The Republic of Cyprus was born in the early hours of 16 August 1960. On that date the Republic΄s constitution was signed by the lst Governor of the Colony of Cyprus, Sir Hugh Foot, the Consul-General of Greece, George Christopoulos, his Turkish counterpart, Turel, and Archbishop Makarios and Dr. Fazil Kutchuk on behalf of the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities.
The range of signatories reflected the fact that the constitution of Cyprus did not emanate from the free will of its people, who were not consulted either directly or through their ad hoc elected representatives, but from the Zurich Agreement between Greece and Turkey. The terms of that agreement, outlined in the last chapter, were included in the constitution as fundamental Articles, which could not be revised or amended.
The constitution was drafted by the Joint Constitutional Commission created under Part VIII of the London Agreement of 19 February 1959. It comprised representatives of Greece, Turkey, the Greek Cypriot community and the Turkish Cypriot community. But the structure of the constitution again reflected the Zurich Agreement, with various provisions from the 1950 Greek constitution also incorporated along with the provisions of the European Convention of Human Rights in respect of fundamental rights and liberties.
Two main principles underpinned the constitutional structure agreed at Zurich. The first recognised the existence of two communities on the island - the Greek and the Turkish - who, despite their numerical disparity, were given equal treatment. The rights of Cypriots and other communities which made up the island΄s population were conspicuously ignored.
The second principle, that of partial communal autonomy, aimed at ensuring the participation of each community in the exercise of government, and at avoiding the domination of the larger Greek Cypriot community in administrative matters. These two principles permeated the entire constitutional structure.
The Constitutional Structure
Under Article 1 of the constitution it is provided that Cyprus will be an independent and sovereign Republic with "a President who shall be Greek and a Vice-President, who shall be a Turk, elected by the Greek and Turkish communities of Cyprus respectively (Article 1).
Under the constitution the Greek Cypriot community comprises all citizens of Greek origin. This includes those whose mother tongue is Greek and those who share Greek cultural traditions or are members of the Greek Orthodox Church (Article 2 (1)). The Turkish community comprises all citizens of the Republic who are of Turkish origin, whose mother tongue is Turkish, who share Turkish cultural traditions or who are Moslems (ibid paragraph (2)).
Citizens of the Republic who did not come under the above provisions were given three months to exercise the option of becoming, for constitutional purposes, a member of the Greek or Turkish community. Under this arrangement the Armenian, the Latin and Maronite religious orders opted to belong to the Greek Community.
The 1960 constitution accorded equal status to the Greek and Turkish languages. All legislative, executive and administrative acts and documents, were to be drafted in both languages, while judicial proceedings were to be conducted and judgments drawn up in the language of the parties concerned (Art. 3 and 18C). In addition equal rights to fly the national flag of the respective mother countries (Art. 4) and celebrate the respective national holidays were granted (Art.5).
Both communities were given the right of maintaining a special relationship with Greece and Turkey, including the right to receive subsidies for educational, cultural, athletic and charitable institutions, and of obtaining and employing schoolmasters, professors or clergymen provided by the Greek or Turkish government (Art. 108).
The entrenched communal character of the constitution was confirmed by the voting systems. All elections were to be conducted on the basis of separate communal electoral lists (Art. 63 and 94) and separate voting (Art. 1, 39, 62, 86, 173, and 178). A Communal Chamber exercising legislative and administrative power on certain restricted communal subjects - such as religious affairs, educational and cultural matters, and over communal taxes and charges levied to provide for the needs of bodies and institutions under the control of the Chamber (Art. 86 to 90) was established for each community.
The establishment of separate municipalities for the Greek and Turkish inhabitants in five of the six largest towns was provided by Article 173, while in other localities special provisions were made for the constitution of municipal organs in accordance, as far as possible, with the rule of proportional representation of the communities. However, for town planning purposes the establishment of planning authority comprising seven Greek and three Turkish members was permitted. The authority΄s decisions were to be taken by an absolute majority though no decision could be taken in respect of a Greek or Turkish community without the support of at least four or two of the community΄s members of the Authority (Article 176).
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