We Remember: 50 years of embargoes on the Turkish Cypriot people

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UN Resolution 186, 04 March 1964

The United Nations sought to intervene in Cyprus following the outbreak of the conflict in December 1963, when the Greek Cypriots brutally seized power. On 4 March 1964, the UN unanimously passed Resolution 186 calling for measures to be taken “to stop the violence”, while approving for a UN Peace Force to be deployed on the island. However, this badly-worded resolution inadvertently referred to the Greek Cypriots as “the Government of Cyprus” while relegating the Turkish Cypriots to a “community”.

The Greek Cypriots have used this unfair advantage ever since, purporting to be the sole legal representative of the island. They have insisted the world does not recognise or deal directly with their former partners, the Turkish Cypriot people, denying their core political and human rights as part of a campaign to force them to forego their political equality and accept instead a ‘minority community’ status. Four generations of Turkish Cypriots have now lived under embargoes, unable to trade, travel or communicate directly with the rest of the world, or to participate in international political, cultural or sporting events.