Military history of the Republic of Turkey in foreign relations and join NATO on February 18, 1952. Following NATO membership, Turkey initiated a comprehensive modernization program for its Armed Forces. In July 1974, the Turkish Armed Forces intervened against a coup in Cyprus, organized by EOKA-B and led by Nikos Sampson who ousted the democratically elected Cypriot President Archbishop Makarios III in order to establish Enosis (Union) between Greece and Cyprus. The coup was backed by the Greek military junta in Athens. On 20 July 1974 the Turkish Army invaded the island from the north, landing in Pente Mili beach, near Keryneia. The operations (named Attila I
Cyprus–Greece relations Cyprus–Greece relations Cypriot–Greek relations are the foreign relations between Cyprus and Greece. Cyprus has an embassy in Athens and a consulate-general in Thessaloniki. Greece has an embassy in Nicosia. Both countries are full members of the European Union, Council of Europe and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). Relations between the two countries have been exceptionally close since antiquity. The Greek Cypriot majority in Cyprus and the ethnic Greek population of Greece share a common ethnicity, heritage, language, and religion, leading to an exceptionally close relationship between the two countries. Traditionally, Greece has been the major export