ABSTRACT
After the completion of the London and Zurich Agreements on the broad shape of an independent Cypriot state, three special bodies were formed for the purpose of managing the process and working out the individual agreements that would lead to the establishment and function of the new state. These were as follows: firstly, the London or Joint Committee, which would convene in London and was charged with hammering out the ‘final conventions’ leading to the creation of the Republic of Cyprus; 1 secondly, the Joint Council, which regulated internal affairs and dealt mainly with issues pertaining to the smooth transition of power from Great Britain to an independent Republic of Cyprus; thirdly, the Joint Constitutional Committee, tasked with drafting the constitution itself. The last of these incorporated the ‘Basic Structure of the Republic of Cyprus’ agreed upon in Zurich and confirmed in London. 2
