Cyprus marks 52 years of occupation

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.