Chapter 09 - The 1974 coup and the Turkish invasion

Abstract

The 1974 coup and the two-part Turkish invasion that followed it are probably the two most important events in the post-independence history of Cyprus. Traumatic as they are, they serve as the cause of a radical reorientation of the Greek-Cypriot political life and the gradual creation of a party system that, in its general outline, has endured well into the 21st century. The two events are also the beginning of a long struggle for the formulation of a new solution to the Cyprus problem and are followed by a most remarkable and highly successful effort at economic reconstruction that has brought Cyprus “from rags to riches” and into the EU, within three decades of a major military, social and economic disaster.