Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...

island country of Cyprus was one of the founding members of the

Non-Aligned Movement The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is a forum of 120 countries that are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. After the United Nations, it is the largest grouping of states worldwide. The movement originated in the aftermath o ...

with Makarios III attending the 1st Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Belgrade, SFR Yugoslavia in 1961, just one year after the Cypriot independence. Membership in the movement was perceived as one of two major foreign-policy alternatives with the first one being formal membership in

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

at least nominally supported by both Greece and Turkey in the initial period after the

London and Zürich Agreements The London and Zürich Agreements ( el, Συμφωνίες Ζυρίχης–Λονδίνου; tr, Zürih ve Londra Antlaşmaları) for the constitution of Cyprus started with an agreement on 19 February 1959 in Lancaster House, London, between T ...

and second one being pro-western participation in Non-Aligned Movement where United Kingdom and United States preferred this option at least until 1963. Nicosia believed that the participation in the movement will help the country to convince numerous predominantly Muslim members of the NAM not to recognize or to establish relations with the Northern Cyprus. Membership in the movement helped the island in development of its relations with neighboring Middle East countries. In 1964 Makarios reassured Prime Minister of Greece

Georgios Papandreou Georgios Papandreou ( ''Geórgios Papandréou''; 13 February 1888 – 1 November 1968) was a Greek politician, the founder of the Papandreou political dynasty. He served three terms as prime minister of Greece (1944–1945, 1963, 1964–196 ...

of Cypriot historical and cultural links to the west but stressed that the country will continue to pursue Non-Aligned foreign policy. On 18 December 1965 member states of the Non-Aligned Movement prepared a draft resolution at the

UN General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; french: link=no, Assemblée générale, AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the UN. Cur ...

which called upon all the states "''to respect the sovereignty, unity, independence and territorial integrity of the Republic of Cyprus''". While Non-Aligned countries voted for the resolution, 54 states abstained and Turkey, United States, Iran, Pakistan and Albania voted against it.

Greek Cypriot Greek Cypriots or Cypriot Greeks ( el, Ελληνοκύπριοι, Ellinokýprioi, tr, Kıbrıs Rumları) are the ethnic Greek population of Cyprus, forming the island's largest ethnolinguistic community. According to the 2011 census, 659,115 r ...

authorities believed that the Non-Aligned Movement may provide them with additional international support for constitutional changes and in their response to

Cypriot intercommunal violence Several distinct periods of Cypriot intercommunal violence involving the two main ethnic communities, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, marked mid-20th century Cyprus. These included the Cyprus Emergency of 1955–59 during British rule, the ...

. The country hosted the 1988 Non-Aligned Foreign Ministers Conference and was one of the members considered to host the 9th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement. One of the requirements of the

2004 enlargement of the European Union The largest expansion of the European Union (EU), in terms of territory, number of states, and population took place on 1 May 2004. The simultaneous accessions concerned the following countries (sometimes referred to as the "A10" countries): ...

was for Cyprus to leave the Non-Aligned Movement yet the

Government of Cyprus The Republic of Cyprus is a unitary presidential representative republic, whereby the President of Cyprus is both head of state and head of government. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the g ...

insisted that the country will nevertheless maintain close ties with the NAM.

References

{{Foreign relations of Cyprus Non-Aligned Movement Foreign relations of Cyprus

See also

References