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Dr Savvas Michael

Abstract

The article firstly focuses on the British colonial era in Cyprus, predominantly from the 1950s to the implementation of the Treaty of Guarantee. It argues that Britain played an active role in Greek-Turkish divisions, shown in particular by events between 1954 and 1958. The article then takes a legal analysis, focussing on the Treaty of Guarantee in 1960. It discusses British (and American) involvement in post-colonial Cyprus in the 1960s and 1970s, notably their support for a Turkish invasion. Crucially, it examines potential breaches of Public International Law through British actions, addressing both Treaty Law and Customary International Law. It is accepted amongst the international community that Turkey breached the Treaty of Guarantee when they invaded Cyprus in 1974. This is uncontroversial and will be briefly discussed, but the main intention of this article is to provide an original perspective on how the British also breached the Treaty of Guarantee.

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Keywords

Treaty of Guarantee, public international law, Greek-Turkish relations, British colonial rule, British foreign policy

References
Primary Sources
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Treaty of Peace with Turkey Signed at Lausanne, July 24, 1923, The British Empire, France, Italy, Japan, Greece, Roumania and The Serb-Croat-Slovene State, of the one part, and Turkey, of the other part.
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Section
Articles

How to Cite

“The British Role in Creating Greek-Turkish Divisions in Colonial Cyprus and an Analysis into the Subsequent Breaches of the 1960 Treaty of Guarantee in Post-Colonial Cyprus: A Public International Law Perspective”. 2020. Cyprus Review 32 (2): 77-103. https://www.cyprusreview.org/index.php/cr/article/view/753.