Bloody Christmas (1963) and Erenköy (1964)

On the night of 20–21 December 1963 armed clashes broke out between the Turkish and Greek Cypriot communities — Turkish Cypriots call it "Bloody Christmas" — and violence flared intermittently until August 1964.

Over the whole conflict 364 Turkish Cypriots and 174 Greek Cypriots were killed, and some 25,000 Turkish Cypriots from 104 villages — a quarter of the community — left their homes. Turkish Cypriots were forced to live in enclaves and were in effect excluded from the government.

In August 1964 fighting broke out at Erenköy (Kokkina) in the north-west between Turkish Cypriot fighters and the Cypriot National Guard, remembered by Turkish Cypriots as the "Erenköy Resistance". Each year 21–25 December is observed in Northern Cyprus as the Week of National Struggle and Martyrs.