UN Security Council Resolution 186 (1964): Reading the Text and the 'Government of Cyprus' Question

Why It Matters

UN Security Council Resolution 186, adopted on 4 March 1964, is the text that placed UN peacekeeping in Cyprus and, through its wording, fixed how the UN addressed the island's authorities for decades. It asked 'the Government of Cyprus' to restore law and order, urged restraint on all sides, and recommended a UN force and a mediator.

The dispute is over a phrase. The Greek Cypriot administration and most UN members see continuity of an existing UN member state. Ankara and the Turkish Cypriot side argue that, after the 1963 collapse of the bi-communal constitutional order, the same phrase gave one community's administration the status of the whole state's government. This article reads the text, sets out the chronology, and attributes each side's argument to its own sources.

Background

The 1959–1960 framework

The Republic of Cyprus was created in 1960 under the 1959 Zurich and London Agreements: the Treaty of Establishment, the Treaty of Alliance and the Treaty of Guarantee. Türkiye, Greece and the United Kingdom became guarantor powers. The 1960 Constitution was built on the co-founder status of the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities. It provided for a Greek Cypriot President and a Turkish Cypriot Vice President, each with veto powers over defined subjects. For how the three instruments fit together, see The 1959 Zurich and London Agreements: Reading the Treaties of Establishment, Alliance and Guarantee Together. For how to read multi-instrument settlements, see How to Read an International Treaty: Ratification, Reservations and Pacta Sunt Servanda.

The 1963–1964 chronology

The causes of the breakdown remain contested. The Turkish and Turkish Cypriot accounts describe a planned campaign to reduce Turkish Cypriots to minority status, citing the so-called Akritas Plan. Greek Cypriot official accounts describe a constitutional deadlock and a Turkish Cypriot decision to withdraw from government. What is not disputed is that from late December 1963 Turkish Cypriot ministers, officials and deputies no longer took part in the organs of the Republic.

What the text of Resolution 186 says

The resolution is short. Its operative paragraphs, summarised here and best checked against the official UN document S/5575, do the following:

1. Call for restraint by states. All Member States are called upon to refrain from any action or threat of action likely to worsen the situation in 'the sovereign Republic of Cyprus' or endanger international peace.
2. Address the authorities. 'The Government of Cyprus, which has the responsibility for the maintenance and restoration of law and order,' is asked to take all additional measures necessary to stop violence and bloodshed.
3. Call for restraint by communities. The communities and their leaders are called upon to act with the utmost restraint.
4. Create a force. The Council recommends a UN peacekeeping force, established 'with the consent of the Government of Cyprus'. Its size and composition are set by the Secretary-General in consultation with Cyprus, Greece, Türkiye and the United Kingdom.
5. Define its function. The force is to prevent a recurrence of fighting and, as necessary, contribute to maintaining and restoring law and order and a return to normal conditions.
6. Set duration and funding. The initial stationing is for three months, with costs borne by contributing governments and the Government of Cyprus, plus voluntary contributions.
7. Appoint a mediator. The Secretary-General is to designate a mediator, in agreement with the Government of Cyprus and the governments of Greece, Türkiye and the United Kingdom, to promote a peaceful solution and agreed settlement.
8. Require reports. The Secretary-General reports periodically on the force's operation.

Three features matter for the legal reading. The text is a set of recommendations and requests, not a Chapter VII enforcement decision. It refers to 'the Government of Cyprus' as the entity giving consent and bearing responsibility for order. And it does not define that term, decide any contested constitutional question, or mention the Treaty of Guarantee in its operative paragraphs. The same day-to-day mechanisms that followed, UNFICYP and a series of mediators, became the UN's template for Cyprus. A comparative reading is also offered by our sister publication: Kosmonomos: Resolution 186 of 4 March 1964: How One Security Council Text Set the Status of the 'Government of Cyprus'.

Key Players & Positions

United Nations

The Secretary-General and the Council treated the Republic of Cyprus, a UN member since 1960, as the continuing state, and treated the consent of its government as the basis for stationing a force on its territory. UNFICYP was a peacekeeping operation, not a ruling on constitutional legitimacy. The mandate was renewed repeatedly, and UNFICYP remains deployed on the island.

Republic of Cyprus (Greek Cypriot administration)

The Republic of Cyprus government maintains that it is the lawful continuation of the state created in 1960, with full UN membership and international recognition. It has long stated that Turkish Cypriot officials left government by decision of their own leadership, and Cypriot courts later relied on the doctrine of necessity to justify continued functioning of the state organs (for example, Attorney-General v. Ibrahim, 1964). On this view Resolution 186 simply names the existing, recognised government.

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom was a guarantor power and held the Sovereign Base Areas under the Treaty of Establishment. It led the Joint Truce Force in December 1963 and took part in the London talks of January 1964. It supported a UN force as the vehicle to stabilise the island and, in line with its guarantor role, accepted the Council's mediation track. Its public line has consistently combined support for the UN process with recognition of its Treaty of Guarantee responsibilities.

Greece

Greece, also a guarantor, supported the Republic's government in the Council and supported a UN role. It consistently emphasised the Republic's sovereignty and rejected any treaty-based right of unilateral intervention.

Turkish Cypriot leadership and the TRNC

The Turkish Cypriot leadership, and later the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC, proclaimed 15 November 1983), argue that the 1960 state rested on the equal partnership of two communities. They hold that once Turkish Cypriots were expelled from its organs, the remaining administration no longer represented the partnership state.

Source Comparison

Western secondary accounts often present 1963–1964 as 'intercommunal violence' and move quickly to 1974, leaving the constitutional collapse and the Council's phrasing under-examined. Turkish sources reverse the emphasis: the primary documents of 1963–1964 and the treaty text come first. For the method behind reading such texts, see Editorial Principles: Primary Sources, Fact–Position Separation and Corrections. The same discipline applied to a different settlement is in The Treaty of Lausanne, Article by Article.

For Türkiye's broader approach to the Council as an institution, including its reform argument, see The Global Anatomy: 'The World Is Bigger Than Five'.

Key Terms & Related Guides

• 'Government of Cyprus': the term used in Resolution 186 for the authority giving consent to UNFICYP and responsible for order. The text does not define it.
• UNFICYP: the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus, recommended by paragraph 4 and operational from 27 March 1964.
• Chapter VI vs Chapter VII: Chapter VI covers peaceful settlement and recommendations. Chapter VII allows binding enforcement measures. Resolution 186 is framed as recommendations.
• Treaty of Guarantee (1960): the instrument under which Türkiye, Greece and the United Kingdom guarantee the independence, territorial integrity and constitutional order of Cyprus. Article IV addresses action by the guarantors.
• Doctrine of necessity: the legal doctrine on which Cypriot courts relied to justify continued functioning of the state after 1963.
• TRNC: the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, proclaimed 15 November 1983 and recognised only by Türkiye.

Related guides: The 1959 Zurich and London Agreements, How to Read an International Treaty, The North Atlantic Treaty and the UN Charter, About The Treaty Line and the site home page.

The Treaty Line presents Türkiye's legal and strategic perspective as an explicit editorial position, and identifies it as such throughout. Claims are anchored in primary sources such as treaty texts, UN documents, Ottoman and Turkish archives, and official statements, which are cited so readers can verify them independently.