The international community's highest achievement since 1945 has been
its establishment of universal standards for individual human rights and
the rule that international disputes must be peacefully settled. Yet, for
the small Republic of Cyprus, these standards remain vain aspirations so
long as much of her territory is under occupation by the Armed Forces of
the Republic of Turkey. Ever sinceTurkey's mid-1974 invasions of Cyprus
hundreds of thousands of individuals, Greek and Turkish Cypriot alike,
have suffered deprivation of their fundamental rights, and their unremedied
injuries fester away, risking not only hostilities between neighbouring
States, but disruption of international order in one of the world's most
sensitive locations.
Familiarity over the last 30 years with the recurring political problems
of Cyprus, combined with cynicism as to the possibility of achieving a
satisfactory outcome, has led the major powers and their allies into characterising
the question as basically a problem of two intransigent communities who
should be left aside endlessly to negotiate their differences. This attitude
enables governments throughout the world to justify passing by their moral
and legal responsibilities to take active measures to restore human rights
in Cyprus. The argument that negotiations are continuing between the Cypriot
communities had the added advantage of avoiding any necessity of examining
the Republic of Turkey, for the continuing catastrophe afflicting the people
of Cyprus.
