View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by University of East Anglia digital repository The Birth of a Republic, but not of a Nation: The case of state-building in Cyprus NIKOLAS KYRIAKOU University of Cyprus NIKOS SKOUTARIS University of East Anglia ‘Because in Cyprus the only thing that is Cypriot is the donkey’ Rauf Denktas, former leader of the Turkish Cypriot community Abstract The principle of bi-communality has been advanced as a founding feature of state-building in Cyprus. The aim of this paper is to provide for a systematic account of the different variations of the bi-communal principle enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of Cyprus and in the Annan Plan as the most comprehensive proposal for the reunification of the island. In order to achieve its scope, the paper focuses on the provisions concerning State institutions and citizenship. It argues that in all those constitutional structures State-building is not linked with nation-building. In fact, the acceptance of bi-communalism as a fundamental principle of the united Cyprus proves that the main concern has been the accommodation of the political tensions resulting from a divided society. Address correspondence to Nikolas Kyriacou, Department of Social & Political Sciences, University of Cyprus, 1678 Nicosia, Cyprus. E-mail:
[email protected] Address correspondence to Nikos Skoutaris, Law School, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research park, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, United Kingdom. E-mail:
[email protected] A. Introduction In contrast with numerous state-building projects of the two past centuries, which had been centered on the idea of “one nation, one state”, in the case of Cyprus the recognition of the existence of two constituent ethno-religious segments on the island has been advanced as a founding principle of state-building.