Constitution of Cyprus
| Constitution of Cyprus | |
|---|---|
| Ratified | August 16, 1960 |
| Location | Unknown |
| Signatories | Members of the Cypriot government |
| Purpose | National constitution to secure unity between Greek and Turkish Cypriots and provide a framework for the newly independent government. |
The Constitution of Cyprus is a document, ratified on August 16, 1960, that serves as the framework for the Cypriot government. It was drafted after the country won its independence in 1959 and is Cyprus's first and only constitution to date. The Constitution of the Republic of Cyprus has been in force for 57 years and it has been amended 10 (ten) times and 20 Articles of the 199 were modified since 1960. The 10th Amendment concerned Article 7 and came into effect on September 16th 2016 with its publication in the Official Journal.
The constitution put methods in place to protect Turkish Cypriots, due to the restrictions placed in Article 6 of the document. That article ensures the Cypriot government has no right to discriminate against either Turkish or Greek Cypriots. The constitution also ensures, in Article 1, that the Vice-President of the country is a Turk and the President is a Greek. In 1964, however, the Cypriot government became dominated by Greeks.
The constitution of the country collapsed, however, in 1963 due to dispute between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots. The running of the republic by the Greek community alone has been legally defined in what is called "Justice of need". Following the Turkish invasion of 1974 the state acts as a surrogate for the properties of Turkish Cypriots that moved to the Turkish occupied north. Following Cyprus's entry into the EU in 2004 and the Ibrahim Aziz vs. Republic of Cyprus case in the European court of human rights, some individual civil rights of Turkish Cypriots residing in the area under the control of the Republic have been restored, thus they can be part of the electoral register and stand in European elections. This, however, has not restored their communal rights as envisaged in the original constitution, i.e. separate electoral register to elect vice president and a fixed number of members of the house of representatives.
In 1963, the Constitution broke down as the Turkish Cypriots involved withdrew from the government, and as a result the Greeks took full control of the government in 1965, as the Turkish Cypriots would not co-operate for constitutional changes, despite the constitutional safeguards to ensure representation of Turks that had previously existed.
The separation occurred because the two ethnic groups continued to distrust each other after the constitution was signed. Another issue that caused the breakdown was the fact that President Makarios III, a Greek Cypriot, supported complete integration between the two ethnic groups, while Vice President Fazil Küçük, a Turkish Cypriot, supported increased separation.
...
Wikipedia