Morning sirens trigger memories of 1974

Emergency sirens sounded all over the island on Monday morning to mark the anniversary of a military coup in 1974.

Sirens in the Republic of Cyprus were heard briefly starting at 8:20am, marking the exact time when military tanks rolled out in the streets 45 years ago in a brief military coup engineered by Athens. The codename for the operation was “Alexander has gone to the hospital.”

A similar alarm will sound on July 20 at 5:20am, marking the moment that the Turkish military invaded the island in response to the coup.

The civil defense siren system is primarily designed to warn local authorities of a natural or man-made disaster, including armed conflict, technical failures, terrorism, and earthquakes.

While the alerts are primarily directed to civil defence officers and volunteers, the system also targets the general public with additional capabilities of broadcasting voice messages through loud speakers.

The alarm lasted only a few brief moments.