The Turkish army originally invaded and only took 3% of the island. There were then peace negotiations. Why did the Republic allow peace negotiations to break down, unless that is my misconception, considering the relative military imbalance? The Turkish army eventually took 36% of the island including Famagusta
Clerides (President of the parliament and sitting president at the time) explained in an interview that they didn't want to legalize the invasion or the presence of the turkish army and they didn't want to agree in a federal solution that legalized the geographic partition of the island . Although the turkish army was constantly breaking the ceasefire line of July 23th, they didn't believe that a second big attack was coming.