‘Turkey’s actions an obstacle to flight safety’ for Cyprus

Turkey’s illegal actions in Nicosia flight information region (FIR) prevent the smooth functioning of air traffic and put obstacles in Cyprus’ genuine effort to safeguard flight safety, permanent secretary of the ministry of transport Yiannis Nicolaides has said.

He was addressing the international conference on “Air Transport: Challenges and Future Perspectives”, co-organised by the Mediterranean Flight Safety Foundation (FSF – MED) in collaboration with the Cyprus-based European Federation of Aviation Training Organisations (EATEO) and with the support of the ministry of transport, communications and works.

The permanent secretary pledged that the Cypriot authorities do their utmost to maintain high safety levels within the Cyprus FIR, yet those actions by Turkey give rise to potential safety risks. He therefore urged participants to exert influence to convince Turkey to change its attitude.

He reiterated that “we will never get tired and we will continue to ask for cooperation with Turkish authorities, as we had repeatedly done in the past and as we did recently, so that we establish the necessary communication”.

Nicolaides explained that the Nicosia FIR was established in 1958, at the 4th ICAO regional meeting and it comprises the airspace over the territory and territorial waters of the Republic of Cyprus and the surrounding airspace over the high seas in Eastern Mediterranean.

In 1974, he added, following the Turkish invasion and subsequent occupation of the northern part of the island, Turkey demanded that all aircraft flying in the northern part of Nicosia FIR establish radio contact with Ankara Area Control Center. Furthermore in 1977 Turkey proclaimed the establishment of the so called “Advisory Airspace”, within Nicosia FIR, he said.

The permanent secretary stressed that the international aviation community, in conformity with the United Nations Resolutions contempt the illegality.

Since then, he continued, Turkey refuses to cooperate with the authorities of the Republic of Cyprus which is the department of the civil aviation, even though both Turkey and Cyprus are members of ICAO.

Furthermore, he noted that Turkey, illegally and unfairly, does not allow Cyprus registered aircraft nor Cyprus registered airlines to fly within Ankara and Istanbul FIRs, in violation to the Air Transit Agreement.

“The above has a tremendous negative impact on the competitiveness of the airlines established in Cyprus, since they must fly longer routes, which also results to the increase of their CO2 emissions” he underlined.

The fact, he said, that Turkey refuses to cooperate with Cypriot authorities, resulted in the abolition of direct communication between the adjacent Area Control Centres of Nicosia and Ankara, in violation to the provisions of ICAO Chicago Convention and its Annexes and European Law for the establishment of the Single European Sky.

In addition to this, Turkey is engaging in various acts in contradiction to ICAO and European law, such as the promulgation of illegal Notams affecting Nicosia FIR, the execution of military exercises without appropriate coordination and the refusal to cooperate, Nicolaides pointed out.

Moreover, he said that the intensification of violations by Turkish military aircrafts and drones in the Nicosia FIR and the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus, demonstrates more strongly the aggressive and illegal behaviour of Turkey towards the Republic of Cyprus, an EU member state.

“The authorities of the Republic do their outmost to maintain high safety levels within the Cyprus FIR, yet those actions by Turkey give rise to potential safety risks. I therefore urge you, all participants of this event, to exert all your influence and to all you can speak to, to convince Turkey, to, I personally say, to ‘come to their senses’ and not politicise safety” he underlined.

He reiterated that “we will never get tired and we will continue to ask for cooperation with Turkish authorities, as we had repeatedly done in the past and as we did recently, so that we establish the necessary communication.”

President of the European Association of Aviation Training and Education Organisation (EATEO) and Director General of the Italian Civil Aviation authorities Alessio Quaranta said that EATEO made a proposal to carry out a study assessing the safety situation in the conflict areas of the Middle East and the training that is required to bring these states to a level where international and European standards are applied.

Addressing the event on behalf of the Director General of Eurocontrol, Director of the Maastricht Upper Area Control Center John Santurbano said that it is important to realise that we should invest in innovation and called on everyone to contribute to improving the safety and capacity of the air transport sector and successfully manage issues related to tackling emissions, use of digital transformation and investing in innovation, while supporting the collaboration of all stakeholders.

We can deal with any crisis, he said, ” by being agile and competent and by investing in innovation and partnership so I invite everybody to improve safety and capacity and to deal with the issues of CO2 and non CO2 by using digital transformation by investing innovation as such by supporting the partnerships of all actors”.

That’s the only way we can be successful, he concluded.

FSF – MED Chairman Chrysos Hadjichrysanthou said that given its small size and limited means, FSF MED has produced a considerable amount of work which is generally considered useful to flight safety and other aspects of aviation related to the interests of Cyprus and the region.

The FSF MED together with 11 other European organizations, participates in an important program of the EU which is related to the preparation of common standards and regulations for drones, he added.

These are complex issues, he pointed out, involving many players and as such can only be dealt with effectively if they are placed in the framework of a strategy.