Turkey's role in the Cyprus problem since 1974 and its aspirations of EU membership.

This paper analyses Turkey's role in the Cyprus problem since the military intervention by this country on 20th July 1974 and tries to prove the connection between the resolution of the Cyprus problem and Turkey's own European Union membership aspirations.Turkey invoked the right to intervene in Cyprus, under article II of the.x000d.treaty of guarantee established in 1960, which called for an intervention in the event of any activity aimed at directly or indirectly promoting union with another country or partition of the island. Many developments have taken place since the military intervention by Turkey, such as the proclamation of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) in 1983, the application for membership to the European Union by the Greek Cypriot Government, in 1990, on behalf of the whole island. Several, yet fruitless negotiation processes have taken place, between the leaders of Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots in the 1980s and 1990s, and most recently in 2004, which have resulted in a stalemate in resolving the Cyprus problem. In sum, the paper aspires to show how the Cyprus problem stands as an obstacle preventing Turkey's EU membership and will continue to do so as long as the Cyprus problem remains unresolved. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]