The Turkish Cypriot authorities would have sent a helicopter to help fight the wildfire which killed two people in the Limassol district this week, had their offer of help been accepted by the Republic of Cyprus, according to a statement made by the north’s ‘prime minister’ Unal Ustel’s office on Friday.

The statement said the office’s disaster committee has been “closely monitoring” developments in the Limassol district, and that the Turkish Cypriot authorities “notified” the Republic “without delay” of its intention to help.

“The offer of assistance was made within a comprehensive framework which included all elements which could be used in firefighting, but the offer was rejected by the Greek Cypriot administration on the grounds that the fire was under control and help was no longer needed. However, when the TRNC made the offer of assistance, the fire was still raging,” it said.

It added that its offer of help “was not limited to land response teams, but was presented in a broader context, including firefighting helicopters stationed on the island”.

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As such, it said, “reports in some media outlets claiming that the TRNC only offered assistance with land rescue teams did not reflect the truth”.

“As communities sharing the same land, the same air, the same nature, we are taking a purely humanitarian stance, regardless of political aspirations. The TRNC’s stance is clear: in the face of natural disasters and humanitarian crises, we will continue to see it as a humanitarian duty to extend a helping hand to our neighbours,” it said.

It was government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis who had on Thursday said the Turkish Cypriots had made an offer of ground teams, saying at a press briefing that the government currently has at its disposal “sufficient ground forces”.

“Our needs concern mainly firefighting aircraft,” he added.

Four Turkish Cypriot politicians made public offers to help, with Letymbiotis referring in his briefing to an offer made by Turkish Cypriot Nicosia mayor Mehmet Harmanci.

Harmanci had said in a bilingual statement in Turkish and Greek that he had offered condolences to Limassol mayor Yiannis Armeftis and “stated that we are ready to provide all possible support to bring the fires under control as soon as possible”.

Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar had also offered assistance, saying, “we are all saddened by the fact that many settlements have had to be evacuated”, and adding that he is “closely monitoring developments”.

“We have stated that we are ready to contribute to firefighting efforts, as a matter of humanitarian responsibility, in the face of such disasters which threaten human life and the environment,” he said.

Likewise, Turkish Cypriot Kioneli and Yerolakkos mayor Huseyin Amcaoglu said his municipality has at its disposal workers who are “ready and trained to intervene in natural disasters”, and that they are at the disposal of the Republic of Cyprus should a request be made.

Turkish Cypriot Kyrenia mayor Murat Senkul confirmed that his municipality’s “natural disaster-trained municipal police unit” is “ready to respond” to the fire if requested.

“I hope there will be no need, but if a request is made, the Kyrenia municipality is ready to provide support,” he added.

Senkul was part of a Turkish Cypriot delegation which had visited the coordination centre in the Limassol suburb of Ypsonas, which had been set up to organise the response to the fire.

That delegation was led by Tufan Erhurman, who is set to challenge Tatar for the role of Turkish Cypriot leader at October’s election.

According to the Cyprus News Agency, Erhurman expressed “sorrow and solidarity” while in Ypsonas, and said that Turkish Cypriots “are ready to offer assistance for our common island”.

“Now is the time for solidarity. We are ready to help … The view we saw broke our hearts,” he added.