Filenews 30 May 2021
The British government rejects any possibility of direct flights to the occupied territories in response to an online request by Turkish Cypriots on the official website of the British Parliament.
London made it clear that it "has no plans to authorise direct flights between the United Kingdom and the northern part of Cyprus", while noting that the United Kingdom recognises the Republic of Cyprus as the sovereign authority for the island of Cyprus.
The petition has gathered 12,400 signatures in the past four weeks and each petition with at least 10,000 supporters receives a response from the government.
Foreign Office officials stress in the official response that like the rest of the international community, with the exception of Turkey, Britain does not recognise the self-proclaimed "TDVK" as an independent state.
"The United Kingdom recognises the Republic of Cyprus as the sovereign authority for the island of Cyprus", it is stressed and invoked by a British court ruling from 2009 which stipulates that direct flights would constitute a violation of London's international obligations and an act "illegal".
Please note that the statement from the Foreign Office is the same as a previous corresponding response to a similar request to start direct flights.
Source: Eyenews/CYP
