NICOSIA, Cyprus: The self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, isolated for nearly half a century, has just opened a half-billion-dollar airport terminal in hopes of boosting tourism.
Only Ankara recognizes the statehood of the TRNC, whose only source of flights is Turkiye, but the new terminal has left it dreaming of international connections.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded the eastern Mediterranean island in response to a Greek-backed coup.
The northern third is inhabited by Turkish Cypriots, Turkish colonists and the military, while the internationally recognized south is dominated by Greek Cypriots. United Nations peacekeepers patrol the buffer zone that divides the two parts of the sun-drenched resort. Its airspace is also divided.
The International Civil Aviation Organization, the UN agency that coordinates standards in the sector, does not recognize the TRNC.
Mustafa Sofi, director of civil aviation in the north, said it controls the northern part of the Nicosia Flight Information Region (FIR) as well as the Ankara FIR under a “special arrangement” totalling 92,500 square kilometers (35,714 sq mi).
Ercan Airport and its new terminal on the boundaries of northern Nicosia are “not recognized by the international aviation community” as per UN resolutions, officials from the Republic of Cyprus’ Civil Aviation Ministry said.
The officials, who declined to be identified, said there was not even indirect communication with Ankara FIR because Turkiye “cut the direct telephone line” after the invasion.
The Republic controls the airspace only over the southern part of the island, whose international airport inside the buffer zone in Nicosia is dilapidated and unusable since the invasion.
Larnaca hosts the main airport in the south, where planes with tourists land along the popular beach in the European Union member state.
Despite the international embargo, the TRNC is in contact with the South.
There are nine crossings for vehicles and pedestrians. Trade across the demarcation line is increasing, according to the UN. The turquoise waters of the north, historic sites and attractive prices thanks to the sinking value of the Turkish lira help attract tourists.
Ercan’s new facility is six times larger than the now-closed terminal and “is an important step for our country that will take tourism and economic development to a higher level,” Nordic Tourism Minister Fikri Ataoglu told local media.
Tourism provides a crucial source of income for the north, whose economy depends on support from Ankara and, like Turkey, suffers from soaring inflation.
Ercan’s new terminal and runway cost about 450 million euros ($485 million), Sofi said, and the airport could handle 10 million passengers a year.
“The capacity of the old terminal was 1.5 million, but we did four million,” he said.
The 10 million figure would be roughly equivalent to what Larnaca and the second international airport south of Paphos handled in 2022. Their traffic last year was 9.2 million, according to official figures.
Turkish President-elect Recep Tayyip Erdogan attended the opening of the spacious, modern Ercan terminal last month.
The departure hall, where some work remains to be completed, offers duty-free shopping, but the information screens only show flights to Turkish cities by Turkish carriers.
Erhan Arikli, the north’s public works and transport minister, told news agency he hoped international connections would start in “one and a half to two years”.
That will not happen until a political solution to the division of Cyprus is found, said Stefan Talmon, a professor at the University of Bonn who has studied the Cyprus conflict for decades.
UN-sponsored peace talks have not been held for six years, and in July report UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said “time is working against a mutually acceptable political settlement in Cyprus”.
The Republic of Cyprus is seeking a bizonal, bicommunal federation solution in line with UN resolutions, but the TRNC insists on what it calls “sovereign equality and equal international status”.
This month saw the most serious incident of its kind in years, with the United Nations accusing Turkish Cypriot forces of attacking peacekeepers and damaging UN vehicles as they tried to block the construction of an “unauthorized” road in the buffer zone.
“What northern Cyprus is not looking for is not direct flights from anywhere, but direct flights from Frankfurt, Paris or London,” which would allow cheaper and easier tourist access to the north, said Talmon, a specialist in international law.
But until the international community “recognizes the Greek Cypriot government in the south as the government of all Cyprus, there can be no direct international flights to Ercan Airport,” Talmon said.
“The legal situation has not changed in the last 50 years. One cannot fly to Northern Cyprus without violating international law.’
