The Cyprus dispute or Cyprus issue is the ongoing issue of military invasion and continuing Turkish occupation (since 1974) of the northern third of the island, a situation described and deplored in multiple UN reports and resolutions. Although the Republic of Cyprus is recognized as the sole legitimate state, sovereign over all the island, the north is de facto under the administration of the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus which is guarded by Turkish Armed Forces. Currently only Turkey recognizes the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, while there is broad recognition that the ongoing military presence constitutes occupation of territories that belong to the Republic of Cyprus. According to the European Court of Human Rights, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus should be considered as a puppet state under Turkish effective control.
Initially, with the annexation of the island by the British Empire from the Ottoman Empire, the "Cyprus dispute" was identified as the conflict between the people of Cyprus and the British Crown regarding the Cypriots' demand for self determination. The dispute, however, was finally shifted, under the British administration, from a colonial dispute to an ethnic dispute between the Turkish and the Greek islanders. The international complications of the dispute stretch far beyond the boundaries of the island of Cyprus itself and involve the guarantor powers under the Zürich and London Agreement (Turkey, Greece, and the United Kingdom), the United Nations and the European Union, along with (unofficially) the United States.