NICOSIA (Reuters)

Greek and Turkish Cypriots marked on Sunday (July 20) the 51st anniversary of Turkey’s 1974 invasion of Cyprus, an event that split the island and remains a source of tension between NATO partners Greece and Turkey.

Air raid sirens sounded across the southern Greek Cypriot-populated parts of Cyprus at 5:30 am (0230 GMT), the exact time when Turkish troops landed on the northern coast in a military intervention triggered by a brief Greece-inspired coup.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan was due to attend celebrations in north Cyprus, a breakaway state recognised only by Ankara.

Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides attended a memorial service in the south to commemorate the more than 3,000 people who died in the Turkish invasion, which also drove tens of thousands of Greek Cypriots from their homes.

“Despite those who want us to forget, we will never forget, or yield an inch of land,” Christodoulides said, calling celebrations in the north “shameful”.

Efforts to reunify Cyprus as a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation have repeatedly failed amid deep-rooted mistrust and competing visions for the island’s future.

Before the invasion, clashes between Turkish and Greek Cypriots saw Turkish Cypriots withdraw from a power-sharing government and prompted the deployment of United Nations peacekeepers in 1964.

Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar said the invasion had brought “peace and tranquility” to the island following the “darkest years” for Turkish Cypriots.

“Their (Greek Cypriots) goal was to destroy the Turkish Cypriots,” he said in a video address posted on X.

The simmering conflict complicates Turkey’s ambitions to foster closer ties with the European Union, of which both Cyprus and Greece are members.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said last week the two sides would continue discussions on trust-building measures, warning that “there is a long road ahead”.