violence between the island s greek and turkish communities followed. when greek nationalists tried to unite cyprus with mainland greece in one thousand nine hundred seventy four turkey invaded and captured land in the north. today the two halves of the island a still separated turkish northern cyprus is recognized only by turkey the republic of cyprus and the island south is an e.u. member state protected un buffer zone keeps them apart greece and turkey are also at loggerheads over the aegean sea located between the two countries they ve been contesting sovereignty and other rights in the area since the one nine hundred seventy s. tensions have run so high since then that the dispute has twice almost led to the outbreak of military hostilities. the migration