Cyprus: The island the world forgot

At 6 a.m. on July 20, 1974, Turkish troops stormed into the Republic of Cyprus in accordance with Article III of the Treaty of Guarantee of the first constitution of 1960. This mandated each of the guaranteeing parties - Greece, Turkey and Great Britain - "to take action with the sole aim of re-establishing the state of affairs" if that were ever threatened. A few days earlier, the Greek junta had done just that by launching a coup with the explicit aim of annexing the island to Greece. This included assassinating the legitimate president, Archbishop Makarios III, and installing its own. The latter was achieved but Makarios managed to escape.

Turkey has always argued that as a guarantor, it was within its legal right to launch what it has for years insisted was a "peace mission." Also, that it was genuinely concerned about the fate of the island's Turkish minority - 18...