A Study Of The Cyprus Crisis In 1974

The Cyprus crisis happened in 1974 was a regional crisis which had a vital influence in the Western alliance in the era of Cold War Transformation. Not only did the Cyprus crisis change the international political pattern, but it also impacted profoundly the relationships in the western alliance. This thesis concentrates on the Cyprus crisis of 1974. By refreshing the history of the Cyprus problem, the thesis describes the history process of the crisis and multilateral diplomacy games among the United Kingdom, the United States, Greece and Turkish, in order to try to reveal the characteristics of the ethnic conflict in the era of Cold War Transformation and the adjustment of the relationships in the western alliance. All of those also promote the Cold War Transformation in another way.The thesis is divided totally into three chapters in addition to the Preface and Conclusion.The first chapter discusses the history origin of the Cyprus problem and the complicated processes. Since the Ottoman Empire occupied the Cyprus Island in 1571, the Cyprus problem mainly refers to the struggles between the Greek Cypriot and the Turkish Cypriot and then Greece and Turkey become important stakeholders. After World War II, with the Cold War pattern officially formed, Greece and Turkey were included into the western alliance, and the Cyprus problem became one of the internal problems. Due to the confrontation between the Western bloc and the Eastern bloc, the Cyprus problem always was constrained within a certain range. After the crisis of 1954-1959,1963-1964,1967-1968, the Cyprus problem still didn't be resolved.The second chapter studies the history process of the crisis and multilateral diplomacy games among the United Kingdom, the United States, Greece and Turkish. Since the Greek military coup took the power, the relationship between Makarios and the Greek military coup was deteriorating. Finally, it broke out a coup d'etat to overthrow the Makarios government, which was a prelude of the Cyprus crisis of 1974. In order to prevent the spread of the crisis, the United Kingdom and the United States took participated actively in mediation, but it didn't work. On July 20, Turkey took the military actions in Cyprus, which made the Cyprus situation deteriorated sharply. Under the pressures of the international community, Turkey announced its acceptance of the cease-fire. However, it didn't make success about the negotiations in Geneva. On August 14, Turkey resumed military actions,. After achieving the stated military goals, Turkey formally announced the cease-fire.The third chapter studies the challenges of this crisis on the regional political pattern in the Eastern Mediterranean and the western alliance. This crisis made some significant adjustments in the western alliance. On the one hand, the policies of the United States on the crisis made Greece disappointed. Under the domestic and international pressures, the military coup collapsed and the new democratic government headed by Caramanlis had to choose to withdraw from the military structure of NATO. On the other hand, the United States imposed an arm embargo on Turkey, which made the relationship between the United States and Turkey frozen. Both of them seriously damaged the defense system in the East Mediterranean that the United States made great efforts to build. Finally, the United States had to withdraw most of the military force. So, it can reflect the regional ethnic conflicts had a significantly impact on the western alliance. The mediations in the allies don't success. The relationships among the USA, Greek and Turkey deteriorate and the U.N. becomes more and more important in dealing with the Cyprus problem.