The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) (Turkish: Kuzey Kıbrıs Türk Cumhuriyeti) or Turkish Cypriot State (Turkish: Kıbrıs Türk Devleti) is a de facto break-away state in the northern third of the island of Cyprus.

It was unilaterally proclaimed in 1983, nine years after the Greek Cypriot coup d'etat that was carried out by supporters of EOKA-B with backing from the Greek military junta of 1967-1974, and the ensuing Turkish invasion of Cyprus, whose military maintain a strong presence in the TRNC to this day. Its immediate predecessor from 1975 to 1983 was the Turkish Federative State of North Cyprus; but the lead up to its establishment started in 1963 with the collapse of the Cypriot community into two antagonistic camps.

Turkey is currently the only state that recognizes the TRNC. It can be considered a de facto state but with restricted outlets and international rights outside its borders. As it is not recognised as a state by the international community, it is sometimes referred to as a Stabilised De Facto Regime. The Organization of the Islamic Conference has taken steps to remove the isolation of the TRNC[1]. However, all national governments (including Muslim states) and the United Nations recognize only the de jure sovereignty of the Republic of Cyprus over the whole island. The United Nations considers the TRNC to be legally invalid[2] in its resolutions, but in practice treats the North's elected leadership as bona fide negotiators for the Turkish Cypriot community. Since the Annan plan referendum the UN has voiced its disappointment to the government of the Republic of Cyprus for the rejection of the plan, and refrained from referring to pre-Annan Plan resolutions^{[citation needed]}. The TRNC is also increasingly treated as a separate entity by major country analysts such as Economist Intelligence Unit and Jane's Intelligence. The TRNC functions as a self-governing protectorate of Turkey. The European Court of Human Rights, in the landmark judgment of Loizidou v. Turkey, has in fact called TRNC a "subordinate local administration of Turkey." Although TRNC institutions are not recognized internationally, the President of the TRNC is recognized as the negotiating representative of the Turkish Cypriot community. TRNC has applied to the Commonwealth Games Federation to take part in the Commonwealth Games as a team separate from Cyprus, but so far this proposal has been rejected.

The TRNC has a population of about 200,000 and an area of 3,355 square kilometres (including the tiny enclave of Kokkina (Turkish: Erenköy). Its population is almost entirely Turkish-speaking ethnic Turks - although some Turkish Cypriots prefer emphasizing their Cypriot Turkishness, or simply their Cypriotness. The population consists of three main communities: indigenous Turkish Cypriots, intergrated Turkish settlers who can be considered Turkish Cypriots either through marriage or born on the island, and migrant Anatolian Turks; there also some Kurds amonst the settlers. Many of the older Turkish Cypriots speak and understand Greek - some may even be considered native speakers of the Greek Cypriot dialect. There are also tiny populations of enclaved Greek Cypriots and Maronites. The TRNC includes the northern part of the city of Nicosia (Turkish: Lefkoşa, Greek: Lefkosia), which serves as its capital. A large share of the people living in northern Cyprus after the Turkish invasion have emigrated, particularly to Western Europe but also to Turkey and have subsequently been replaced by settlers from Turkey. Many left the island due to the grim economic situation of the TRNC which, because of the prevailing embargo imposed on it by the international community, faces many difficulties in trading with third countries.

From the tip of the Karpass Peninsula (Cape Apostolos Andreas) in the northeast, the TRNC extends westward to Morphou Bay and Cape Kormakitis (the Kokkina/Erenköy exclave marks the westernmost extent of the TRNC), and southward to the village of Akıncılar. The territory between the TRNC and the remainder of Cyprus is separated by a United Nations-controlled buffer zone.

Source: www.wikipedia.org