London and Zürich Agreements
The London and Zürich Agreements (; ) for the constitution of Cyprus started with an agreement on 19 February 1959 in Lancaster House, London, between Turkey, Greece, the United Kingdom and Cypriot community leaders (Archbishop Makarios III for Greek Cypriots and Dr. Fazıl Küçük for Turkish Cypriots). On that basis, a constitution was drafted and agreed together with two prior Treaties of Alliance and Guarantee in Zürich on 11 February 1959. Cyprus was accordingly proclaimed an independent state on 16 August 1960. After the failure of the Agreement in 1963 and the de facto military partition of Cyprus into Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot regions, the larger Greek-Cypriot Region, controlled by the Cypriot government, claims that the 1960 Constitution basically remains in force, but the Turkish-Cypriot region claims to have seceded by the Declaration of Independence of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in 1983. Constitutional provisions The constitution, provided for under the agreements, divided the Cypriot people into two communities, based on ethnic origin. The President was to be a Greek-Cypriot, elected by the Greek-Cypriots, and the Vice-President a Turkish-Cypriot, elected by the Turkish-Cypriots. The Vice-President was granted the right of a final veto on laws passed by the House of