TIMELINE - Key events in Cyprus

(Reuters) - Leaders of Cyprus' estranged Greek and Turkish communities launched talks on Wednesday to reunite the island.

Following is a chronology of key events in Cypriot history since independence:

1960 - Britain grants independence to Cyprus under a power-sharing constitution between Turkish and Greek Cypriots.

1964 - Power sharing crumbles amid fighting; government formed without Turkish Cypriots and recognised worldwide as only legitimate authority on island. U.N. peacekeeping force (UNFICYP) established.

1974 - Military junta in Greece backs July coup against President Archbishop Makarios. Five days later Turkish troops invade Cyprus.

-- Turkey and Greece come close to war. The coup quickly collapses as does the Athens junta. Turkish forces occupy the northern third of the island.

1983 - Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash declares a breakaway state in northern Cyprus. Only Turkey recognises it.

1989 - U.N. brokers agreement with Greek and Turkish Cypriot sides for partial military disengagement of sentry posts in Nicosia and its suburbs where the two were near each other.

2002 - U.N. presents a peace plan for Cyprus calling for broad power-sharing and a return of territory to Greek Cypriots.