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STORY: :: This deserted airport in Cyprus is frozen in time

:: Nicosia, Cyprus

:: The Nicosia International Airport has been shut

since Turkey's invasion of Cyprus 50 years ago

:: in response to a military coup by Greece

:: Aleem Siddique, U.N. spokesperson

"This airport has been closed since 1974, when we saw some of the most heaviest fighting between the sides, and it was in 1974 that the United Nations force commander at the time declared the area around the airport a U.N. protected area and it has remained under the control of the United Nations ever since."

Built in 1968, this airport was the theatre of some of the fiercest battles between Greek Cypriot troops and an invading Turkish army in 1974, prompting the United Nations to take control of the area in a ceasefire.

July 20 marks 50 years since Turkey invaded Cyprus in response to a brief coup orchestrated by the military then ruling Greece. Greek Cypriots live in Cyprus' south, and Turkish Cypriots in its north, separated by a U.N. controlled ceasefire line cleaving the island east to west. Reunification talks have failed to yield any result.

Nicosia airport, a so-called United Nations protected area that falls within a U.N. buffer zone, is also off bounds for safety reasons and the air terminal has been bolted shut for decades.