Geneva Conferences

UN Security Council Resolution 353, adopted on the day Turkish forces landed, called on the three guarantor powers of the 1960 settlement to start talks. Britain’s foreign secretary, James Callaghan, hosted the Greek and Turkish foreign ministers, Georgios Mavros and Turan Güneş, in Geneva from 25 July. Greece now had a civilian government under Karamanlis, and Clerides was acting president in Nicosia.

On 30 July the three ministers signed the Geneva Declaration. It called for a security zone, policed only by UN peacekeepers, along the edge of the area held by Turkish forces. Turkish Cypriot enclaves occupied by Greek or Greek Cypriot forces were to be evacuated and placed under UN protection, UNFICYP was to take over security in mixed villages, and prisoners were to be exchanged or released under Red Cross supervision. The ministers also agreed to meet again with representatives of both Cypriot communities. Fighting on the ground did not entirely stop, and the military officers tasked with marking out the security zone had not agreed its size by 10 August.

The second conference opened on 8 August, and from 10 August Glafcos Clerides and Rauf Denktaş joined the ministers. The central question was the shape of a future state. Denktaş proposed a bizonal federation with a Turkish Cypriot zone covering 34 per cent of the island. Güneş then put forward a cantonal plan: a large Turkish Cypriot area in the north plus several separate Turkish Cypriot cantons elsewhere, again totalling about 34 per cent. At the UN, Turkey’s delegate defended the figure as reflecting the land Turkish Cypriots had owned before they were dispossessed. The Greek Cypriot side offered administrative autonomy and grouping of Turkish Cypriot villages, but no geographical zone or population transfers.

Turkey set a short deadline. Clerides said he did not reject the proposals outright and asked for 36 to 48 hours to consult Athens and Greek Cypriot leaders, which Turkey refused. The conference broke up at about 2.15 a.m. on 14 August, and Turkish forces resumed their advance within hours. Greek Cypriot and Greek representatives described the Turkish offer as a take it or leave it ultimatum, and the United States criticised the “excessive haste” with which the talks were ended. Turkey’s view was that further delay would only give the other side time to build diplomatic or military support against it.