It has now been almost 50 years since the Turkish army invaded Cyprus, occupying and ethnically cleansing a third of the country. Turkish justification that their invasion was necessary to protect Turkish Cypriots rings hollow for three reasons.

First, the Greek junta in Athens fell within days, ending any threat Turkish Cypriots might have felt. Second, Turkey’s land grab occurred after the crisis had passed while Turkey, Greece, the United Kingdom, and both Cypriot Greeks and Cypriot Turks negotiated peace in Geneva. Third, Turkey subsequently flooded the occupied zone with Turkish settlers from Anatolia, essentially making Turkish Cypriots a minority twice over in their own land.