(Corrects first bullet point to change “Southern” to “southern”.)
NICOSIA, July 20 (Reuters) – Cyprus marked the 52-year anniversary of Turkey’s 1974 invasion on Monday as the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities prepared for a renewed effort from the United Nations to break years of deadlock in peace talks.
• Air raid sirens sounded over the southern Greek Cypriot government-controlled areas of Cyprus on Monday morning to commemorate the hour Turkish forces landed in 1974, days after a short-lived Greek-inspired coup.
• Military celebrations were planned on Monday in the Turkish Cypriot north, a breakaway state recognised only by Ankara.
• U.N Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will visit from July 27 to 29 in an attempt to revive a peace process that has produced no substantive negotiations for years.
• “We hope the conditions will be created for the resumption of negotiations,” Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides said.
• Peace efforts are hampered by disagreement over its intended outcome. Greek Cypriots seek reunification as a federation, while Turkey and the Turkish Cypriot leadership seek two sovereign states.
• The dispute is a source of tension between NATO partners Greece and Turkey, and is an obstacle to Ankara’s ambitions of joining the European Union, of which Cyprus has been a member since 2004.
• The 1974 invasion followed years of intercommunal friction and violence shortly after Cyprus won independence from Britain. Turkey describes the invasion as a ‘peace operation’ undertaken to protect Turkish Cypriots.
(Writing by Michele Kambas; Editor Neil Fullick)
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