Walking the line: former peacekeepers remember the day war erupted in Cyprus

Fifty years ago today, the sight of parachutes drifting in the sky north of Nicosia first alerted a young Canadian Airborne captain, Alain Forand, that a feared Turkish invasion of Cyprus was underway.

Forand had been called to a dawn meeting with his commanding officer. «And at 5:00, as we were talking, somebody said, 'Hey, parachutes.' They were dropping down in between Kyrenia and Nicosia, in the plain that was under Turkish control,» he said.

«We saw maybe a dozen parachutes, just floating down. And then the shelling from the Navy supporting the Turkish invasion started at about the same time.»

The 400 members of the Canadian Airborne Regiment stationed in Cyprus learned that Turkish forces already had established a beachhead following an amphibious landing on Pentemilli (Five Mile Beach) near Kyrenia, and were rapidly disembarking men and vehicles without any real opposition.

Greek-Cypriot forces then realized their island was under airborne and amphibious assault by thousands of Turkish regulars, said Forand.

«Then the firing started all over the place,» he said.

About 120 unlucky Turkish paratroopers landed directly on top of a Greek Army unit; most were killed or wounded immediately. That encounter would be one of relatively few Greek victories in what ultimately would turn into a rout at the hands of superior Turkish forces.

Other Turkish troops were able to land without resistance and were met on the ground only by relieved local Turkish-Cypriots and a British television reporter.

On that day — July 20, 1974 — a war that Canadian peacekeepers had spent ten years trying to prevent finally got underway. Over the next few days, Canadian paratroopers would find themselves in the thick of it.

A divided island

Forand was no