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| Constitution of Cyprus | |
|---|---|
| Ratified | August 16, 1960 |
| System | Presidential republic |
| Government structure | |
| Branches | Three (Executive, Legislative, Judiciary) |
| Head of state | Executive President, reserved for Greeks a Vice Presidential office, reserved for Turks and vested with complementary powers to those of the President is provided for, but dormant owing to failure of the Greek-Turk power-sharing framework. |
| Chambers | One: House of Representatives |
| Executive | Cabinet headed by the President |
| Judiciary | A Supreme Constitutional Court is provided for, though not established owing to failure of the Greek-Turk power-sharing framework. |
| Federalism | No However, a power-sharing system between Greeks and Turks, including separate Communal Chambers for each, is envisioned, but has collapsed following the foundation of the TRNC. |
| Entrenchments | 48 Some entrenchments are partial or conditional |
| Signatories | Members of the Cypriot government |
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The Constitution of Cyprus is a document, ratified on August 16, 1960, that serves as the Supreme Law of the Republic of Cyprus (Suprema Lex Cypri) defining the system of government of the Cypriot Republic and the civil liberties for the Cypriot citizens. Cypriot government.[1] It was drafted after the country won its independence in 1959[2] and is Cyprus's first and only constitution to date.[3] The Constitution of the Republic of Cyprus has been in force for 64 years and it has been amended 18 (eighteen) times and 28 Articles of the 199 were modified since 1960. The 18th Amendment concerned Article 111.
The Constitution of Cyprus establishes 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 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.[4] In 1964, however, the Cypriot government became dominated by Greeks.[2]
The constitution of the country collapsed, however, in 1963 due to a dispute between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots. The running of 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 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.
- ^ "Cyprus". CIA World Factbook. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
- ^ a b "Cyprus - Government and Politics". mongabay.com. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
- ^ "Chronology". Constitute. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
- ^ "Cyprus Constitution" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-11-03. Retrieved 2008-10-03.