UN Security Council Resolution 186 (1964): Who Is 'the Government of Cyprus', and Why Does Ankara Object?

Why It Matters

UN Security Council Resolution 186 of 4 March 1964 created the UN peacekeeping force in Cyprus and referred to 'the Government of Cyprus' as the authority responsible for law and order. Over six decades that phrase came to be read as recognition of the Greek Cypriot administration as the sole government of the whole island, even though the 1960 state was founded on a partnership of two communities. Ankara argues that this reading entrenched a status asymmetry that still shapes the Cyprus talks, EU membership and the debate over federation versus two states.

Background

The 1959–1960 settlement

The Zurich and London Agreements of 11 February 1959 produced the Republic of Cyprus, which came into being in 1960. Its constitution was a power-sharing arrangement between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities:

• a Greek Cypriot President and a Turkish Cypriot Vice-President, each elected by their own community, with separate veto rights over certain matters;
• a 7:3 ratio of Greek and Turkish Cypriot ministers, and a 70:30 ratio in the House of Representatives;
• Article 182, which declared the 'basic articles' of the constitution unamendable.

The Treaty of Guarantee, signed by Cyprus, Greece, Türkiye and the United Kingdom, bound Cyprus to maintain its independence and territorial integrity and to refrain from union with any other state or partition. It also made Türkiye, Greece and the UK guarantor powers of 'the state of affairs' established by the basic articles. Article IV provides for consultation and, failing concerted action, for each guarantor to reserve the right to act with the sole aim of re-establishing that state of affairs.

The December 1963 crisis

On 30 November 1963 President Makarios proposed 13 constitutional amendments, including curbs on the Vice-President's veto. The Turkish Cypriot leadership and Ankara rejected them. On 21 December 1963 fighting broke out in Nicosia ('Bloody Christmas' in Turkish Cypriot and Turkish accounts). By 30 December a ceasefire line, later called the Green Line, separated parts of the capital.

Turkish and Turkish Cypriot sources say that about 30,000 Turkish Cypriots were displaced from 103 villages and that Turkish Cypriot ministers and officials were excluded from state organs. They cite the so-called Akritas Plan, a document attributed to Greek Cypriot nationalist circles and first published in the Greek Cypriot newspaper Patris in 1966, as evidence of planning. Greek Cypriot officials have generally contested how the plan is characterized and have attributed the crisis to Turkish Cypriot refusal to accept the amendments and to resistance in the enclaves. Both accounts agree that the 1960 joint government ceased to function as designed.

The path to Resolution 186

In the first weeks of 1964 a London conference of the guarantor powers and the two communities failed. In mid-February the Cypriot government, represented at the UN by its Greek Cypriot delegation, brought the matter to the Security Council. Türkiye and the Turkish Cypriot side argued before the Council that this delegation no longer spoke for the whole Republic.

On 4 March 1964 the Council adopted Resolution 186. Its main provisions were:

1. It called on all member states to refrain from action or threats likely to worsen the situation.
2. It asked 'the Government of Cyprus, which has the responsibility for the maintenance and restoration of law and order', to take measures to stop violence and bloodshed.
3. It called on the communities and their leaders to act with the utmost restraint.
4. It recommended a UN peacekeeping force, to be established 'with the consent of the Government of Cyprus', to prevent a recurrence of fighting and help restore normal conditions, together with a UN mediator.

The resolution is a recommendation in the style of Chapter VI of the UN Charter and not a Chapter VII enforcement decision. UNFICYP began operating on 27 March 1964. Its mandate was renewed repeatedly and remains in place today.

Key Players & Positions

The United Nations

The UN has consistently treated the Republic of Cyprus as a member state, admitted in 1960, and has dealt with its government on host-state matters such as consent for UNFICYP. At the same time, successive Council resolutions since 1990 (for example 649 and 716) describe the settlement goal as a bi-communal, bi-zonal federation with political equality. Resolutions 541 (1983) and 550 (1984) declared the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) declaration legally invalid. The UN's own texts therefore combine recognition of the Republic of Cyprus as the state with a settlement framework that rests on the equality of the two communities.

The Greek Cypriot administration

The Greek Cypriot side argues that Resolution 186 simply confirmed the continuity of the Republic of Cyprus, the sole internationally recognized state on the island, and its consent-based relationship with the UN. It points to the 'law of necessity' doctrine applied by Cypriot courts in 1964, under which the state kept functioning after Turkish Cypriot officials withdrew or were excluded. It holds that the Turkish Cypriots' absence reflected their own choices and that the 1960 state was never dissolved.

The United Kingdom

As a guarantor power and former colonial ruler, the UK deals with the Republic of Cyprus as the government of a Commonwealth and EU-era partner state. London also retains sovereign base areas on the island under the 1960 Treaty of Establishment. Its stated policy supports a settlement based on the UN framework of bi-communal, bi-zonal federation and political equality, and it has not endorsed the two-state approach.

Türkiye and the Turkish Cypriots

Ankara and the Turkish Cypriot leadership maintain that after December 1963 the Greek Cypriot administration governed without the Turkish Cypriot co-founders. They argue that Resolution 186 nonetheless treated it as the government of the whole Republic.

Source Comparison

Readers should read Resolution 186 directly in the UN Digital Library and compare it with the Treaty of Guarantee text. The editorial method behind this comparison is set out in the Desk's Editorial Principles.

Key Terms & Related Guides

• Resolution 186 (1964): Council recommendation creating UNFICYP and a mediator, issued after the December 1963 violence.
• Treaty of Guarantee (1960): the treaty giving Türkiye, Greece and the UK guarantor roles. See also the Desk's Eastern Mediterranean file and the Turkish Cypriot hydrocarbon revenue-sharing proposals, where the same equality principle is applied to offshore resources.
• Akritas Plan: a document attributed to Greek Cypriot nationalist circles and published in 1966; the Turkish side treats it as evidence of planning, while Greek Cypriot officials contest its characterization.
• Green Line: the 1963–1964 ceasefire line dividing Nicosia, later extended across the island.
• UNFICYP: the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus, established in March 1964.
• Maritime parallels: the same debate about who speaks for Cyprus shapes Ankara's maritime filings; see How to Read Türkiye's 18 March 2020 UN Continental Shelf Filing.
• Council reform: Türkiye's critique of the Council's decision-making is part of its wider reform case, summarized in The Global Anatomy's analysis of 'The World Is Bigger Than Five' and Interstate Journal's explainer on Security Council reform.

This article reflects International Relations Desk's editorial perspective, which presents Türkiye's official positions and legal arguments alongside the relevant context. Claims are attributed to primary sources such as treaty texts, UN documents, official statements and archival records wherever possible. Published by the International Relations Desk Editorial Team.