Can Cyprus Have 'No Guarantors and No Intervention Rights'? Reading the 1960 Treaty of Guarantee Text, Article IV and the Two-State Debate on the Record

Why It Matters

The 1960 Treaty of Guarantee is a treaty among four parties: Cyprus and the three guarantor powers, Türkiye, Greece and the United Kingdom. It has no clause letting one party retire it alone, so ending guarantees or Article IV rights requires the agreement of all parties, or replacement through a new comprehensive settlement.

On 6 November 2026, Hürriyet Daily News, citing Anadolu Agency (AA), reported that Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan visited Nicosia, met Turkish Cypriot President Tufan Erhürman and Prime Minister Ünal Üstel, and wrote that “the most realistic solution to the Cyprus issue lies in two states existing side by side on the island.” The same day, Greek City Times reported that Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Christodoulides restated a vision of Cyprus “without occupation forces, without guarantors and without intervention rights,” within the EU framework.

So the guarantee is a treaty obligation, not a domestic policy that any one capital can retire. This article tests the slogan against the texts. It does not speculate about the UN-hosted talks between the island's two leaders, whose agenda is not set out in the reports we reviewed.

Background

The Zurich (11 February 1959) and London agreements created the 1960 Republic of Cyprus as a partnership of Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots. Three treaties signed on 16 August 1960 framed it: the Treaty of Guarantee, the Treaty of Alliance and the Treaty of Establishment covering the UK's sovereign base areas.

The three 1960 treaties

• Treaty of Guarantee (Cyprus, Greece, the UK, Türkiye): Cyprus undertakes to preserve its independence and territorial integrity and to refrain from union with any other state or partition. The three guarantors recognise and guarantee that status and the state of affairs established by the Basic Articles of the Constitution.
• Treaty of Alliance (Cyprus, Greece, Türkiye): a defence-cooperation treaty providing for a tripartite headquarters and small Greek and Turkish contingents stationed on the island (950 Greek and 650 Turkish personnel under its protocol).
• Treaty of Establishment (Cyprus and the UK): the UK retains the Akrotiri and Dhekelia sovereign base areas. This is a separate instrument from the guarantee.

Read the text

Article I (Cyprus's undertakings): “The Republic of Cyprus undertakes to ensure the maintenance of its independence, territorial integrity and security, as well as respect for its Constitution. It undertakes not to participate, in whole or in part, in any political or economic union with any State whatsoever. It declares accordingly that it prohibits all activity likely to promote, directly or indirectly, either union with any other State or partition of the Island.”

Article II (the guarantors): “Greece, the United Kingdom and Turkey, taking note of the undertakings of the Republic of Cyprus set out in Article I of the present Treaty, recognise and guarantee the independence, territorial integrity and security of the Republic of Cyprus, and also the state of affairs established by the Basic Articles of its Constitution.”

Article IV: “In the event of a breach of the provisions of the present Treaty, Greece, the United Kingdom and Turkey undertake to consult together with respect to the representations or measures necessary to ensure observance of those provisions. In so far as common or concerted action may prove impossible, each of the three guaranteeing Powers reserves the right to take action with the sole aim of re-establishing the state of affairs created by the present Treaty.”

Editors' note: quoted from the published English text; readers should check wording against the version registered in the UN Treaty Series before citing. For a clause-by-clause reading, see Archive of Nations: Reading the 1960 Treaty of Guarantee Article by Article: What the Text Says About Union, Partition and Article IV.

Chronology

• 30 November 1963: President Makarios proposes 13 constitutional amendments, including curbs on the Turkish Cypriot Vice President's veto.
• 21 December 1963: Intercommunal violence begins; Nicosia is divided along the Green Line on 30 December. Why Turkish Cypriots left state organs is disputed; see our fact check, Turkish Cypriots Voluntarily Withdrew From the State in 1963? What the UN Reports and Contemporary Records Show.
• 4 March 1964: UN Security Council Resolution 186 recommends a peacekeeping force (UNFICYP) and treats the Government of Cyprus as the interlocutor.
• 15 July 1974: A coup against Makarios, backed by the Greek military junta, installs Nicos Sampson.
• 20 July 1974: Türkiye acts, citing Article IV; Resolution 353 of the same day calls for a ceasefire and for withdrawal of foreign military personnel present otherwise than under international agreements. Critics call the action an invasion. For the treaty argument, see Monitor of Nations: Was Türkiye's 1974 Cyprus Intervention an Illegal “Invasion”? What the Treaty of Guarantee and the UN Record Actually Say.
• 15 November 1983: The TRNC is proclaimed; the Security Council's Resolution 541 (18 November 1983) calls the declaration legally invalid.
• 1 May 2004: The Republic of Cyprus joins the EU, after the 24 April 2004 Annan Plan referendums.

Key Players & Positions

Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Christodoulides, as reported by Greek City Times on 6 November 2026, seeks a Cyprus “without occupation forces, without guarantors and without intervention rights” within an agreed UN framework and EU law. Ankara, Athens, London, the EU and the UN each frame guarantees differently.

The Greek Cypriot administration

Greek City Times quotes Christodoulides: “Our vision is the transformation of the Republic of Cyprus into a free and sovereign state throughout its entire territory, without occupation forces, without guarantors and without intervention rights. A solution based on the agreed framework, respecting the negotiating acquis and, of course, the principles, values and law of the European Union.” The Greek Cypriot argument is that guarantee and intervention rights are anachronistic for an EU member state, that Turkish troops are an occupation force, and that the 2017 framework of UN Secretary-General António Guterres put security and guarantees on the table for replacement.

Greece, the United Kingdom, the EU and the UN

• Greece: Athens has long said that a settlement should end the guarantee and intervention system. Greece is itself a guarantor under the same treaty, and readers should consult the Greek Foreign Ministry's statements directly.
• United Kingdom: London describes itself as a guarantor power and has said it will support what the parties agree; its sovereign base areas rest on the separate Treaty of Establishment. Consult UK government statements for exact wording.
• EU institutions: Council and Commission texts support a comprehensive settlement under UN auspices, consistent with Security Council resolutions and EU principles. They are statements of political preference, not interpretations of the 1960 treaties.
• UN Secretary-General: The reports are the continuous record of what the UN says about the status, security and guarantee questions. Our guide, Cyprus UN Secretary-General reports 1963 1974 record, shows how to read them.

Turkish Cypriot voices also differ in emphasis. The reports we reviewed carry Fidan's words but no matching text from President Erhürman. Readers should check his own statements and those of Prime Minister Üstel's office rather than assume a single Turkish Cypriot line.

Source Comparison

Greek Cypriot and EU texts frame the guarantees as anachronistic and describe Turkish forces as occupation forces; Turkish sources frame them as treaty rights tied to a 1960 partnership. The treaty text itself is silent on unilateral termination, while UN reports and the Guterres framework treat security and guarantees as matters for a comprehensive settlement.

Where the text is silent

The published treaty has no denunciation or termination clause for a single party. General treaty law, reflected in the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (Articles 54, 56 and 62), points to consent of all parties, or the narrow doctrine of fundamental change of circumstances, which does not operate automatically. Türkiye is not a party to that Convention, though these rules are widely treated as customary. Article IV also does not define “action,” and critics point to Article 2(4) of the UN Charter and the “sole aim” limit. Turkish sources read the same words as covering the 1974 operation.

A point both sides rely on

The Annan Plan (2004) kept the 1960 treaties in amended form and reduced troop numbers rather than abolishing them. The 2017 Guterres framework spoke of a new security system. Greek Cypriot officials read this as ending the present guarantee system. Turkish and Turkish Cypriot officials say it was the Secretary-General's own framework, not an agreed text, and that guarantees can only change by agreement with the guarantors. Both readings agree on one point: guarantees change through negotiation, not by one party's declaration. For the EU's own record, see What Legal Weight Does an EU Enlargement Report Carry on Maritime Disputes?.

Key Terms & Related Guides

Key terms in this debate are guarantor power, Article IV, bi-communal partnership, sovereign equality, the Treaty of Alliance and the sovereign base areas. Each has a specific meaning in the 1959–1960 documents, and knowing the difference prevents the common confusion between guarantees, troop contingents and British bases.

• Guarantor power: Türkiye, Greece or the UK in their role under the Treaty of Guarantee.
• Article IV: the consultation clause, followed by each guarantor's reserved right to act with the stated sole aim.
• Bi-communal partnership: the 1960 design built on the political equality of the two communities.
• Sovereign equality: the principle in Türkiye's argument that Turkish Cypriots hold equal status and rights.
• Treaty of Alliance: defence cooperation among Cyprus, Greece and Türkiye with small contingents.
• Sovereign base areas: the UK's Akrotiri and Dhekelia under the Treaty of Establishment.

Related reading

• Cyprus on the Record: UN Secretary-General Reports, Testimony and the Documents from 1963 to 2024
• Fact Check: Turkish Cypriots Voluntarily Withdrew in 1963
• Fact Check: Resolutions 541 and 550 and the Two-State Claim
• Foreign Context: Reading Cyprus Headlines: The 1960 Partnership, 1963 and 1974 That Reports Omit
• Our method: Editorial Principles and Primary-Source Standards and About Witness and Record

Published by the Witness and Record Editorial Team. Witness and Record presents global and regional affairs with a dedicated perspective from Türkiye. Sections marked “Türkiye's Position” reflect official Turkish policy and legal doctrines as stated by Turkish primary sources.