The 1964 security crisis on Cyprus

When constitutional government broke down in 1963, the Cypriot state faced both an internal and an external security crisis for the first time in its existence.

Greek-Cypriots welcome a Greek soldier covertly sent to Cyprus in 1964.

On 16 September, the US lifted an arms embargo on Cyprus imposed in 1987 to prevent an escalation of armed ethnic conflict on the island. The self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, recognised only by Turkey, responded by demanding an indirect form of recognition from the UN. Henceforth, said its president, Ersin Tatar, the UN peacekeeping force (UNFICYP) will have to apply to the TRNC for the six-monthly renewal of its mandate on the island, and not only to the internationally recognised Republic of Cyprus.

The UN clearly cannot do that, and it is rumoured that the Turkish army and Turkish-Cypriot armed forces, which together have an estimated 40,000 troops on the island, plan to force UNFICYP out of its two bases in the northern section of the island.

As a new security crisis on Cyprus could be about to unfold, it is useful to look back on the first security crisis in the young republic’s life, and what that revealed about the dynamics of the many future security crises that were to come.