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25-451: The Thirteen Points were a group of amendments to the Constitution of Cyprus proposed on 30 November 1963 by Archbishop Makarios , the first president of Cyprus, that altered the ways in which Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots were represented in government. Upon being proposed after two years of peace between the two groups, the amendments were rejected by Turkish Cypriots, sparking

50-472: A bicommunal unitary Republic with partial communal autonomy and a Presidential system of government with a Greek-Cypriot President and a Turkish-Cypriot Vice-President, both with extensive veto powers as a means to safeguard the rights of their respective communities. The constitution put methods in place to protect Turkish Cypriots , due to the restrictions placed in Article 6 of the document. That article ensures

75-444: A court, detained to force them to appear before a court, detained to prevent them from committing an offense or detained to avoid the spread of diseases . The article also ensures that "every person who has been the victim of arrest or detention in contravention of the provisions of this Article shall have an enforceable right to compensation." Article 12 ensures that habeas corpus is followed, that no person may be charged twice for

100-485: A crisis between Greek and Turkish Cypriots that led to widespread intercommunal violence and culminated in the Bloody Christmas conflict. In 1966, the amendments were revealed to be part of Makarios' secret Akritas plan , with the end goal of weakening Turkish Cypriot representation in the government of Cyprus to make union with Greece easier. Constitution of Cyprus The Constitution of Cyprus establishes

125-485: A crisis between the two groups that led to widespread intercommunal violence and culminated in the Bloody Christmas conflict. The proposed amendments were: The most serious constitutional problem the newly-established Republic of Cyprus faced in daily politics stemmed from an issue regarding municipalities ; Turkish Cypriots strove for the creation of separate municipalities for Greeks and Turks, while Greek Cypriots aimed for mixed ones. Makarios took into consideration

150-542: A right to a private life except when infringing on someone's privacy is in accordance of the law and in the national interest. Article sixteen prohibits entering someone's property without their prior consent, or an arrest warrant, unless you are rescuing the individual from danger. Article seventeen also discusses privacy, with its main focus being an individual's right to privacy in all lawful communication. Articles 18, 19 and 21 secure freedom of speech , religion and assembly respectively, while articles 20 and 22 deal with

175-403: A specific WTO Safeguards Agreement [1] to discipline the use of safeguard measures. Safeguards are usually seen as responses to economic development and trade processes that align with international law , as opposed to negative practices, such as dumping or subsidies . In the context of world trade, they are supposed to be used only in very specific circumstances, with compensation, and on

200-488: A tax without permission in a court. Article 25 ensures that every individual in Cyprus has the right to work, subject to conditions that may be in the law. Article 26 states that people may freely enter into contracts, and avoid be exploited by people with "commanding economic power." Article 27 states that, subject to conditions in the law, citizens have a right to take part in industrial action . It also states that members of

225-620: A universal basis. For example, a member restricting imports for safeguard purposes would have to restrict imports from all other countries. However, exceptions to the nondiscriminatory rule are provided for in the Agreement on Safeguards itself as well as in some ad hoc agreements. In the last respect, it is worthwhile to note that the People's Republic of China accepted that discriminatory safeguards may be imposed on its exports to other WTO members until 2013. Some safeguard measures can be resorted to in

250-640: The United Nations . On 30 November 1963, Makarios handed a memo of the 13 points to the Turkish Cypriot side. Fazıl Küçük , Rauf Denktaş , and the Turkish government rejected all 13. Turkish Cypriots filed a lawsuit against the amendments in the Supreme Constitutional Court of Cyprus . Having been proposed after two years of peace between the two groups, the amendments and their rejection sparked

275-550: The armed forces , police and gendarmerie are not allowed to strike. Safeguard In international trade law , a safeguard is a restraint to protect home or national industries from foreign competition . In the World Trade Organization (WTO), a member may take a safeguard action, such as restricting imports of a product temporarily to protect a domestic industry from an increase in imports causing or threatening to cause injury to domestic production. Within

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300-629: The Cypriot government has no right to discriminate against either Turkish or Greek Cypriots. The constitution also ensures, in Article 1, that the Vice-President of the country is a Turk and the President is a Greek. In 1964, however, the Cypriot government became dominated by Greeks. The constitution of the country collapsed, however, in 1963 due to a dispute between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots. The running of

325-451: The Republic of Cyprus are Greek and Turkish, and that all officials documents must be published in both languages. Article four requires that Cyprus "shall have its own flag of neutral design and colour, chosen jointly by the President and the Vice-President of the Republic," while article five states that Greek and Turkish Cypriots have a right to celebrate their holidays. Articles 6–35 of

350-514: The Turkish Cypriots involved withdrew from the government, and as a result the Greeks took full control of the government in 1965, as the Turkish Cypriots would not co-operate for constitutional changes, despite the constitutional safeguards to ensure representation of Turks that had previously existed. The separation occurred because the two ethnic groups continued to distrust each other after

375-515: The WTO, safeguard measures were available under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) (Article XIX). However, they were infrequently used, and some governments preferred to protect their industries by "grey area" measures ("voluntary" export restraint arrangements on products such as cars, steel and semiconductors). As part of the WTO deal, members gave up the "grey area" measures and adopted

400-649: The area of services, as provided for in the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). Regional trading arrangements have their own rules relating to safeguards. One example of a safeguard being used successfully was when Liechtenstein used a safeguard measure in the EEA Agreement with the European Union to limit immigration from the EU until a more permanent agreement was put in place to limit immigration. Article 16 of

425-510: The area under the control of the Republic have been restored, thus they can be part of the electoral register and stand in European elections. This, however, has not restored their communal rights as envisaged in the original constitution, i.e. separate electoral register to elect a vice president and a fixed number of members of the house of representatives. In 1963, the Constitution broke down as

450-534: The constitution deal with Fundamental Rights and Liberties. Article six prohibits the discrimination of either Greek or Turkish Cypriots based on their race, while article seven asserts the right to life and states that an individual may only be deprived of his right to life except for when being sentenced by a "competent court" for an offense which provides the death penalty by law. Article eight prohibits inhumane or degrading punishment or treatment, and prevents torture, and Article nine states that "every person has

475-427: The constitution was signed. Another issue that caused the breakdown was the fact that President Makarios III , a Greek Cypriot, supported complete integration between the two ethnic groups, while Vice President Fazil Küçük , a Turkish Cypriot, supported increased separation. In addition, President Makarios proposed a constitutional change that year to remove most of the rights given to Turkish Cypriots. He said that

500-458: The original constitution prevented the Turks and Greeks from "cooperating in the spirit of understanding and friendship." The first five articles of the constitution discuss General Provisions. Article One asserts that Cyprus is an independent republic with a President and that the President and Vice President must be Greeks and Turks respectively. Article three asserts that the official languages of

525-476: The probability of changing the constitution unilaterally; despite being warned of constitutional collapse by his own cabinet minister Glafkos Clerides (who later became the 4th president of Cyprus), Greece's foreign minister Evangelos Averoff , and the Turkish government , Makarios proceeded with the changes. He calculated the political instability of Turkey and Greece, and believed that his proposal would be backed by

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550-619: The republic by the Greek community alone has been legally defined in what is called "Justice of need". Following the Turkish invasion of 1974 the state acts as a surrogate for the properties of Turkish Cypriots that moved to the Turkish-occupied north. Following Cyprus's entry into the EU in 2004 and the Ibrahim Aziz vs. Republic of Cyprus case in the European Court of Human Rights , some individual civil rights of Turkish Cypriots residing in

575-403: The right to free education and marriage . Article 23 adds to the rights laid out in article sixteen, by allowing citizens of Cyprus to purchase property and receive compensation for any damage to it. Article 24 requires citizens to pay taxes. It states that "every person is bound to contribute according to his means towards the public burdens." It also states that no organization may collect

600-502: The right to a decent existence and to social security." Article ten prohibits slavery and forced labour, in all cases other than in cases of compulsory military service or work while being imprisoned lawfully by the state. It also allows for "any service exacted in case of an emergency or calamity threatening the life or well-being of the inhabitants." Article eleven contains several limits on who can be imprisoned. It states that people may only be imprisoned when they have been convicted by

625-455: The same offense, that the punishment is proportional to the crime, and that people have the right to a defence while in court. Article thirteen says that any person has the right to move freely around Cyprus, and leave when they wish, subject to "reasonable conditions" imposed by law, while article fourteen states that no person shall be forced to leave the country. Article fifteen defines the right to privacy ,stating that every individual has

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