TURKO CYPRIOT WAR
YEARS: 1974-1974 | DEATHS: 2000
The Turkish invasion of Cyprus, launched on 20 July 1974, was a Turkish military operation in response to a Greek military junta backed coup in Cyprus which had been staged by the Cypriot National Guard whose leaders deposed the Cypriot president and archbishop Makarios III and installed Nikos Sampson in his place. The Turkish invasion, codenamed Operation Atilla, took place in two stages and ended in August 1974, when Turkish troops occupied 37% of the island’s territory, which was followed by the establishment of the de facto Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus that only Turkey recognizes, in contradiction of the terms of the 1960 Treaty of Guarantee. Both the United States and NATO supported the idea of a Turkish military intervention. Intercommunal strife that preceded the invasion had brought Greece and Turkey, two NATO allies, to the brink of total war in a number of occasions between 1963 and 1974; the most serious clash was prevented through the last minute mediation of the U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson on June 5, 1964. The Greek side has traditionally blamed the U.S. administration of President Richard Nixon, and in particular Henry Kissinger, for supporting Turkey before and during the Turkish military invasion, following a decision by the U.S. National Security Council in May 1974 to bring an end to the Cyprus problem.
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