TRNC Independence Declaration

The talks revived by the 1979 ten point agreement made little headway. Rounds held under UN Special Representative Hugo Gobbi from 1980 produced rival proposals in 1981 that were far apart, and an evaluation by UN Secretary General Kurt Waldheim that November did not close the gap. The Greek Cypriot side, encouraged by the new Papandreou government in Athens, increasingly sought to take the issue to international forums. The Turkish Cypriot leadership opposed that approach and spent months in 1983 hinting that it might change the north’s status.

On 15 November 1983 Rauf Denktaş presented a declaration of independence to the assembly of the Turkish Federated State of Cyprus in the northern part of Nicosia (Lefkoşa). The assembly approved it unanimously, and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus was proclaimed. The declaration invoked the Turkish Cypriot right to self determination. Denktaş said it was not meant to rule out a federal solution and pledged that the new state would not join any other state, Turkey included. Turkey recognised the TRNC the same day.

The reaction elsewhere was swift. On 18 November 1983 the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 541 by 13 votes to one, with Jordan against and Pakistan abstaining. It deplored the declaration of “the purported secession of part of the Republic of Cyprus”, considered it legally invalid and called for its withdrawal. It also called on all states not to recognise any Cypriot state other than the Republic of Cyprus. Resolution 550 (1984) repeated the call. The UN Secretary General and Western governments said the move ran against the 1977 and 1979 High Level Agreements.

The two communities still mark the date very differently. For many Turkish Cypriots, 15 November is the anniversary of a state they see as the expression of their right to self determination after eight years of failed talks on a federation. For Greek Cypriots it was an unlawful secession from the Republic of Cyprus, and the Security Council declared it legally invalid.

More than four decades on, Turkey remains the only UN member state to recognise the TRNC, and the UN continues to treat the Republic of Cyprus as the sole legitimate state on the island. The question of the north’s status has shaped every round of negotiations since.