- Super-sub Jhon Duran rewarded with new Aston Villa deal
- US duo win Nobel for gene regulation breakthrough
- Masood hits first ton for four years to power Pakistan to 233-1
- Fritz wins delayed match to reach Shanghai Masters third round
- Naomi Osaka pulls out of Japan Open with back injury
- Weather may delay launch of mission to study deflected asteroid
- China to flesh out economic stimulus plans after bumper rally
- Artist Marina Abramovic hopes first China show offers tech respite
- Asian markets track Wall St rally on US jobs data
- Pakistan 122-1 at lunch in first England Test
- Kazakhs approve plan for first nuclear power plant
- World marks anniversary of Oct. 7 attack on Israel
- 'Second family': tennis stars hunt winning formula with new coaches
- Philippines, South Korea agree to deepen maritime cooperation
- Mexico mayor murdered days after taking office
- Sardinia's sheep farmers battle bluetongue as climate warms
- Japan govt admits doctoring 'untidy' cabinet photo
- Israel marks first anniversary of Hamas's October 7 attack
- Darvish tames Ohtani as Padres thrash Dodgers
- Asian markets track Wall St rally on jobs data
- Family affair as LeBron, Bronny James make Lakers bow
- Cancer, cardiovascular drugs tipped for Nobel as prize week opens
- As Great Salt Lake dries, Utah Republicans pardon Trump climate skepticism
- Amazon activist warns of 'critical situation' ahead of UN forum
- Mourners pay tribute to latest victims of deadly Channel crossing
- Tunisia incumbent Saied set to win presidential vote: exit polls
- Phillies win thriller to level Mets series
- Yu bags first PGA Tour win with playoff win
- PSG held by Nice to leave Monaco clear at top of Ligue 1
- AC Milan fall at Fiorentina after De Gea's penalty heroics
- Lewandowski treble for leaders Barca as Atletico held
- Fresh Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Sucic stunner earns Real Sociedad draw against Atletico
- PSG draw with Nice, fail to reclaim top spot in Ligue 1
- Gudmundsson downs AC Milan after De Gea's penalty heroics for Fiorentina
- 'Yes' vote prevails in Kazakhstan nuclear plant vote: TV
- 'Difficult day': Oct 7 commemorations begin with festival memorial
- Commemorations begin for anniversary of attack on Israel
- Lewandowski hat-trick powers Liga leaders Barca to Alaves victory
- 'Nothing gets in way of team,' says Celtics' MVP hopeful Tatum
- India maintain Pakistan stranglehold as Windies cruise at Women's T20 World Cup
- 'We will win!': Mozambique's ruling party confident at final vote rally
- Tunisia voting ends as Saied eyes re-election with critics behind bars
- Florida braces for Milton, FEMA head slams 'dangerous' Helene misinformation
- Postecoglou slams 'unacceptable' Spurs after 'terrible' loss at Brighton
- Marmoush double denies Bayern outright Bundesliga top spot
- Rallies worldwide call for Gaza, Lebanon ceasefire
- Maresca hails Chelsea's 'fighting' spirit after draw with 10-man Forest
- New 'Joker' film, a dark musical, tops N.America box office
- Man Utd stalemate keeps Ten Hag in danger, Spurs rocked by Brighton
Stark divide on show as Cyprus marks 50 years since Turkish invasion
Cyprus on Saturday marked 50 years since Turkish troops invaded the Mediterranean island, with comments from the Turkish and Cypriot leaders demonstrating the stark divide that remains.
The Greek-Cypriot president of Cyprus, who seeks a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation under a UN framework, said there was no other option but reunification.
But in an address at about the same time on the other side of a UN-patrolled buffer zone, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan rejected a federal solution and said he saw no point in continuing UN-led negotiations on the island's future.
As dawn broke in the internationally recognised south of the island, sirens wailed at 5:30 am (0230 GMT), the time that Operation Atilla began in 1974.
The invasion led to the conquering of one-third of Cyprus and displacement of about 40 percent of the population.
The buffer zone, where abandoned buildings crumble, cuts across the island with border controls separating Greek Cypriots in the south from Turkish Cypriots in the north.
The United Nations says around 40,000 Turkish soldiers also remain in the north.
Decades of UN-backed talks have failed to reunify the island, and the last round collapsed in 2017 after meetings in Crans-Montana, Switzerland.
"We believe that a federal solution is not possible in Cyprus. It is of no benefit to anyone to say let's continue negotiations where we left off in Switzerland years ago," Erdogan said in the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), which is only recognised by Ankara.
"The Turkish Cypriot side should sit at the table as equals with the Greek Cypriot side. We are ready to negotiate and achieve lasting peace and a solution," he said before watching a parade that included marching bands and armoured military vehicles.
Turkish and TRNC flags flew side-by-side.
- Tears flow, decades on -
On the other side of Nicosia, the world's last divided capital, President Nikos Christodoulides unveiled busts of officers killed in the fighting. He also laid a wreath at a war memorial where ceremonial gunfire sounded.
"Whatever Mr Erdogan and his representatives in the occupied areas do or say, Turkey, 50 years later, continues to be responsible for the violation of human rights of the entire Cypriot people and for the violation of international law," Christodoulides told reporters.
Decades on, fresh tears flowed for those who died during the invasion.
Under a hot sun at the war memorial, a mother clad in black cried over the tomb of her son. She ran her hand gently over a photo of the young man attached to a marble cross. Other women wiped their eyes nearby.
Greek flags waved on graves that stretched out in rows around them as mourners placed flowers and incense.
More than 750 Greek Cypriots and almost 200 Turkish Cypriots remain missing, says the bi-communal Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus which tries to find and return their remains to loved ones.
Before the anniversary, some Greek Cypriot veterans of the fight against the invasion told AFP they saw no hope for reunification.
"Perhaps, what was completely broken in 1974, cannot be fixed," the English-language Cyprus Mail newspaper wrote in an editorial Saturday.
"They probably consider reunification too big a risk to take," it said, and most people on both side "have no experience other than that of a divided country."
A United Nations envoy, Colombian diplomat Maria Angela Holguin, wrote in an open letter this month of a need to "move away" from past solutions and to "think differently".
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was set to visit Cyprus on Saturday evening to attend the commemorations alongside Christodoulides.
Mitsotakis in May visited Erdogan in Ankara, the latest sign of warming ties between the NATO neighbours.
- 'Long overdue' -
On the eve of the anniversary, Turkey's parliament adopted a resolution calling for an "end to the inhumane isolation imposed on Turkish Cypriots".
The European Union -- to which Cyprus belongs -- stressed the need for all parties to seek a peaceful resolution "on the basis of relevant UN Security Council resolutions."
Irfan Siddiq, Britain's high commissioner to Cyprus, said on social media platform X that, "Too many opportunities for re-unification have been missed."
In a similar vein, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in a report this month to the Security Council, said "resolution of the Cyprus issue is long overdue".
The invasion was triggered by a coup in Nicosia backed by the military junta in Athens and aimed at uniting Cyprus with Greece.
The treaty that granted Cyprus independence from Britain in 1960 banned union with Greece or Turkey as well as partition and made London, Athens and Ankara guarantors of Cyprus's independence, territorial integrity and security.
O.Norris--AMWN