Turkey’s refusal to cooperate with the EU and international aviation organizations causes concern about air safety to the Cypriot government and Brussels, according to the CEO of the Flight Safety Foundation SE Europe/Middle East/Cyprus (FSF-SEC) Christos Petrou.
As he explained to CNA, there is a lack of communication between Nicosia and Ankara air-traffic control centres and interference in flights using Nicosia FIR by the illegal air traffic control centre in Cyprus’ northern Turkish occupied areas. Petrou assured however that Cypriot air traffic controllers, with long experience and expertise, are fully capable of dealing with the situation.

Turkey, whose troops occupy Cyprus’ northern areas since they invaded in 1974, does not recognize the Republic of Cyprus, an EU member state since May 2004, and refuses point blank to have anything to do with the Republic.

Invited to comment on press reports concerning confidential reports by international aviation authorities which warn of a “high risk of accident” in Cyprus’ airspace, Petrou said that this is a long-standing issue, noting that while international and European civil aviation organizations have tried to solve it, this was not possible due to the stance adopted by Turkey, which seeks recognition of the illegal air-traffic control centre in Cyprus’ occupied areas. At the same time, Petrou assured that Cypriot air-traffic controllers are experienced and are in control of the situation, adding however that those dealing with air transport, the EU, Eurocontrol and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) are concerned about air safety.

He said that Ankara has turned down recent initiatives to find a “technical” solution to this problem which would enable communication between Nicosia and Ankara air-traffic control centres with Eurocontrol acting as mediator, without violating international law. Petrou added that according to the International Federation of Air Line Pilots’ Associations (IFALPA) in 2010, 950 incidents of violating air traffic rules in Nicosia FIR were recorded. He said that the Air Transport Association (IATA) is aware of this issue and the EU is aware of the number of these incidents.