IS UN RESOLUTION 541 (1983) STILL VALID? |
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Prof. Dr. Ata ATUN |
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After the Turkish Cypriots declared the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC) — an independent state in the northern terri-tories of Cyprus — on Nov. 15, 1983, UN Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar without delay called the Security Council for an urgent and special meeting.
Having heard the statement of the foreign minister of the Greek Cypriot administration, at its 2,500th meeting the Security Council adopted the infamous resolution filed as UN Resolution 541 (1983) on Nov. 18, 1983.
Since then the KKTC has been considered legally invalid by the UN member states, and the Turkish Cypriots have suffered under unjust political, economic, cultural, social, sporting and trade embargoes.
Although the Turkish Cypriots are now considered legal citizens of the EU, they experience a life similar to one in an open prison. The Greek Cypriots are trying their best, by pushing EU rules and regulations along with the notorious UN resolution, to block the efforts of the UK government to secure permission for direct flights from the KKTC’s Ercan Airport to the UK.
The obstructive attitude and political pressure of the Greek Cy-priots can be seen everywhere. All the political, economic, cultural, so-cial, sporting and trade operations of Turkish Cypriots are blocked.
Even the universities in the KKTC, numbering seven, are left out of the EU’s Bologna process — for education and training — because of this resolution and the efforts of the Greek Cypriot administration.
Are this resolution and the others related to Turkish Cypriots still valid? I may ask the same question in another form: Is this resolution valid for the KKTC and invalid for the Greek Cypriot administration?
When this notorious resolution is read very carefully, it can be clearly understood that
a — In the third paragraph of the introduction it states that the decla-ration of independence is incompatible with the 1960 treaty concern-ing the establishment of the Republic of Cyprus and the 1960 Treaty of Guarantee;
b — Item 6 calls upon all states to respect the sovereignty, indepen-dence, territorial integrity and non-alignment of the Republic of Cy-prus.
In addition to this UN Security Council resolution the UN General Assembly Resolution 37/253 (1983) also reiterates the UN member states full support for the sovereignty, independence, territorial integri-ty, unity and non-alignment of the Republic of Cyprus.
The Greek Cypriot administration, after entering the EU on May 1, 2004, lost the non-alignment stated in the 1960 treaty concerning the establishment of the Republic of Cyprus.
And on top of this while joining the EU the Greek Cypriot admin-istration did not get the approval of the Turkish Cypriots, as mentioned in Resolution 541, referring to the 1960 Constituency of the Republic of Cyprus.
Due to these two solid reasons both resolutions 541 (1983) and 37/253 are no longer valid; they should be declared null and void or dead letters.
Actually it is quite absurd that while Item 6 of Resolution 541 calls upon all states to respect the sovereignty, independence, terri-torial integrity and non-alignment of the Republic of Cyprus and that the declaration of independence of KKTC is incompatible with the 1960 treaty concerning the establishment of the Republic of Cyprus and the 1960 Treaty of Guarantee, it called on nobody to respect the sovereign-ty, independence, territorial integrity and non-alignment of the Repub-lic of Cyprus when the Greek Cypriot administration joined the EU on May 1, 2004, contravening the non-alignment feature stated in the 1960 treaty concerning the establishment of the Republic of Cyprus and the 1960 Treaty of Guarantee.
Both resolutions 541 (1983) and 37/253 should be declared dead letters by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as soon as possible.
