Image via WikipediaThe Turkish invasion of Cyprus launched on July 20 1974, was a Turkish military invasion in response to a Greek military junta backed coup in Cyprus. It is known in Turkey as the Cyprus Peace Operation, Cyprus Operation or by its Turkish Armed Forces code name Operation Atilla.
The coup, staged by the Cypriot National Guard in conjunction with EOKA B, deposed the Cypriot president Archbishop Makarios III and installed Nikos Sampson in his place.
More than one quarter of the population of Cyprus was expelled from the occupied northern part of the island where Greek Cypriots constituted 80% of the population. There was also a flow of roughly 60,000 Turkish Cypriots from the south to the north after the conflict. The Turkish invasion ended in the partition of Cyprus along the UN-monitored Green Line which still divides Cyprus today. In 1983 the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) declared independence, although Turkey is the only country which recognises it.
In the neighborhoods of Nicosia, hard and bloody battles were fought. The Turkish push into the city succeeded in part due to the massive bombing of the city by the Turkish Air Force.
The chapel of the Holy Cross near the village of Lymbia. The cross has been removed from above the belfry and it is used as a military post and ammunition depot by the Turkish army.
There are thousands of Hellenes, like the girl in the picture, who are awaiting information and news about their missing beloved ones.