Editing Self-determination (section)

=== Northern Cyprus ===
{{Main|Northern Cyprus}}
[[File:Pro-TRNC demonstration in Sarayönü North Nicosia.jpg|thumb|[[Sarayönü Square|Atatürk Square]], North Nicosia in 2006, with the [[Northern Cyprus]] and [[Turkey|Turkish]] flags]]
Cyprus was settled by [[Mycenaean Greece|Mycenaean Greeks]] in two waves in the [[2nd millennium BC]]. As a strategic location in the [[Middle East]], it was subsequently occupied by several major powers, including the empires of the [[Assyria]]ns, [[Ancient Egypt|Egyptians]] and [[Achaemenid Empire|Persians]], from whom the island was seized in 333 BC by [[Alexander the Great]]. Subsequent rule by [[Ptolemaic Kingdom|Ptolemaic Egypt]], the [[Roman Empire|Classical]] and [[Byzantine Empire|Eastern Roman Empire]], [[Caliphate|Arab caliphates]] for a short period and the [[House of Lusignan|French Lusignan dynasty]]. Following the death in 1473 of [[James II of Cyprus|James II]], the last Lusignan king, the [[Republic of Venice]] assumed control of the island, while the late king's Venetian widow, Queen [[Catherine Cornaro]], reigned as figurehead. Venice formally annexed the [[Kingdom of Cyprus]] in 1489, following the abdication of Catherine. The Venetians fortified [[Nicosia]] by building the [[Walls of Nicosia]], and used it as an important commercial hub.

Although the Lusignan French aristocracy remained the dominant social class in Cyprus throughout the medieval period, the former assumption that Greeks were treated only as [[Serfdom|serfs]] on the island is no longer considered by academics to be accurate. It is now accepted that the medieval period saw increasing numbers of [[Greek Cypriots]] elevated to the upper classes, a growing Greek middle ranks, and the Lusignan royal household even marrying Greeks. This included King [[John II of Cyprus]] who married [[Helena Palaiologina]].

Throughout Venetian rule, the [[Ottoman Empire]] frequently raided Cyprus. In 1539 the Ottomans destroyed [[Limassol]] and so fearing the worst, the Venetians also fortified [[Famagusta]] and [[Kyrenia]].

Having invaded in 1570, [[Turkish Cypriots|Turks]] controlled and solely governed all of the Cyprus island from 1571 until its leasing to the [[British Empire]] in 1878. Cyprus was placed under [[British Cyprus|British administration]] based on [[Cyprus Convention]] in 1878 and formally annexed by Britain at the beginning of [[World War I]] in 1914. While Turkish Cypriots made up 18% of the population, the partition of Cyprus and creation of a Turkish state in the north became a policy of Turkish Cypriot leaders and the [[Turkey|Republic of Turkey]] in the 1950s.  Politically, there was no majority/minority relation between [[Greek Cypriots]] and [[Turkish Cypriots]];<ref>[http://www.thesis.bilkent.edu.tr/0001608.pdf Behice Ozlem Gokakin, MS Thesis, Bilkent Univ., 2001] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170306035518/http://www.thesis.bilkent.edu.tr/0001608.pdf |date=2017-03-06 }} p.36, Vassiliou (the Council of Europe, 30.01.1990; to the question of Keith Speed (Member of the UK Parliament)): "the Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot communities are political equals."</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ecmi.de/fileadmin/downloads/publications/JEMIE/2004/1-2004Chapter2.pdf |author1=Nathalie Tocci |author1-link=Nathalie Tocci |author2=Tamara Kovziridze |title=Cyprus |access-date=2017-03-05 |archive-date=2011-03-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110302211747/http://www.ecmi.de/fileadmin/downloads/publications/JEMIE/2004/1-2004Chapter2.pdf |url-status=dead }} p.14: In July 1989, UN SG Perez de Cuellar stated "Cyprus is a common home for the Greek and Turkish communities, whose relationship would be not of majority and minority but rather of political equality"</ref> and hence, in 1960, [[Cyprus|Republic of Cyprus]] was founded by the constituent communities in Cyprus (Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots)<ref>James R. Crawford, "The Creation of States in International Law", 2007. {{doi| 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199228423.001.0001}}</ref> as a non-unitary state; the 1960 Constitution set both [[Turkish language|Turkish]] and [[Greek language|Greek]] as the official languages.<ref>Michael Stephen, 1997, The Cyprus Question. The case of Cyprus is sui generis, for there is no other State in the world which came into being as a result of two politically equal peoples coming together by the exercise by each of its sovereign right of self-determination, to create a unique legal relationship, which was in turn guaranteed by international treaty, to which each of them consented. From its very inception the Republic of Cyprus was never a unitary state in which there is only one electorate with a majority and minority. The two communities were political equals and each existed as a political entity.</ref><ref>[http://www.ataa.org/reference/pdf/Cristv.Turkey.pdf Saltzman and Evinch and Perles Law Firm] The Republic of Cyprus was founded in 1960 as a bicommunal state in which the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities had the status of co-founders and equal partners.</ref> During 1963–74, the island experienced ethnic clashes and turmoil, following the [[Greek nationalism|Greek nationalists]]' coup to unify the island to Greece, which led to the eventual [[Turkish invasion of Cyprus|Turkish invasion]] in 1974.<ref>Ethnic Cleansing and the European Union, p.&nbsp;12</ref> [[Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus]] was declared in 1983 and recognized only by Turkey.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/country_profiles/1021835.stm |title=BBC Timeline: Cyprus, accessed 2-26-2008 |work=BBC News |date=2011-12-13 |access-date=2012-03-04}}</ref> Monroe Leigh, 1990, The Legal Status in International Law of the Turkish Cypriot and the Greek Cypriot Communities in Cyprus. The Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot regimes participating in these negotiations, and the respective communities which they represent, are presently entitled to exercise equal rights under international law, including rights of self-determination.<ref>Prof. Elihu Lauterracht, B.E., Q.C.,1990, The Right of Self-Determination of the Turkish Cypriots. There appears to be nothing on the face of that language taken by itself, to suggest that there is any inequality of status between the parties or that either of them is doing anything other than further exercising its right of self-determination by participating in the settlement negotiations.</ref> Before the [[Turkey]]'s invasion in 1974, Turkish Cypriots were concentrated in [[Turkish Cypriot enclaves]] in the island.

Northern Cyprus fulfills all the classical criteria of statehood.<ref>[http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198702375.001.0001/acprof-9780198702375 Self-Determination and Secession in International Law] Christian Walter, Antje Von Ungern-Sternberg, Kavus Abushov, Oxford University Press, 2014, p.64</ref> United Nations Peace Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) operates based on the laws of Northern Cyprus in north of Cyprus island.<ref>[http://www.brill.com/international-peacekeeping-yearbook-international-peace-operations-5 Impediments to Peacekeeping: The Case of Cyprus] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170222061554/http://www.brill.com/international-peacekeeping-yearbook-international-peace-operations-5 |date=2017-02-22 }} Stefan Talmon, p.58-59., in "International Peacekeeping: The Yearbook of International Peace Operations", Vol.8, 2002. Without a status-of-forces agreement (or similar arrangements) between the United Nations and the Government of the TRNC, UNFICYP operates solely within the framework of the laws, rules and regulations of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus which may be altered by the TRNC authorities unilaterally and without prior notice.</ref> According to [[European Court of Human Rights|European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR)]],  the laws of Northern Cyprus is valid in the north of Cyprus.<ref>[http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng?i=001-122907 European Court of Human Rights 02.07.2013 Decision] A de facto recognition of the acts of the regime in the northern area may be rendered necessary for practical purposes. Thus, ''the adoption by the authorities of the "TRNC" of civil, administrative or criminal law measures, and their application or enforcement within that territory'', may be regarded as ''having a legal basis'' in domestic law for the purposes of the Convention</ref> ECtHR did ''not'' accept the claim that the Courts of Northern Cyprus lacked "independence and/or impartiality".<ref>[http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng?i=001-155000 ECtHR's 02.09.2015 Decision]"..the ''court system'' in the "TRNC", including both civil and criminal courts, reflected the judicial and common-law tradition of Cyprus in its functioning and procedures, and that the "TRNC" courts were thus to be considered as ''"established by law"'' with reference to the ''"constitutional and legal basis"'' on which they operated...the Court has already found that the ''court system'' set up in the "TRNC" was to be considered to have been ''"established by law"'' with reference to the "constitutional and legal basis" on which it operated, and it has ''not accepted the allegation'' that the "TRNC" courts as a whole ''lacked independence and/or impartiality''...when an act of the "TRNC" authorities was in compliance with laws in force within the territory of northern Cyprus, those acts should in principle be regarded as having a legal basis in domestic law for the purposes of the Convention.."</ref> ECtHR directed all Cypriots to exhaust "domestic remedies" applied by Northern Cyprus before taking their cases to ECtHR.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng?i=001-103100|title=HUDOC - European Court of Human Rights|website=hudoc.echr.coe.int}}</ref> In 2014, [[Federal judiciary of the United States|United States' Federal Court]] qualified [[Northern Cyprus|Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus]] as a "democratic country".<ref>[http://www.courthousenews.com/2014/10/13/72392.htm Courthouse News Service] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141022134345/http://www.courthousenews.com/2014/10/13/72392.htm |date=2014-10-22 }} The news of the Court decision (13.10.2014)</ref><ref>[http://dockets.justia.com/docket/district-of-columbia/dcdce/1:2009cv01967/139002 Justia, Dockets and Filings] Page of the Court case (The Defendant: Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus)</ref><ref>[http://docs.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/district-of-columbia/dcdce/1:2009cv01967/139002/53 Justia, Dockets and Filings] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171025045018/https://docs.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/district-of-columbia/dcdce/1:2009cv01967/139002/53 |date=2017-10-25 }} Decision of the Court</ref> In 2017, United Kingdom's High Court decided that "There was no duty in UK law upon the UK's Government to refrain from recognising Northern Cyprus. The United Nations itself works with Northern Cyprus law enforcement agencies and facilitates cooperation between the two parts of the island."<ref>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/02/03/criminals-fleeing-british-justice-can-no-longer-use-cyprus-safe Telegraph] 03.02.2017</ref> UK's [[High Court of Justice|High Court]] also dismissed the claim that "cooperation between UK police and law agencies in northern Cyprus was illegal".<ref>[http://ambamarblearch-media.com/sites/default/files/dpp_files/TT.pdf Ambamarblearch] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170205184501/http://ambamarblearch-media.com/sites/default/files/dpp_files/TT.pdf |date=2017-02-05 }} Media, page 6</ref>