A giant Turkish flag on the facade of the new terminal of Ercan airport, on the outskirts of Nicosia, on July 21, 2023 in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) (AFP/Archives/Birol BEBEK)
Isolated for almost half a century, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) has just inaugurated a half-billion dollar airport terminal and dreams of welcoming international flights, despite a situation inextricable policy on the Mediterranean island, which limits its connections to Turkey.
Cyprus has been divided by a demarcation line controlled by the UN since the invasion of the northern third of the island by the Turkish army in 1974 in reaction to a coup d’etat by Cypriot-Greek nationalists who wanted to attach the country to Greece. The TRNC, self-proclaimed and recognized by Turkey alone, is inhabited by Turkish-Cypriots and Turkish settlers, while the Republic of Cyprus, a member of the European Union, is populated by Greek-Cypriots in the southern part.
The new terminal at Ercan Airport, on the outskirts of Nicosia, on July 21, 2023 in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) (AFP/Archives/Birol BEBEK)
The airspace is also cut in two. The RTCN, not recognized by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), controls the northern part of the Nicosia Flight Information Region (FIR) and part of the Flight Information Region (FIR) Ankara on the southern coast of Turkey, told AFP the director of civil aviation of the TRNC, Moustafa Sofi.
The only airliners serving Ercan, an airport located on the outskirts of the occupied part of Nicosia and “not recognized by the international aeronautical community”, remind AFP of the officials of the direction of the Turkey. civil aviation of the Republic of Cyprus. This only controls the airspace in the south of the island.
– “Important step” –
Despite the international embargo, Northern Cyprus benefits from trade with the south of the island — nine crossing points — and from tourists attracted by the beaches with turquoise waters and historic sites, at rather attractive prices due in particular to the fall of the Turkish lira, the currency of the TRNC which also accepts euros, dollars and pounds sterling.
The duty-free shopping area of the new terminal at Ercan Airport, on the outskirts of Nicosia, on July 21, 2023 in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) (AFP/Archives/Birol BEBEK)
The new Ercan terminal, six times larger than the old one now closed, “constitutes an important step for our country, which will bring tourism and economic development to an even higher level”, assured local media the Minister of Tourism, Fikri Ataoglu.
Tourism is crucial for the RTCN, and the consequent investment: “about 450 million euros” for a new runway and the new terminal that can accommodate 10 million passengers annually (four million in recent years), underlines Mr. Sofi. A level comparable to the two airports in the south of the island, in Larnaca and Paphos (9.2 million passengers in 2022).
The Ercan terminal was inaugurated at the end of July in the presence of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In the departures hall of this large modern building with a duty free area but where several developments still need to be done, only cities in Turkey served by Turkish companies appear on the boards.
TRNC Transport Minister Erhan Arikli hopes for international flights within “a year and a half or two years”, he told AFP.
– “Frankfurt, Paris, London” –
But in the eyes of Stefan Talmon, professor at the University of Bonn and specialist in Cyprus, “there cannot be direct international flights to Ercan airport as long as the international community considers that there are only one state of Cyprus and that it recognizes the Greek-Cypriot government as the government of all of Cyprus,” he told AFP.
Travelers go through security checks at the new terminal at Ercan Airport, on the outskirts of Nicosia, on July 21, 2023 in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) (AFP/Archives/Birol BEBEK)
This question had been decided “in 2009 and 2010 by British courts seized by a Cypriot-Turkish airline which asked the British government to authorize direct flights between London and Ercan airport”, adds Mr. Talmon.
The request was rejected on the grounds that “there cannot be direct flights until the Greek-Cypriot government (which does not recognize the TRNC, editor’s note) designates Ercan as an international airport”, in accordance with the Chicago Convention on international civil aviation, which must be respected by the airlines, failing which they expose themselves to heavy penalties, he said.
What the TRNC is looking for above all, he adds, are “direct flights from Frankfurt, Paris or London”, which would allow tourists to “get to northern Cyprus more quickly and more economically than by making the detour via Turkey or southern Cyprus”.
But for Mr. Talmon, “without a political solution to the Cyprus question”, whose negotiations on the reunification of the island have been stalled since 2017, “direct flights are not possible”.
© 2023 AFP
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