Minister of Communications and Works Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis has protested strongly to the EU and international organizations the restrictive measures which Turkey applies against Cypriot aircraft.
The protest letter she sent was addressed to the EU Commissioner responsible for Transport Siim Kallas, the General Director of EUROCONTROL David McMillan, the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and her EU counterparts.
Turkey, whose troops occupy Cyprus northern areas, does not recognise the Republic of Cyprus. Ankara, in spite of repeated calls from Brussels, refuses to open its air space to Cypriot aircraft, an obligation it has to meet as part of its accession negotiation course. This refusal forces the national carrier, Cyprus Airways and Eurocypria, a chartered airline, to avoid Turkish air space and fly over Greece by necessity, often making a detour which adds flying time to various destinations, such as Moscow.
Marcoullis asked the European Commissioner to decisively intervene to rectify this illegal and unacceptable situation, in line with European and international law.
This violation, the Minister points out, continues, despite the fact that accession negotiations between Turkey and EU are underway and in spite of the recent aviation agreement between Turkey and Brussels. In the letter, Marcoullis said that European air space faced another problem caused by the air-traffic controllers` ``work to rule`` strike in Greece. This strike, she noted, caused delays on the flight schedule of several airlines, which however, had the opportunity to change their schedule and avoid the Greek air space.
This was possible for all EU member states, except one, Cyprus, she pointed out. Cyprus was the only member state that could not avoid Greek air space, because it cannot use the Turkish air space as a result of the illegal prohibition that Turkey has imposed on all Cypriot airlines, she stressed in the letter.
The Turkish prohibition caused significant losses to the two airlines, Cyprus Airways and Eurocypria, due to the cancellation of flights and delays. In the case of Cyprus Airways, the losses reached half a million euro daily. Marcoullis also stressed to Kallas that the Turkish embargo violates the fundamental principles of the EU on transport, and especially the principle of equality on competition, the right to use the shortest route for safety, economic and environmental reasons.
