A statement by "Prime Minister" Faiz Suzhouoglu on the status of the illegal airport in occupied Tybos, is causing a reaction in the Turkish Cypriot community, with the former leader of the TCs referring to taking another step towards turning the occupied territories into a province of Turkey.
Faiz Suzhouoglu, as part of his recent visit to Turkey, met with the Vice President of Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), Binali Yildirim, who for many years served as Turkey's Minister of Transport.
According to reports in the Turkish press, in the meeting with Yildirim, Mr. Suzhouoglu raised "the issue of air tickets". The Turkish Cypriot website "Khamber Kibris" reported that Mr. Suzuoglu said that in the future the airport in Tympu could be included in the pricing of Turkey's domestic flight tickets.
The "Kimberly Postasi" titled "Serious process underway to include Ercan in [TURKEY'S] domestic flight regime" reports that the "Prime Minister" explained the rationale behind the statements while speaking to the private T/Q channel "Gents" and said that if we are to take some steps on some issues, I am not interested in whether they are of a diplomatic nature or not. I am interested in the money that comes out of the citizen's pocket. I cannot pay 2,000 (T.L.) for a destination where I could fly for 200. There is a lot to be done right after the elections.
The possibility of changing the status of the "airport" has been in the T/C news before. However, to date the "governments" have not taken any initiatives on this issue. It is also noteworthy that this is happening at a time when the construction of the new terminal of the "airport" continues.
The reactions
In a post on social media, the former T/C leader, Mousafa Akinci wondered whether it is possible for the T/Cs to rejoice over the transformation of the status of the Tympu airport into a category for domestic flights of Turkey and the realization of one more step towards the transformation of the occupied territories into a province of Turkey.
In the same vein, Republican Turkish Party (RTK) "deputy" Doyush Deria said that the airport is being turned into a provincial airport of Turkey. In a post she wrote that the new decision means that "the airport is being downgraded to Turkey's airport status. It also means that immigration controls on flights from Turkey will be abolished."
Former "transport minister"
According to T/C reports, former "transport minister" Tolga Atakan also took a stand on the whole issue, saying that flights from Turkey cannot be categorized as "internal". Obviously, there is a confusion of concepts, a misplacement by mouths that do not know the issue," he added.
Atakan considers the idea of pricing flights to the pseudo-state as internal flights of Turkey unfeasible because of the peculiar regime under which Turkish airports operate.
"Will there be a subsidy agreement between the two states? Will the resulting price difference be covered? On which routes is the implementation [OF THE NEW REGIME] planned?" asked Atakan, who hinted that the specific questions so far remain unanswered.
Source: CNA
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