Taksim

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For the Istanbul district, see Taksim Square

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Taksim (English: Division) was the rallying cry for the Turkish Cypriots who thought that partitioning of Cyprus was the only way to ensure peace and security, and to prevent assimilation of Turkish population on an island with a majority ethnic Greek population.

The 1960 Republic of Cyprus was set up as a partnership state between the Greek Cypriot, Turkish Cypriot, Armenian Cypriot, and Maronite Cypriot population. However, by December 1963, the partnership state dissolved into intercommunal violence. This resulted in the Turkish Cypriot population (making up then 18% of the population settled on 31% of Cypriot territory) leaving the government and their land (the Greeks say it was a voluntary move while the Turks say it was forced upon them) and moving into scattered enclaves that made up a little under 4% of Cypriot territory. Greek Cypriot paramilitaries continued a campaign of intimidation for the next few years.

This situation continued until the attempted Greek-backed coup d'état in July 1974 that had the intention of overthrowing the president of Cyprus and consequently annexing Cyprus to Greece (Enosis). Using the coup as a pretext, Turkey responded with a large scale military invasion which by August 1974 took over 37% of Cypriot Territory in the north of the island. The division of the island became a fait accompli, with the Turkish-controlled North unilaterally declaring independence in 1983 as the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC).

When the 1960 partnership state was set up, the Treaty of Guarantee - affirmed by Great Britain, Turkey, and Greece - was intended to maintain the territorial integrity and Independence of Cyprus. Thus, when the Turkish military intervened in 1974, they claimed that they had to do so in order to stop Greece achieving Enosis, something specifically forbidden under the treaty, but Greece and (Greek) Cyprus counter that by their remaining on the island and partitioning Cyprus into two ethnic zones, Turkey was also in violation of the Treaty by allowing taksim to occur. Turkey counters that their continued presence is necessary to ensure that Enosis does not happen and that the safety of the Turkish Cypriot population cannot be assured if they do leave.

In November 2006 Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Avigdor Lieberman, a member of Israel's ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu party, said: ^[1]

I think separation between two nations is the best solution. Cyprus is the best model. Before 1974, the Greeks and Turks lived together and there were frictions and bloodshed and terror.

After 1974, they constituted all Turks on one part of the island, all Greeks on the other part of the island and there is stability and security.