Cyprus: Reunification efforts - timeline
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Timeline
- May 2008. Greek Cypriot President Dhimitrios Khristofias and President Mehmet Ali Talat of the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) meet at the residence of new UN special envoy to Cyprus Tay-Brook Zerihoun.
- April 2008. Greek and Turkish Cypriots celebrate in Nicosia (the capital) as the Lokmaci Border Gate--which has divided Ledra Street in the city's main shopping district since the Turkish invasion in 1974--is reopened.
- March 2008. Reunification talks resume between the newly elected Khristofias and Talat.
- February 2008. In a second round of presidential elections, Khristofias, general secretary of the main opposition communist Progressive Party of the Working People (AKEL), wins a comfortable victory with 53.37 per cent of the vote.
- January 2008. Cyprus adopts the euro as its currency.
- December 2007. The UN Security Council adopts Resolution 1789 (2007), affirming the continued presence of the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) and extending its mandate until June 15, 2008.
- September 2007. Greek Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos and Talat hold talks at a UN-hosted meeting in Nicosia.
- June 2007. The UN Security Council adopts Resolution 1758 (2007), affirming the continued presence of UNFICYP and extending its mandate until Dec. 15, 2007.
- March 2007. The Greek Cypriot authorities demolish the concrete wall that has divided Nicosia since the Turkish invasion in 1974. Greek Cypriot Foreign Minister Giorgos Lillikas challenges Turkey to reciprocate, saying that the crossing point would not be opened to civilians until Turkey withdrew its troops from the area.
- January 2007. The authorities TRNC begin dismantling a footbridge over Ledra Street in Nicosia which is seen by Greek Cyprus as an obstacle to efforts to reunite the divided city's main shopping district.
- December 2006. The UN Security Council adopts Resolution 1728 (2006), affirming the continued presence of UNFICYP and extending its mandate until June 15, 2007.
- January 2006. The Turkish authorities open its ports and airports to Greek Cypriot vessels and aircraft in return for the lifting of trade restrictions on the TRNC.
- December 2005. The UN Security Council adopts Resolution 1642 (2005), affirming the continued presence of UNFICYP and extending its mandate until June 15, 2006.
- November 2005. The authorities in TRNC begin to dismantle the Lokmaci Border Gate, which has divided Nicosia for 40 years.
- May 2005. Talks aimed at reviving efforts to reunify Cyprus open at the UN in New York with an investigative meeting between Tassos Tzionis, Greek Cypriot envoy to the UN, and Sir Kieran Prendergast, the UN Undersecretary-General for political affairs.
- October 2004. The UN Security Council adopts Resolution 1568 (2004), affirming the continued presence of the UNFICYP and extending its mandate until Dec. 15, 2005.
- July 2004. UK foreign secretary Jack Straw holds talks in London with Talat; the meeting is the UK's first official reception of a Turkish Cypriot politician.
- May 2004. Greek Cyprus acceded to the EU, resulting in the economic isolation of the TRNC.
- April 2004. Greek Cypriot voters overwhelmingly reject UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's plan to reunify Cyprus, with 75 per cent voting against the plan. In contrast, 65 per cent of voters in the TRNC, traditionally seen as the opponents of reunification efforts, vote in favour of the plan.
- February 2004. Papadopoulos and Rauf Denktash, president of the TRNC, accept a UN plan for reunification, granting UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan ultimate power to resolve any disputes between the two leaders.
- January 2004. Romano Prodi , president of the European Commission (EC), informs the Turkish government that a solution to the Cyprus problem would be beneficial to Turkey's EU accession bid.
- December 2003. Following a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in 1998, Titana Loizidou, a Greek Cypriot woman who lost her house after the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus, receives 1.2 million in compensation from Turkey (US$1.00=0.8237 euros as at Dec. 5, 2003).
- October 2003. Demonstrations are staged as 10,000 Turkish Cypriots protest against their government's granting of citizenship to thousands of mainland Turks.
- August 2003. Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Abdullatif Sener and Denktash sign a "framework agreement for a customs union" under which port and airport taxes are to be reduced and foreign investments in the TRNC encouraged.
- July 2003. The Greek Cypriot House of Representatives (the unicameral legislature) unanimously approve the accession of Greek Cyprus to the EU.
- June 2003. The EC offers the TRNC 12 million (US$1.00=0.8550 euros as at June 6, 2003) in aid and an easing of trade restrictions to facilitate Turkish Cypriot integration into Europe and the unification of the island.
- May 2003. A travel ban imposed in 1963 that has prevented Greek Cypriots from visiting Turkey is lifted.
- April 2003. Denktash of the TRNC offers to return to the Greek Cypriots the eastern town of Varosha. Papadopoulos rejects the offer, declaring that the UN plan with its more complex territorial provisions should be the main basis for any negotiations.
- March 2003. Papadopoulos and Denktash meet UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan at The Hague, the Netherlands, in a final effort to secure a UN-brokered reunification deal for the divided island. The 20-hour talks end without agreement, meaning that only Greek Cyprus would gain EU membership in May 2004.
- February 2003. The UK offers to give up nearly half the territory of its military bases on Cyprus in an attempt to break the deadlock over land issues. Under the plan, the Greek and Turkish authorities would gain some 115 sq. km of UK-held territory, with 90 per cent going to the Greeks.
- January 2003. Denktash demands a second revision of the UN reunification plan. The Turkish government--wanting a settlement in order to facilitate its own bid for EU membership--criticises Denktash for obstructing reunification talks.
- December 2002. The EU invites Cyprus to join the EU, but states that if no peace agreement is reached, EU membership would be granted to Greek Cyprus alone. The news that the TRNC is to be excluded from the EU is met with widespread protest in the Turkish Cypriot community.
- November 2002. UN Special Envoy Alvaro de Soto presents a new peace plan to Greek Cypriot President Glafkos Clerides and Turkish Cypriot leader Denktash, calling for the creation of a state in the form of an "indissoluble partnership", with a "common state" government and two equal component states, drawing on Switzerland as a model.
- October 2002. The ongoing peace process receives a further setback as Denktash is admitted to hospital in the USA for emergency open heart surgery.
- May 2002. The third round of direct peace negotiations ends without any significant breakthrough, with Clerides insisting that Cyprus be deemed a single state before further progress is made. A fourth round of talks begins at Nicosia but under the terms of an agreed news blackout.
- February 2002. The first phase of direct peace negotiations between Clerides and Denktash ends without any significant breakthrough.
- January 2002. Clerides and Denktash launch thrice-weekly negotiations aimed at resolving the conflict that has separated their communities.
- September 2001. Alvaro de Soto, UN special envoy to Cyprus, announces that a new round of talks on reuniting Cyprus are to be held in September. Denktash declares that that the announcement is premature and insists that TRNC representatives will not attend the talks.
- May 2001. ECHR finds the Republic of Cyprus guilty of human rights violations in a case brought by nine Turkish Cypriots against the Cypriot police. The ECHR finds Cyprus guilty of violating their right to liberty and security by enforcing unlawful detention on the nine men.
- November 2000. Denktash announces his withdrawal from the UN-sponsored proximity talks. Denktash describes the talks as "a waste of time" because of the non-recognition of the TRNC by the international community.
- September 2000. Clerides boycotts the fourth round of UN-sponsored proximity talks for three days until he receives assurances that the UN would be acting in accordance with earlier UN Security Council resolutions on Cyprus.
- April 2000. The struggle to find compatible bone marrow donors for two children suffering from leukaemia - one a six-year-old Greek Cypriot, the other a 13-year-old Turkish Cypriot - temporarily unites the divided island.
- January 2000. An international consortium, headed by the Turkish based Alsim-Alarko, announces that construction of a 78-km water pipeline between Turkey and Cyprus would begin in the second half of 2000. With an annual capacity of 75 million cubic metres--much greater than that required by the TRNC--it is expected that the surplus would be offered to the Greek Cypriots.
- September 1999. US President Bill Clinton appoints Alfred Moses as the US special emissary on the Cyprus issue.
- July 1999. Northern Cyprus marks the 25th anniversary of the 1974 Turkish invasion and occupation of Northern Cyprus by announcing plans for closer ties with Turkey.
- April 1999. A number of Russian-built S-300 surface-to-air missiles, originally ordered by the Cypriot government, are deployed on the Greek island of Crete. The deployment is in accordance with an agreement reached in February following threats by the Turkish government to intervene militarily if the missiles were sited in Cyprus.
- February 1999. Cypriot Foreign Minister Yiannakis Cassoulides states that the government of Cyprus is considering a plan to demilitarise the entire island. However, he stresses that such a move would require the agreement of Turkey, which had 35,000 troops stationed in TRNC.
- September 1998. Denktash formally rejects a UN plan for reunification by putting forward an alternative plan for a confederation of equal states on the island of Cyprus.
- August 1998. The ECHR orders Turkey to pay compensation to Titana Loizidou, a Greek Cypriot woman, for property seized during the 1974 Turkish invasion of Northern Cyprus and to allow her free access to her property. However, in an unprecedented step for a member of the Council of Europe, Turkey rejects the ruling.
- July 1998. The Greek Cypriot government accuses Turkey of "threatening peace" by sending six warships and an aerobatics squadron to the TRNC.
- April 1998. Ioannis Kasoulides, the Foreign AffairsMinister, confirms that Cyprus has applied for associate membership of the Western European Union (WEU).
- January 1998. Relations between the TRNC and the UK worsen when the right of citizens from the Turkish-held half of Cyprus to enter the UK without visas is withdrawn.
- August 1996. The "Berlin to Kyrenia" plan results in the most serious violence in Cyprus since 1974: hundreds of Greek Cypriot motorcyclists attempt to cross the Dherenia buffer zone in an attempt to draw attention to alleged Turkish human rights violations.
- November 1983. The Legislative Assembly of the Turkish Federated State of Cyprus (TFSC)--the parliament of TRNC--approves unanimously the declaration of an independent "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus".
- August 1980. UN sponsored inter-communal talks between Greek and Turkish Cypriot representatives are held.
- February 1975. The Executive Council and Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Turkish Cypriot Administration proclaim the formation of a Turkish Cypriot Federated State in that part of Cyprus under Turkish occupation. Denktash is appointed president of the federated state.
- December 1974. Archbishop Makarios III returns to Cyprus, resuming his presidential functions nearly five months after he was overthrown in a military coup.
- July 1974. Makarios is overthrown by a military coup led by Greek officers of the Cypriot National Guard.
- January 1974. Turkish troops invade the northern coast of Cyprus; over 30,000 Turkish troops land in Cyprus during the two day invasion.
- March 1970. Makarios escapes an attempt to assassinate him when shots are fired from a roof at the President's helicopter as it is taking off from Nicosia .
- March 1964. The UN Security Council approves the appointment of a UN mediator for Cyprus, and the formation of a peacekeeping force.
- January 1963. A constitutional crisis arises when a Presidential decree abolishes all the existing municipal administrations and replaces them with government-appointed administrative bodies. The decree results in several bomb explosions.
- August 1960. Cyprus gains independence from the UK, apart from two military bases which remain under the sovereignty of the UK. Makarios takes office as president.
- December 1959. Makarios achieves a decisive victory in the general election of the first president of the Republic of Cyprus.
- June 1956. Sir Pierson Dixon, the UK's permanent representative at the UN, criticises the Greek government for urging their supporters to openly use violence.
- April 1955. A series of bomb and hand grenade attacks are carried out, including a bomb explosion outside police headquarters in Nicosia, which kills a civilian and seriously injures two policemen and two civilians.
- December 1954. The refusal of the UN General Assembly to consider the Greek demand for union between Greece and Cyprus results in violent rioting.
- October 1946. Sir Charles Woolley, Governor of Cyprus, invites all political elements in Cyprus to form a Consultative Assembly to consider proposals for constitutional reform.
- August 1936. The Colonial Development Fund Committee approves a free grant to Cyprus of 30,000, to be spread over five years. The grant is to be devoted to the exploration of underground water resources.
- November 1914. The UK annexes Cyprus at the beginning of World War I.
