The Cyprus Question Before the European Court of Justice 1. Introduction Since the Turkish military intervention in 1974, the island of Cyprus has been de facto partitioned into a Greek Cypriot southern part and a Turkish Cypriot northern part. The Greek Cypriot Government in the south is recognized by the international community (with the sole exception of Turkey) as the Government of the Republic of Cyprus, a state established by the two communities in August 1960 and whose territory comprises the whole island of Cyprus. On 15 November 1983, the Turkish Cypriot community declared an independent state in the northern part of Cyprus, calling itself the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). By Resolution 541 (1983), the United Nations Security Council deplored `the purported secession of part of the Republic of Cyprus' and called upon `all States not to recognize any Cypriot State other than the Republic of Cyprus'. In Resolution 550 (1984), the Security Council reiterated the call upon all states `not to recognize the purported State of the "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus" set up by secessionist acts' and called upon them `not to facilitate or in any way assist the aforesaid secessionist entity'. Similarly, by declarations of 16 and 17 November 1983, the European Parliament, the Commission and the Foreign Ministers of the member states, in the framework of European Political Cooperation, rejected the Turkish Cypriot declaration of independence and expressed their continued recognition of the Greek Cypriot Government of President Kyprianou as the legitimate Government of the Republic of Cyprus.1 With these declarations, the relations between the European Community (EC) and Cyprus were defined in so far as the EC regarded the island as a single state whose legitimate government is the Government of the Republic of Cyprus.2 No state other than Turkey has so far recognized the TRNC. In order to force the Turkish Cypriots to withdraw their declaration of independence, the Greek Cypriot Government in southern Cyprus, using its position as the internationally recognized Government of the Republic of Cyprus, has tried to impose an economic embargo on northern Cyprus.3 Soon after the de facto partition the Greek Cypriot Government of the Republic of Cyprus tried to stop agricultural exports from northern Cyprus to the EC.4 In 1975, several Greek Cypriot owners of citrus groves in northern Cyprus, which had fled before the advancing Turkish forces in 1974, brought proceedings against fruit merchants and importers of citrus fruit from northern Cyprus in several EC member states. The plaintiffs, however, did not succeed with their claim that the citrus fruit had been `stolen' from their groves in northern Cyprus.5 The Greek Cypriot side therefore looked for other ways to stop agricultural imports into EC member states from northern Cyprus or, at least, to make such imports more difficult. One such way (which, in the end, proved successful) was to question the validity of certificates required under EC law for the importation of agricultural goods issued by the Turkish Cypriot authorities.6 Although the Greek Cypriot Foreign Minister, Mr George Iacovou, had stated before the Foreign Affairs Committee of the UK Parliament on 18 March 1987 that his government had `not appealed to the European Court to stop this kind of trade' because he did `not like pursuing mainly political questions in the courts',7 it took less than three years before the (political) question of Turkish Cypriot import certificates and thus the Cyprus question itself8 reached the European Court of Justice (ECJ).9 1 See EC Bulletin 11-1983, points 2.2.34, 2.4.1 and 2.4.2; and OJ 1983 C 342/52. On recognition of the Government of the Republic of Cyprus, see also EC Bulletin 3-1984, point 2.4.3; and OJ 1994 C 289/13. 2 Report of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, Common Security and Defence Policy of the European Parliament on Cyprus's application for membership of the European Union (Rapporteur: Mr Jan Willem Bertens), submitted on 22 June 1995, PE-DOC-A4-1995/156-1EN, at 9. 3 Although the Greek Cypriot Government denies this, the measures it has taken are widely regarded by neutral observers as constituting an economic embargo. Thus, the United States Department of State wrote in its 1999 Country Report on Human Rights Practices in Cyprus, released 25 February 2000: `The Turkish Cypriot economy ... is handicapped significantly by an economic embargo by the Greek Cypriots' (www.state.gov). 4 On 4 November 1974, the Embassy of the Republic of Cyprus in Germany applied to the County Court (Amtsgericht) in Hamburg for an order to examine whether 42,231 boxes of citrus fruit; which had arrived in the port of Hamburg, originated in northern Cyprus (UN Doc. S/11559, 15 November 1974). See also Mehmet, `Towards a Solution in Cyprus Through Economic Federalism', in N. Salem (ed.), Cyprus: A Regional Conflict and Its Resolution (1992) 169-186, at 185, n. 15. 5 Archangelos Domain Ltd and Others v. Rodolfo (London) Ltd, High Court, Queen's Bench Division (1975 A. No. 3427); Archangelos Domain Ltd and Others v. Euroface Holland BV, Rotterdam District Court, 6 January 1976 (Rölno. 325/75). On these cases, see UN Doc. A/C.3/31/7, 25 October 1976, Annex, 13; and Z.M. Nedjatigil, Setting the Record Straight on Cyprus (Public Information Office of the Turkish Federated State of Cyprus, Nicosia, 1979) 46. 6 As early as 1984, the Greek Cypriot Government of the Republic of Cyprus announced that it would have the UK practice of accepting import certificates issued by the Turkish Cypriot authorities reviewed by the ECJ: The Times, 17 May 1984, at 8; ibid, 20 June 1984, at 5. See also Greek Review International No. 58, 16 May 1985, at 4. 7 House of Commons, Foreign Affairs Committee, Third Report, Session 1986-1987, Cyprus (HCP (1986-87) 23) 85. 8 For a Turkish Cypriot view, see Z.M. Necatigil, The Cyprus Question and the Turkish Position in International Law (2nd rev. ed., 1998); and for a Greek Cypriot view, see K. Chrysostomides, The Republic of Cyprus. A Study in International Law (1999). 9 On 6 March 1990, the application in Case C-50/90, Sunzest v. Commission [1991] ECR 2918, was lodged at the Court Registry.
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