By Burcu Calik

ANKARA

Turkish Armed Forces on Friday marked the 44th anniversary of Turkey’s military operation conducted to protect northern Cyprus’s Turkish population.

Friday marks July 20 Peace and Freedom Day in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which commemorates Turkey’s ‘Cyprus Peace Operation’ -- a huge military intervention to protect Turkish Cypriots from inter-communal violence which struck the island in 1974.

In a Twitter post, the military wrote: “We commemorate our martyrs and veterans with mercy and gratitude on the 44th anniversary of Cyprus’s Happy Peace Operation.”

It also released a video showing the operation conducted 44 years ago.

Turkey's Foreign Affairs Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu took to Twitter to commemorate the martyrs.

"On the 44th anniversary of Cyprus Peace Operation, we remember our martyrs with respect and express gratitude to our veterans. We will always stand with the Turkish Cypriots," he wrote.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when a Greek Cypriot coup was followed by violence against the island's Turks and Ankara's intervention as a guarantor power.

The latest attempt to reunify the long-divided Mediterranean island ended in failure in 2017 after two years of negotiations.