NICOSIA 0 In what was seen as a rebuke to Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades calling for renewed reunification talks, the self-declared republic in the Turkish-Cypriot occupied northern third of the island opened an airport for  travel with Turkey.

No other country in the world besides Turkey recognizes the occupied territory that was seized in two unlawful invasions in 1974, and where Turkey keeps a 35,000-strong standing army.

The Cypriot newspaper and news site Philenews said that the Tymbou (Ercan) Airport was opened to travelers from Turkey after Turkish-Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar rejected Anastasiades’ idea to have it opened as an international site under the jurisdiction of the United Nations.

The hard-line nationalist Tatar, who ousted moderate leader Mustafa Akinci in October, 2020 elections, said he doesn’t want reunification, demanding that the UN and world accept the occupied land as a government.