NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — A rickety piano leans askew against a peeling apartment wall, dusty pots and pans sit on a stove that has seen much better days, and a book, its pages yellowed with time, lies open next to a rusty tin can; signs of homes that were once full of life but suddenly stand abandoned, as if frozen in time. Fifty years ago, Turkey invaded Cyprus — five days after supporters of unification with Greece staged a coup backed by the then-ruling Greek junta — dividing the eastern Mediterranean island nation along ethnic lines. Only Turkey recognizes a later Turkish Cypriot declaration of independence in the northern third of the island, where it has stationed more than 35,000 troops. The Associated Press was the only person granted access to the 110-mile-wide United Nations buffer zone, where troops have been stationed since 1974 to keep the peace between Turkish and Turkish Cypriot forces on one side and Greek Cypriot National Guards on the other. The scars of war are everywhere, from the bullet-riddled walls of homes and shops under fire from large-caliber rifles to the hastily constructed brick-and-mortar gun emplacements facing each other. Most eerie, though, is the way the heart of a capital city stops mid-beat as people run for their lives, leaving everything behind. The UN says tensions along the buffer zone are being exacerbated by the emergence of hundreds of new firing positions and cutting-edge surveillance technology with possible military use. Talks on the formation of a federation of Greek and Turkish-speaking zones have stalled since the last UN-backed attempt seven years ago, which followed many failed attempts. Now Turkey and Turkish Cypriot forces are distancing themselves from a federation and considering a two-state agreement, which the Greek Cypriots have flatly rejected. This threatens a renewed attempt by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to bring both sides back to the negotiating table.