The Cyprus problem has been the most serious and challenging dispute between Turkey and Greece since the mid-1950s. This book does not offer a chronological account of the Cyprus events; rather, it provides a brief background to the issue by examining significant turning points such as the foundation of the Republic of Cyprus (RoC), the 1964 and 1967 crises, as well as the Turkish military's intervention on the island in 1974 and its impact on bilateral relations. This background information will familiarise readers with both countries’ official positions regarding the Cyprus problem. However, the primary focus of this chapter will be on the S-300 crisis, another instance of securitisation during the 1990s.

The Cyprus Problem and its Impact on Turkish–Greek Relations

The island of Cyprus was under Ottoman rule from its conquest in 1571 until 1878, when the Ottomans handed over its administration to Britain in exchange for an alliance against Russia. Temporary British rule became permanent with the British annexation in the wake of World War I, and this was confirmed during the Treaty of Lausanne. Although the strategic location of Cyprus at the centre of maritime trade routes in the Eastern Mediterranean was of vital importance for Turkey's security, the peaceful foreign policy adopted by the founders of the Turkish Republic as well as the international balances of power at the time ensured the formal acceptance of this outcome (Kaliber, 2003, 143; Elekdağ, 2006, 34). While the Turkish delegation relinquished its rights over the island, the Turkish delegation raised the newly founded Republic of Turkey's concerns with a particular emphasis on the ‘vital importance’ of the island for the protection of Turkey's southern coast (Dodd, 2010, 3). A quote from Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Turkish Republic, illustrates the importance of the island: ‘If Cyprus was in the hands of a hostile country, all supply routes to Anatolia would be cut off, and Turkey's security would be threatened’ (Manizade, 1975, 17, quoted from Elekdağ, 1996, 43).

The period of British control over the island saw no conflict between Turkey and Greece, but the emergence of the Cyprus issue in the mid-1950s pulled the two countries into a diplomatic conflict, and much of the goodwill that had developed between the two governments quickly evaporated (Ker-Lindsay, 2000, 216).