On July 20, 1974 Turkey invaded part of the island of Cyprus starting a civil war that is still going on today. This July 20, Cypriots commemorate and honor the more than 5000 dead and the division and loss of territories. Meanwhile, in the north of the island, Turkish Cypriots celebrate. 

Professor Charis Psaltis, professor of social psychology at the University of Cyprus and member of the Making Histories team, recalls in a note to EuroEFE «The Turkish invasion not only meant the complete geographical separation, but it was the beginning of the consolidation of a completely different daily life for the members of the two communities». And he recalled «how «any form of communication and contact» between the majority of Greek Cypriots and the minority of Turkish Cypriots was then truncated.

The event was a military attack by land and sea, called ‘operation Attila’. It was Turkey’s reaction to the coup d’état against the then Cypriot president, promoted by Greece to annex Cyprus.

According to Flora Alexandrou in the aforementioned EuroEFE article, «the Turkish army’s intervention was aimed at restoring the rights of the members of the Turkish Cypriot community – then 18% of the island’s population – in accordance with the 1960 Constitution, the year in which Cyprus gained independence from the United Kingdom».

However, heavy clashes began between the two communities, which led to the intervention of the UN Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP).