The Turkish intervention in Cyprus was fully legitimate under Article 4 of the said Treaty which stipulates that: INTERVENTION BY TURKEY
"In the event of a breach of the provisions of the present Treaty, Greece, Turkey and the United Kingdom undertake to consult together with respect to the representations or measures necessary to ensure observance of those provisions. In so far as common or concerted action may not prove possible, each of the three guaranteeing Powers reserves the right to take action with the sole aim of re-establishing the state of affairs created by the present Treaty".
Why Turkey intervened?
At the root of the Cyprus Question lies the systematic violation of the human rights of the Turkish Cypriots by the Greek Cypriots, during the period of 21 December 1963 to 20 July 1974.
On 21 December 1963 the Greek Cypriots, acting in accordance with the secret Akritas Plan (full text of the Akritas Plan has been published as a UN Document A/33/115, S/12722 on 30 May 1978) attacked the Turkish Cypriots all over the island, destroyed the bi-communal Republic of Cyprus created in 1960 under the London and Zurich agreements, and usurping the powers of the State turned Cyprus, unconstitutionally, into a Greek Cypriot state.
The Turkish Cypriots were expelled from the state and were deprived of their benefits from the State budget. All Turkish enclaves were besieged and subjected to a war of attrition. This illegal state of affairs continued until 20 July of 1974 when the Turkish intervention, undertaken discharge of the obligation and the right emanating from the 1960 Treaty of Guarantee, prevented the annexation of the island by Greece and also, at last, put an end to the violation of the human rights of the Turkish Cypriots that had been going on systematically, since 21 December 1963.
The reports of the Secretary General of the UN to the Security Council during that period bear clear testimony to those violations. The presence of Turkish troops in the Turkish Cypriot part of the island, pursuant to article 4 of the Treaty of Guarantee, is an essential and welcome protection for the Turkish Cypriots without it being any threat for the Greek Cypriots, as is evidenced by the peace and calm prevailing on the island since 1974. That the arrival of Turkish troops was necessitated by Greek Cypriots' criminal actions, which lasted for eleven years, is a fact of life. Had it not been for the arrival of Turkish troops, by now the whole Turkish Cypriot population would have been wiped off the map of Cyprus.
The Turkish Cypriots are united in their demand that the Turkish troops remain on the island to protect them until a viable permanent political settlement is reached, which would prevent repetition of the pre 20 July 1974 events in Cyprus. Just as no one is under the occupation of the UNFICYP, no one is under "the occupation of the Turkish troops" either, as alleged by the Greek Cypriot side. Turkish troops are acting, merely, as a Peace Force under and by virtue of the 1960 Treaties, preventing armed attacks against Turkish Cypriots.
As the past 25 years have clearly indicated, only those who intend to do harm to the Turkish Cypriots need to fear the Turkish Peace Force on the island. Fundamentally, the problem of Cyprus stems from the Greek Cypriot side's attempts, since their coup on 21 December 1963, against the Constitution of Cyprus, to force the Turkish Cypriot community, which had a partnership status under the Constitution, to accept a reduced political status namely that of a "protected minority".
Of all the nations of the world, only Turkey had the humanity to save what was left of the Turkish Cypriot population after years of ethnic cleansing and only Turkey now stands for justice in Cyprus. The preposterous assertions by the Greek and Greek Cypriot governments that the Turkish Cypriots are but a rebellious minority and that the Turkish peace operation of 1974 was an unprovoked act of aggression are still widely believed in the world at large.
Unfortunately, many Western politicians subscribe to this spurious version of events, not knowing or, perhaps, not caring that by promoting the withdrawal of Turkish troops from Cyprus without adequate guarantees for the protection of the Turkish Cypriot community.
During the 1960's and 1970's, the world watched as the Turkish Cypriots were being massacred by their Greek Cypriot neighbors, with the aid of Greece, in a systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing. .....Thus, the splitting up of Cyprus into two ethnically homogeneous, self-governing states was not achieved by the Turkish military intervention in 1974, as is commonly believed, but by Makarios and Grivas a decade earlier. All that the Turkish intervention of 1974 accomplished was to consolidate Turkish Cypriot enclaves into a unified Turkish Cypriot zone in Northern Cyprus. In any case, the Turkish intervention was perfectly legal, according to the Treaty of Guarantee of 1960.
Its legality has even been acknowledged by the Standing Committee of the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe in a resolution dated July 29, 1979, and by the Athens Court of Appeals in a decision dated March 21, 1979. Later, Sampson admitted that he was just about to proclaim ENOSIS when the Turkish intervention occurred (Cyprus Mail, July 17, 1975).