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Cyprus marks 51 years since an invasion by Turkey in 1974, which led to the partition of the island nation that is still in place today.

On the morning of 20 July, 1974, sirens sounded across the island, signalling that the invasion was underway.

A month of fighting later, approximately 36% of Cypriot territory had fallen under Turkish military control, which still presently persists, making Cyprus the only European Union member state that is under occupation.

Turkish armed forces landed boots on the ground in Kyrenia, north of Cyprus, as Ankara’s air forces carried out an aerial assault campaign on several targets on the island, causing panic and leaving widespread devastation and misery in their wake.

The invasion led to the deaths of more than 3,000 people, mainly civilians. Residents, still shaken by the aftermath of a violent coup d’état just five days prior, watched in horror.

Turkey, however, continues to claim “Operation Attila” – the codename for its military operation – was not an invasion but a peaceful intervention aimed at restoring constitutional order and protecting the country’s Turkish Cypriot minority.

Several hundred people were killed in the coup on 15 July, 1974, which was staged by the Cypriot National Guard – backed by the Greek junta at the time – against forces loyal to Cyprus’ democratically elected government, led by the ethnically Greek Cypriot President Archbishop Makarios III.

Greek Cypriot nationalists aimed to overthrow Makarios and unite the Mediterranean island with Greece in a movement known as ‘Enosis’.

Makarios managed to flee Cyprus through Paphos and arrived in New York where he delivered a speech on 19 July, condemning the coup and denouncing the intention to unify his country with Greece.

By then, Ankara’s military preparations had already been put in place, and the invasion was carried out the following morning.

The Cypriot National Guard turned out to be unprepared, and as a result, Turkish soldiers were able to advance with relative ease. More than 40,000 soldiers, commanded by General Nuretin Ersin, took part in the monthlong invasion.

Units of the National Guard and Hellenic Force in Cyprus – Greek armed forces stationed in the country) were mobilised several hours after the invasion began, and fought without air cover and modern weaponry.

An estimated 12,000 soldiers fought to resist Turkish occupation under the command of Brigadier General Michalis Georgitsis, who was also a leading figure in the coup against Makarios days prior.

Meanwhile, Greek Cypriot men began to mobilise and participate in the defence of their land with everything they had, though many were reportedly not armed.

Those who were tried everything they could to fend off the incoming Turkish troops, even shooting from the roofs of their houses.

A truce that was reached between Cypriot and Turkish forces a few days later was ultimately temporary, as Turkey, at the time of the ceasefire, only held roughly 3% of the island.

In August, Ankara struck the final blow with “Operation Attila II”, the second phase of its military invasion, occuping large swathes of land on the island which it still holds today, in violation of multiple United Nations resolutions.

The UN and the European Commission of Human Rights have condemned Turkey multiple times for its illegal invasion of its neighbouring country, as well as the humanitarian disaster that ensued.

Approximately 200,000 Greek Cypriots, previously residing in the north of the island in what has since become the self-declared “Turkish Republic of North Cyprus” were uprooted from their homes and displaced to the south. Turkish Cypriots who lived in the south were forced to go the other way.

Only Turkey recognises the island’s breakaway state in northern Cyprus, where it maintains more than 35,000 troops.

While the Greek Cypriot-controlled Republic of Cyprus in the south is part of the European Union, EU law does not apply in the breakaway northern entity.

The Greek Cypriot side has also been condemned for atrocities against Turkish Cypriots, especially for the massacre of Maratha, Santalaris and Aloda during the second Turkish invasion in August.

More than 100 Turkish Cypriots were killed in attacks carried out by ultranationalist Greek Cypriot paramilitary group EOKA B.

Over 2,000 Cypriots are now considered missing as a result of the events in 1974, as well as unrest that took place in the 1960s. Around three quarters are Greek Cypriots, with the rest being Turkish Cypriot.

Diplomatic efforts to resolve the Cyprus issue in the past five decades have failed thus far. Talks that took place in New York last week concluded without resolving key disputes.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan insists that Ankara has a legitimate right to presence on the island, and has on previous occasions suggested a two-state solution for Cyprus, which many Cypriots reject.