Exports to Turkey from the occupied north’s Ercan (Tymbou) airport have all but ceased, according to reports on Friday, with no specially designated controlled section having been created for cargo exports on the site.

News website Haber Kibris reported that at present, only blood and dead bodies can be safely exported out of the airport, and that “the root of the problem lies in the failure to create a separate and controlled customs area during the construction of the new Ercan airport”, which was opened in 2023.

Since then, it reported, both imported and exported cargo has been processed in an area which was originally designed to be used as a carpark.

That area has no fewer than eight separate entrance gates and an x-ray machine which was described by the website as “inadequate”.

It stated that last summer, Turkey’s general directorate of state airports authority (DHMI) had found “around 40 deficiencies” in the handling of cargo set to be exported from the airport, and that since then, “a significant portion of these deficiencies have not been rectified”.

As such, it reported, Turkey’s flag-carrier airline Turkish Airlines “has stopped accepting export cargo departing from Ercan”.

Turkish Cypriot customs department Sinan Oztekin told Haber Kibris that “the problem stemmed from the cargo warehouse not meeting international standards”.

“This is not a situation caused by us. The responsibility lies with T&T, the airport’s operator. The commitments made were not fulfilled,” he said.

He then added that “we want the situation to improve as soon as possible”, and suggested that “if we start building it, Turkish Airlines may see our good intentions and start accepting cargo”, before saying that “we will request this from Turkey”.

On this front, he said that it is planned for the matter to begin to be dealt with within the next week or two.

Turkish Cypriot post office director Yakup Iskender, meanwhile, told the website that since August 14, post bound for Turkey and the wider world, which amounts to around a tonne of cargo per day, cannot be sent by air.

He said that as a result, with the exception of blood and dead bodies, mail is now being sent by sea.

“It is not our fault. They are keeping us waiting,” he said, before adding that sending mail by sea increases the time required for it to reach its destination.