The Treaty of Guarantee was signed in Nicosia on 16 August 1960. The Parties are the Republic of Cyprus, of the one part, and Greece, Turkey and the United Kingdom, of the other. Five articles, in English and French, equally authoritative; the originals deposited at Nicosia. The signatories were Archbishop Makarios III and Fazıl Küçük for Cyprus, G. Christopoulos for Greece, Vecdi Türel for Turkey, and Hugh Foot for the United Kingdom. It is not the Treaty concerning the Establishment of the Republic of Cyprus, nor the Treaty of Alliance, signed at the same conference.

The preamble invokes the independence, territorial integrity and security of the Republic of Cyprus as established and regulated by the Basic Articles of its Constitution. Article I: Cyprus undertakes to maintain its independence, territorial integrity and security and to respect its Constitution; it undertakes not to participate, in whole or in part, in any political or economic union with any State, and prohibits any activity likely to promote union with any other State or partition of the Island.

Article II: Greece, Turkey and the United Kingdom recognise and guarantee the independence, territorial integrity and security of Cyprus, and the state of affairs established by the Basic Articles of the Constitution, and undertake to prohibit, so far as concerns them, any activity aimed at promoting union or partition. Article III: Cyprus, Greece and Turkey undertake to respect the integrity of the areas retained under United Kingdom sovereignty at the establishment of the Republic, and guarantee the United Kingdom the rights secured by the Treaty of Establishment signed the same day — a framework, not a bases itinerary.

Article IV, at the level of principle: in the event of a breach, the three guaranteeing Powers undertake to consult on the representations or measures necessary to ensure observance; in so far as common or concerted action may not prove possible, each reserves the right to take action with the sole aim of re-establishing the state of affairs created by the Treaty. Not an intervention handbook.

Article V: the Treaty enters into force on the date of signature. The Parties shall register it with the United Nations Secretariat in accordance with Article 102 of the Charter. It was registered by the United Kingdom on 12 December as UNTS No. 5475, volume 382.

Cover: the Presidential Palace in Nicosia (the former Government House), the state building in the years of independence; we do not claim the signing room. Wikimedia Commons, free licence.

Sources consulted: Treaty of Guarantee (1960); Treaty of Guarantee (UN Peacemaker / UNTS 5475).