50 years after Cyprus split in two, celebrations and lamentations coincide

The tinny howl of air raid sirens echoed across ethnically divided Cyprus at the crack of dawn on Saturday, marking 50 years from the day that changed the island nation’s history. It’s heard every year as the Greek Cypriot controlled south laments the date Turkish troops invaded in the wake of a coup by supporters of union with Greece. In Cyprus’ northern third, Turkish Cypriots are celebrating what they see as salvation from the clutches of the Greek-speaking majority after years of armed conflict over the island’s fate. In the south, Greek Cypriots are lamenting a catastrophe that resulted in thousands of dead and missing and the displacement of a quarter of the Greek Cypriot population from the north.