TRNC President Ersin Tatar reacted to  the Greek Cypriot Administration acted as if “the sole owner of Cyprus”, while closing the airspace to Russian planes and publishing maps due to the Russia-Ukraine war, ignoring the sovereignty rights of the TRNC and the legal process regarding the forward line of Ercan Airport showed.

President Tatar made a statement to the Turkish Agency Cyprus (TAK) on the subject. Tatar said that since the TRNC uses the southern airspace of the Republic of Turkey, Southern Cyprus does not have the opportunity to control the TRNC airspace, and emphasized that since 1977, the land, air space, coasts and territorial waters within the borders of the TRNC are controlled by the TRNC and belong to the TRNC.

Stating that the TRNC is a sovereign state and has its own airspace, the President added: “We are aware that South Cyprus, along with other EU member states, have taken a decision to close their own airspace to Russian aircraft within the framework of sanctions being imposed on Russia, because of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. The authority and responsibility belong to the countries which make this decision. It is unacceptable, however, for the Greek Cypriot administration to include TRNC’s airspace in its decision and issue maps in respect of this.”

He said it was out of the question for the Greek Cypriot administration to take any decisions on behalf of the TRNC or its territory or airspace which is based on the sovereign equality rights and equal status gained in 1960.

“It is an unfruitful effort of the Greek Cypriot side which sees itself as the sole owner of the island to take such a decision to violate the TRNC’s sovereignty rights and to try to deceive the world,” President Tatar said.