No flights from Russia to occupied Cyprus

Moscow and Nicosia are growing further apart on travel between the two countries, prompting Russians living on both sides of the divided island to look for new routes through Turkey after rumors of direct flights in the north subsided due to the Cyprus problem.

Local media picked up on a flight cancellation this week, after a biweekly Turkish Airlines flight from Trabzon to Ercan Airport in the Turkish-occupied part of Cyprus was to be launched on Monday but was rescheduled due to bad weather.

Flight TK4305 between the Black Sea coastal town and Ercan, which is not recognized by countries except Turkey, is still to be launched after alleged attempts failed to establish direct flights with Moscow.

Turkish-Cypriot media reports have been suggesting that Moscow was open to establishing direct flights with the north, but Russian officials failed to confirm any such plans.

“Russia’s position on the Cyprus settlement has not changed. Moscow is not conducting negotiations on the opening of direct flights between Russia and northern Cyprus,” an embassy spokesman told RIA Novosti back in September.

Media speculation that Turkish Cypriots could be closer to getting direct flights from Russia was prompted after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in September called on the international community to stop imposing sanctions on northern Cyprus.

Direct flights to the island’s north have been politically unworkable due to the division of the island, which has remained ethnically divided for half a century. But Russians living in the recognized southern part of Cyprus have also been looking for new routes through Turkey.

In April, Greek-Cypriot union officials got wind of a trend where Russian tourists were traveling to the south through Turkey but they were not sure whether this would be a short-lived trend.

According to PEO union official Panicos Ierarchis, the trend among Russian tourists was being monitored, while hotel union boss Philokypros Rousounides estimated that travelers through Turkey were a small number while some also flew through other states such as Serbia, Georgia and Kazakhstan.

Russian media say Foreign Ministry sources have linked air routes and efforts to offer consular services in the north to support some 10,000 Russians who live there.