The Turkish invasion of Cyprus (Turkish:Kıbrıs Barış Harekatı - Cyprus Peace Operation) is the Turkish military action starting on July 20, 1974 following a coup by the Cypriot National Guard against the Makarios III, President of Cyprus with purported aim to save the Turkish Cypriots from the EOKA organization and restore constitutional order.Though Turkey had consistently refused to recognize Makarios or his Government as legitimate, it claimed that under the provisions of the 1960 Treaty of Guarantee which provided that Greece, Turkey and United Kingdom would ensure the independence and sovereignty of the Republic of Cyprus, it had the right to take unilateral military action purportedly to restore constitutional order. No international body or organ has recognised this position.Today, Turkey states that in 1963 the Republic of Cyprus had collapsed, however claims that the Treaty of Guarantee of 1960, gave her the right to intervene as a guaranteeing power in 1974. Article Four of the Treaty of Guarantee states that: "each of the three guaranteeing Powers reserves the right to take action with the sole aim of re-establishing the state of affairs created by the present Treaty.” Article Four of the Treaty of Guarantee refers to the right of intervention, however it does not refer to military intervention because according to the United Nations Charter, no state has the right to intervene militarily in another state without the consent of the UN Security Council.The Cyprus Government has always supported the above position and called upon Turkey, which doubted it, to recourse, together with Cyprus, to the International Court of Justice at The Hague for a decision on whether Turkey legally invaded Cyprus. Turkey, however, refuses to do so.Turkey invaded Cyprus in two waves on the 20 July and 14 August occupying 37% of the island's territory contrary to a series of UN Security Council and UN General Assembly resolutions demanding the end of all military action in Cyprus and the removal of the Turkish army from the island.After the first wave of the invasion constitutional order in Cyprus was restored with Glafkos Klerides, the leader of Cyprus Parliament taking over as interim president until the return of Makarios III. The Turkish military, however, continued with the second wave.The result of the invasion was the creation of an internationally unrecognized Turkish Cypriot breakaway state in the areas under Turkish occupation and the displacement of over 160,000 Greek Cypriots who made up the majority of the population of these areas. The invasion also led to the displacement of about 50,000 Turkish Cypriots who left the areas under the control of the Republic of Cyprus moved to the areas under Turkish military control and settled in the homes and properties left behind by the Greek Cypriots. Many of them did so clandestinely, defying a Cyprus Government imposed ban which aimed at preventing the separation of the Cypriot population along ethnic lines.Today, although Turkish Cypriots have full free movement and settlement rights throughout the island as citizens of the Republic of Cyprus, Greek Cypriots are still being prevented from returning to their homes and properties in the Turkish occupied areas.