As Cyprus marks 50th anniversary of Turkish invasion, Cypriot leader urges to reunify island
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00:00The date of the 20th of July is carved in the memories of people across Cyprus,
00:07for some it's in celebration, for others a day of mourning.
00:12On this day in 1974, the Mediterranean island was woken by bombs.
00:20Turkey had invaded northern Cyprus, a place long populated by both Turks and Greeks.
00:26It was in response to an attempted coup by Greek nationalists five days earlier.
00:31200,000 people fled to the south.
00:35Since then, the island has been partitioned.
00:37In the north, the self-proclaimed breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus,
00:42under international embargo and recognised only by Turkey.
00:45In the south, the internationally recognised Republic of Cyprus,
00:49a member of the European Union.
00:52They're separated by a buffer zone, the Green Line, overseen by UN peacekeepers.
00:58Over the years, the two sides have engaged in dozens of rounds of UN-brokered talks,
01:02but nothing has come from them.
01:05The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus advocates a two-state solution.
01:10The Turkish Cypriot state in the north will be a bridge between Turkey and the European Union.
01:17At least they should give the Turkish Cypriots their sovereignty.
01:20For the Republic of Cyprus, that's unthinkable.
01:23It wants to work towards reunification.
01:28We have not completed our mission.
01:31Our mission is liberation, reunification and the resolution of the Cyprus problem.
01:39That problem runs deep.
01:40The divisions are political, geographic, cultural and economic.
01:44Even the capital city, Nicosia, is split in two.
01:48And five decades after it began,
01:50efforts to resolve this long-running conflict are at stalemate.