Each Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will attend occasions on the island, which is split between celebrations within the north and memorials within the south.
Air raid sirens stuffed the air throughout Cyprus this morning because the divided island marks 50 years because the Turkish invasion of 1974.
Within the north, Turkish Cypriots are celebrating what they see as salvation from the clutches of the Greek-speaking majority after years of armed battle over the island’s destiny.
It is also a celebration of the institution of their breakaway state, which continues to be recognised solely by Türkiye. The nation nonetheless maintains greater than 35,000 troops there.
Türkiye’s President Tayyip Erdogan is presiding over ‘golden jubilee’ occasions, which embody a navy parade, a go to by Turkey’s first plane service, and an air present.
However for Greek Cypriots within the south, the place the internationally recognised authorities is seated, it is a day of sorrow. Commemorations are going down to recollect 1000’s left lifeless or lacking by the battle.
Occasions embody the revealing of memorials to fallen troopers, church providers and a gathering on the Presidential Palace addressed, for the primary time, by a Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
Cyprus stays divided
Cyprus was cut up in two after Ankara invaded the island in July 1974, following a coup by the Greek navy junta which toppled the reputable Cyprus authorities.
A UN buffer zone has is in place alongside the partition and to this point in 2024, there’s been a 70% enhance in breaches on the UN buffer zone in comparison with a yr in the past.
That is primarily because of building from each side contained in the impartial territory.
In 2023, there was a 60% rise in such violations.
There have been quite a few failed rounds of United Nations-brokered talks to reunify the island as a federation of Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot zones.
Nonetheless, there was a concerted effort in latest months to resume negotiations, with the UN Secretary Basic António Guterres appointing a Private Envoy to Cyprus in January.
However a key impediment stays. Whereas the Greek Cypriot aspect nonetheless sees bizonal, bicommunal federation as the one viable resolution, Turkish Cypriots need to talk about a two-state resolution.
UN Secretary-Basic Antonio Guterres is now mulling whether or not to name for an additional spherical of talks.
He’ll base his choice on a confidential report his private envoy, Colombia’s Maria Angela Holguin Cuellar, drafted after spending six months scoping each side out.
The European Union, which Cyprus joined in 2004, urged each side to indicate “real dedication” to a peace deal consistent with the UN-endorsed plan for a federated island.
“An excessive amount of time has been misplaced,” an EU spokesperson stated. “A compelled division can by no means be an answer. Hope for a greater future, a united Cyprus, nonetheless exists.”
