Government and society

Constitutional framework

The constitution of the Republic of Cyprus, adopted in 1960, provided that executive power be exercised by a Greek Cypriot president and a Turkish Cypriot vice president, elected to five-year terms by universal suffrage, and that there be a Council of Ministers (cabinet) comprising seven Greek Cypriot and three Turkish Cypriot members. It also called for an elected House of Representatives with 50 seats, divided between Greek and Turkish Cypriots in the proportion of 35 to 15 and elected for terms of five years.

The constitution, derived from the negotiations in Zürich, Switzerland, in 1959 between representatives of the governments of Greece and Turkey, was not widely accepted by the citizens of the new republic. The Greek Cypriots, whose struggle against the British had been for enosis (union with Greece) and not for independence, regretted the failure to achieve this national aspiration. As a result, it was not long after the establishment of the republic that the Greek Cypriot majority began to regard many of the provisions, particularly those relating to finance and to local government, as unworkable. Proposals for amendments were rejected by the Turkish government, and, after the outbreak of fighting between the two Cypriot communities in late 1963, the constitution was suspended. In the Republic of Cyprus after the Turkish occupation of 1974, the constitution’s provisions remained in force where practicable; the main formal change has been the increase in the number of seats in the House of Representatives to 80, although the 24 seats allocated to Turks have remained vacant.

On the Turkish side of the demarcation line, there have been, since 1974, a popularly elected president, prime minister, and legislative assembly, all serving five-year terms of office. A new constitution was approved for the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) by its electorate in 1985.

Local government in the Republic of Cyprus is at the district, municipal, rural municipality, and village levels. District officers are appointed by the government; local councils are elected, as are the mayors of municipalities.

Justice

The legal code of Cyprus is based on Roman law. In the Greek Cypriot zone judges are appointed by the government, but the judiciary is entirely independent of the executive power. The Supreme Court is the highest court and also serves as the final appeals court in the republic. A Permanent Assize Court has criminal jurisdiction over the whole island, and district courts handle criminal, civil, and admiralty matters. The Turkish Cypriot zone has a similar system of justice.

Political process

The oldest established political party in the Republic of Cyprus is the Progressive Party of the Working People (Anorthotiko Komma Ergazomenou Laou; AKEL), founded in 1941. A pro-Moscow communist party that controlled the principal trade union federation, it received about one-third of the vote in the first 25 years of the Republic of Cyprus. Following the collapse of communism in Russia and eastern Europe, AKEL lost much of its support, with some reformists breaking away to form their own party. Other parties have had varying success. Among them are the Movement of Social Democrats EDEK (Kinima Sosialdimokraton EDEK) and the Democratic Rally (Dimokratikos Synagermos; DISY). In the Turkish Cypriot zone the major parties include the National Unity Party (Ulusal Birlik Partisi), the Communal Liberation Party (Toplumcu Kurtuluș Partisi), and the Republican Turkish Party (Cumhuriyetc̦i Türk Partisi).

Security

The island of Cyprus is home to a complicated mixture of military forces. The Republic of Cyprus has a small national guard consisting of volunteers and conscripts, and men between the ages of 18 and 50 are required to serve up to 26 months in the military. The army of the TRNC requires 24 months of military service from men within that same age-group. Likewise, both sides maintain close military ties with their respective kinsmen on the mainland; the Republic of Cyprus’s national guard has a large number of officers from the Greek army, and Turkey maintains a large garrison in northern Cyprus. In addition, because of the continued tensions between the two sides—which occasionally have flared into violence—the UN has maintained peacekeeping troops in Cyprus (UNFICYP) who police the demilitarized zone that divides the country; the United Kingdom also maintains two sovereign military bases in Cyprus.

Health

Health standards in Cyprus are high because of a favourable climate and well-organized public and private health services. Since the eradication of malaria shortly after World War II and, later, that of echinococcosis (hydatid disease), the island has been free from major diseases. Life expectancy is about 75 years for men and 80 years for women, and the infant mortality rate is low.

Housing

Housing became a major preoccupation of the Republic of Cyprus following the Turkish invasion of 1974 and the subsequent displacement and relocation of Greek Cypriots to the south of the country. The government engaged in a long-term program to stimulate the construction of low-cost housing, provided low-interest loans for home buyers, and temporarily housed refugees in homes abandoned by Turkish Cypriots who fled to the north during the war. The government has continued to provide rent subsidies for thousands of refugee families and has also provided housing assistance for other low-income families.

Education

In the Greek Cypriot sector, 12 grades of free education are provided for children beginning at age 5; schooling is compulsory through age 15. The last three years may be taken at a technical or vocational school or at a lyceum, the latter offering courses stressing such fields as classical studies, the sciences, or economics. Postsecondary facilities include schools for teacher training, technical instruction, hospitality training, tourism guides, nursing, public health, and police work. Greek Cypriots opened the University of Cyprus in 1992; many students, however, attend universities abroad, especially in Greece, Britain, or the United States.

The education system in the Turkish sector is administered separately, and the Turkish Cypriots maintain an excellent public-school system with facilities similar to those in the Greek sector and several institutions of specialized postsecondary education. As in the Greek sector, many Turkish Cypriots travel abroad (most to Turkey) for postsecondary education. The fine educational opportunities provided by both the Greek and the Turkish administrations have not been without drawbacks, as many of the most qualified Cypriot graduates—both Greek and Turkish—seek employment abroad.