NICOSIA – Hoping to lure tourists and establish itself despite being a rogue state no country apart from Turkey recognizes, a self-declared Turkish-Cypriot republic on the divided island has opened a $486.4 million terminal on the occupied north.

That area has been isolated since unlawful 1974 Turkish invasions seized one-third of the island, the Greek-Cypriot side a prosperous member of the European Union that Turkey has been trying to join since 2005.

The only source of flights on the occupied side has been Turkey but a report from the combined Agence France-Presse (AFP) and Japanese news site Jiji said the new terminal was opened in a bid to draw international flights.

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/08/28/world/politics/new-cyprus-airport-tourism-dreams/

There’s a big problem. The International Civil Aviation Organization, a United Nations agency that coordinates standards in the sector, does not recognise the occupied side, making it a pariah.

Mustafa Sofi, the north’s director of civil aviation, said it controls the northern part of the Nicosia Flight Information Region (FIR), as well as Ankara FIR under “special arrangement” some 92,500 square kilometers (35,714 square miles).

Ercan Airport and its new terminal, on the edge of north Nicosia, is “not recognized by the international aviation community” in accordance with UN resolutions, officials from Cyprus’ Department of Civil Aviation told AFP.

They didn’t want to be named but said there is not even indirect communication with Ankara FIR since Turkey “cut the direct telephone line” after the invasion, leaving it stranded.

Larnaca hosts the main airport in the south’s legitimate government, where aircraft bringing tourists land alongside a popular beach, 2023 seen as being a record year with the COVID-19 pandemic just about forgotten now.

There is interest in visiting the occupied side that is economically disadvantaged and relies on Turkey for aid, with hardline Turkish-Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar rejecting the long-held idea of reunification in demanding recognition instead.

Visitors can cross over a dividing line in the capital Nicosia and across the island at designated points and some work on either side and otherwise are at peace despite the warring words of politicians on the Turkish-Cypriot side.

Ercan’s new terminal is six times larger that what it replaced and “an important step for our country which is going to bring touristic and economic development to a higher level “the self-proclaimed tourism chief Fikri Ataoglu said.

Soffit said the new terminal and runway could handle 10 million passengers annually. “The capacity of the old terminal was 1.5 million but we’ve done four million,” he said.

The 10 million figure would be roughly equal to what Larnaca and the south’s second international airport at Paphos handled in 2022. Their traffic totalled 9.2 million last year, according to official figures, the new report said.

Re-elected Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan attended the official opening of the spacious, modern Ercan terminal last month although some work remained to be done in the departure hall.

That features duty-free shopping but the information screens show flights only to Turkish cities, by Turkish carriers leaving it unclear whether it would be a white elephant still unaccepted for international travel.

Erhan Arikli, the north’s self-declared minister of public works and transport, told AFP he hopes international connections will begin in “one-and-a-half to two years,” but it wasn’t said how that would be accomplished for a territory no other country in the world recognizes as legitimate and only Turkish aircraft allowed.