The Cyprus Problem: The International Dimension

Abstract

[ President Clinton's manifestation, both in public and in private, of his personal interest and support for progress on the Cyprus problem is greatly appreciated in this chapter. Additional manifestations of the interest and support, not only by the White House but also by the State Department and the Pentagon, through more active U.S. engagement at an appropriately high political level, support by the United States in the UN Security Council for effective measures to implement its own resolutions and support for the significant and far-reaching proposal of President Clerides for the demilitarization of Cyprus was also appreciated. But, when all is said and done, the stark reality remained that Turkish military preponderance and lack of political will was likely to prevent any early breakthrough and, should not to be expected that sufficient pressure will be applied on Turkey from outside to drastically change its attitude in the foreseeable future. Keywords:Cyprus problem; Pentagon; President Clinton; President Clerides; Security Council; Turkish; United States; White House , The author's to state responsibility goes back to the academic year 1959– 1960, when Harvard law school was engaged in the Project of State Responsibility for Injury to Aliens under Professors Richard Baxter and Louis B. Sohn. The preponderance of doctrine and state practice at that time was that an espoused claim was indeed that of the state concerned, which, in turn, was entitled to waive, compromise or settle it in its dealings with other states. Two brief observations will help bring the matter into perspective. One is that the declaration in Security Council Resolution 687 regarding Iraq's liability is consistent with established customary international law holding states responsible for damages caused by their unlawful actions. The second observation is that one can envisage several other situations in which unlawful acts generally, and unlawful invasion and occupation in particular, have occurred without the victim states receiving any remedy. Keywords:customary international law; state responsibility ]