British lawmaker calls for direct flights from UK to Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus

By Zuhal Demirci

LONDON (AA) – A ruling Conservative Party lawmaker on Thursday called for direct flights from the UK to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC).

Iain Duncan Smith sent a video message to the Turkish Cypriot community living in the UK as part of the sixth Cyprus Turkish Culture Festival held in the capital, London.

In his message, Smith pointed out that Turkish Cypriots living in the UK cannot travel to the TRNC by direct flight, and called for the launch of direct flights to the TRNC.

"I will continue to talk to the government to see if we can resolve this very simple matter, and we should try to do that," he said.

Since the UK does not recognize the TRNC as an independent state, there are no direct flights from the country to the TRNC. Turkish Cypriots living in the UK can fly to the TRNC via Türkiye or the Greek part.

Turkish Cypriots have launched a petition titled “Allow direct flights to TRNC” many times.

After the campaign exceeded 10,000 signatures, the British parliament announced in a statement they had no plans to organize a direct flight to the TRNC.