The north’s Gecitkale (Lefkoniko) air base “may be used” by the Turkish air force if tensions continue to rise in the Middle East, the north’s air traffic controllers’ trade union chairman Cem Kapisiz said on Wednesday.
Speaking to television channel Kanal Sim, he explained that Gecitkale (Lefkoniko) is currently being used by unarmed aircraft which operate in the region for “surveillance purposes”.
However, he said, “the war in the Middle East is getting hotter day by day”, and as such, “Gecitkale could be used if Turkey also gets involved in the tensions in the region.”
“There is always this possibility. When we think about our island and our status, and we see that our current politics is also warmongering, does the division of Cyprus and the potential of this division as it relates to Middle East’s tensions give the other guarantors a right to stop this?”
Gecitkale (Lefkoniko) airport was formally handed over to Turkey’s armed forces in January this year, having been used for military purposes since 2019.
The airport had seen regular passenger traffic as the north’s primary civilian airport between 2002 and 2004 while Ercan (Tymbou) airport underwent renovations but had largely remained unused save for recreational aircraft.
Previously, Turkey had briefly stationed six F-16 fighter jets at the airport in 1998 in response to Greece’s positioning of four F-16s and two Lockheed C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft at Paphos airport amid rising tensions between the two countries.
The airport had been leased to former Polly Peck and Kibris Media Group owner Asil Nadir between 2010 and 2023. He had harboured ambitions of transforming the airport into a VIP and charter hub, but the ‘government’ terminated their contract with him in January last year, citing his non-payment of mandatory fees and “force majeure”.
The “force majeure” in question is a stipulation of a contract signed between the north’s ‘government’ and the Republic of Turkey in 2010 regarding the usage rights of the airport.
Kapisiz’s words also come after the United Kingdom’s Akrotiri air base in Cyprus was most likely the launchpad for the military support offered by the UK to defend Israel from a volley of Iranian missiles launched on Tuesday evening.
On Wednesday evening, the British defence ministry announced that two Royal Air Force Typhoon fighter jets and one Voyager air-to-air refuelling tanker “played their part in attempts to prevent further escalation in the Middle East”.
Flights were diverted to Cyprus and missiles were visible from the island’s coastal towns and cities when Iran launched its latest round of missiles at Israel on Tuesday night.
The strikes come as a retaliation for Israel’s killing of militant group Hezbollah’s leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, after the country had already wiped out most of its leadership structure.
Israel had invaded southern Lebanon on Tuesday morning, having struck central Beirut with a missile for the first time since 2006 a day earlier.
