN Security Council Resolution of 4 March 1964. Notwithstanding the ‘withdrawal’ or ‘ejection’ of Turkish-Cypriot citizens of the ROC from public service, the Greek-Cypriot court stated that the main concern must be the continuity of the state itself and created an opportunity for the erosion of the bi-communal structure guaranteed by the 1960 Constitution and international agreements, by means of a reference to the UN Security Council Resolution and the concept of ‘state necessity’. Thus, the political will of the international community, which favoured the approval of the GreekCypriot government as the single legitimate government in the Island, was justified by a ‘legal’ argument.