STATEMENT BY THE DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER AND THE MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS ASSOC.PROF. TURGAY AVCI

Following the news reports appeared in some of the press and media to the effect that the European Civil Aviation Organization, EUROCONTROL, had decided to establish an air traffic control centre in the Greek Cypriot side enabling the control of the military and civilian flights  over the whole of Middle East and the Southern Mediterranean, and that a ground-breaking ceremony was held on 1 March 2007 in South Cyprus for a unit to be funded by the EUROCONTROL, our Ministry has commenced the necessary investigations as regards to the truth of the matter, in consultation with the Republic of Turkey which is a member of the EUROCONTROL .

As a result of the initiatives undertaken, we have obtained the necessary information on this issue from the highest authorities. In light of the information we have acquired, we deem it necessary to inform the public of the following: We have learned that the construction of a new air traffic control centre in Larnaca has been launched with the sole objective of upgrading the current centre and that no financial contribution was allocated from the EUROCONTROL’s budget for this construction. Therefore, the assertions in the press are totally baseless.

We would like to stress once again that the Greek Cypriot administration has exclusive sovereignty only over the South of the island; does not represent the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and accordingly has no authority to enter into such arrangements in any platform, including EUROCONTROL, on behalf of Cyprus as a whole.  

20 March 2007, Lefkoşa.