Russia is preparing to launch air traffic with the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRK) and open the consular point in North Nicosia, this may happen before the end of the year, high -ranking informed sources told Izvestia.
According to them, the launch of flights and the opening of the point do not mean diplomatic recognition – this will be done to serve Russian citizens living in TRK, there are about 10 thousand of them, the interlocutors said.
Similarly, Western countries open their consular institutions in the northern part of the island, calling them “offices” and without specifying that they are in TRK.
In the parliament of Turkey, Izvestia said that Ankara would only welcome flights to TRK, but Turkey’s position on the Crimea is unlikely to change this step.
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On September 20, the Turkish newspaper Milliyet, citing sources, said that two Russian airlines plan to start flying in TRK. According to the publication, flights will be launched on November 15, when the new airport Erzhan (Ercan Havalimanı) will be opened in TRK).
Senior informed sources of Izvestia confirmed the information of the Turkish media, but clarified that we are talking about the initiative of one private Russian airline, and not about the national carrier of the Russian Federation. The second source of Izvestia, also familiar with the situation, added: the Russian Federation also studies the opportunity to open the consular point in the northern part of the island.
The Russian media notes that in the same way, Western countries open offices and consular representative offices in TRK. According to the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the republic, the country has the offices of Great Britain, Germany, France, Australia, Italy, the EU and the USA.
According to the interlocutor of Izvestia, the Russian Federation plans to act in the same way – in North Nicosia a consular point will appear, the air traffic will be installed with Erjan.