Turkish Invasion Of Cyprus

July 15 marks the anniversary of the Cypriot coup d'etat and the Turkish military invasion of the island country of Cyprus

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th July, 2019) July 15 marks the anniversary of the Cypriot coup d'etat and the Turkish military invasion of the island country of Cyprus.

Cyprus gained gained its independence from the United Kingdom on August 16, 1960. The 1959 Zurich-London agreements were the legal basis for granting independence.

Under these agreements, the United Kingdom, Greece, and Turkey were declared guarantors of the "independence, territorial integrity and security" of Cyprus, and this gave these states the opportunity to interfere in Cyprus's internal affairs. In addition, Greece and Turkey received the right to station their military contingents on the island, of 950 and 650 people, respectively.

The United Kingdom retained under its full sovereignty a territory of 99 square miles in Cyprus, on which two large military bases were located � Dhekelia and Akrotiri. It also secured the right to use other small areas and infrastructure with regard to the activities of its bases and facilities.

On July 15, 1974, the Cypriot reactionary forces, with the support of the Athenian military junta, pursuing a policy of "enosis" (uniting Cyprus with Greece) attempted a coup d'etat in Cyprus. Archbishop Makarios III, the first president of independent Cyprus, was removed from power. The putschists, led by Nicos Sampson, seized the capital's airport, a government radio station, the presidential palace, and a number of administrative institutions in Nicosia.

As a guarantor country, Turkey used the situation as a reason for landing troops on the island on the pretext of restoring constitutional order and protecting the rights of Turkish Cypriots.

The invasion began on July 20, 1974, at dawn. Turkish troops landed near the city of Girne on the northern coast if the island. By the end of the day, up to 6,000 troops were deployed to Cyprus, and, over the next few days, the number of Turkish servicemen was increased to 40,000.

Developing an offensive against Girne and Nicosia, Turkish troops fought intensively with units of the Cypriot National Guard, widely used tanks, artillery and aircraft. The ships of the Turkish Navy blocked the southern ports of the island, Limassol and Paphos, preventing sealift of Greek troops. On July 21, Greek ships, landing craft and transport vessels were attacked by Turkish aircraft and ships and suffered heavy losses. By the end of July 21, Turkish troops captured Girne, established control over the Girne-Nicosia road, and seized the capital's airport.

On the day of the invasion, July 20, the United Nations Security Council demanded Turkey to restore the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Cyprus, the constitutional structure and the legitimate government of the republic; called on parties to the conflict to cease fire and withdraw troops from the island; and called on Greece, Turkey and the United Kingdom to begin peace talks on Cyprus.

On August 14, the fighting resumed, and, two days later, the Turkish troops reached the Attila Line, a frontier dividing Greek from Turkish Cyprus, which was earlier proposed as such by the Turkish government.

The troops took control of several cities, including Gazimagusa, Bogaz and Morphou.

The invasion ended on August 18, 1974.

As a result of these events, Turkish troops occupied about 37 percent of the island's territory, which led to its division. The occupied area remains under Turkish control. About 160,000 Greek Cypriots became internally displaced persons. From 1974-1975, the so-called "population exchange" began: the Turkish Cypriots almost completely relocated to the part of Cyprus that was occupied by Turkish troops, and the Greek Cypriots moved to the south of the island.

On February 13, 1975, the leadership of the Turkish community unilaterally proclaimed the Turkish Federated State of Cyprus, with Rauf Denktash becoming its first president.

In November 1983, the Turkish Cypriot legislative assembly unilaterally proclaimed the so-called independent Turkish Cypriot state, which is called the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. It has not been recognized by anyone other than Turkey.

The UN Security Council Resolution 541 of 1983 considered Northern Cyprus' decision to declare independence legally invalid and called on all UN member states to "respect the sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and non-alignment of the Republic of Cyprus," and "not to recognize any Cypriot State other than the Republic of Cyprus." This position was reaffirmed in UN Security Council Resolution 550 of 1984, which called upon all states "not to facilitate or in any way assist the aforesaid secessionist entity" in the north of the island.

The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is separated from the rest of Cyprus by a buffer zone. The line dividing the island into two parts, the so-called Green Line, is guarded by the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus. The length of the buffer zone is 180 kilometers (111.8 miles), and the width is varying from several meters to 7 kilometers.

The northern and southern borders of the buffer zone are the lines where the belligerents stopped after the ceasefire on August 16, 1974. In the eastern part of the island, the buffer zone is interrupted by the UK base in Dhekelia, where the UN mission does not operate. Another area that the United Nations has no control over is Varosha, a former resort town near Gazimagusa, which is now under the control of the Turkish military.

Since 1975, the UN secretary-general was entrusted by the Security Council in Cyprus with a "good offices" mission aimed at assisting the Greek and Turkish communities of the island in favor of a peaceful settlement of the Cyprus problem.

Negotiations on the reunification of Cyprus have been under way almost since the moment of the island's division. However, they were repeatedly stalled. They resumed in February 2014 after a two-year break at the initiative of current Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades. In July 2017, the negotiations on Cyprus failed again.