No Direct Flights Between N. Cyprus and UK - UK Court

Cyprus Turkish Airlines (CTA) has lost a bid to overturn the ban on flights from the UK to Turkish-held northern Cyprus, said the BBC today.

The airline and its UK tour operator, CTA Holidays Limited, failed to secure a judicial review at Birmingham Civil Justice Centre, which said that lifting the ban would contravene the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation.

Foreign Minister Markos Kyprianou welcomed the decision, saying that "international conventions are being enforced and implemented and this is something the Turkish side must realise.”

“For us all movements – and we are the first to support the Turkish Cypriot community – must be made within the framework of international and European legitimacy," he added.

The airline's lawyers argued that the ban unfairly restricted Turkish Cypriots and their companies wishing to travel and conduct business with the EU and the rest of the world. Currently, flights to northern Cyprus must land in Turkey first, which is the only country in the world that recognises the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC).

Turkish-Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat said the decision "is a violation of Turkish Cypriots’ basic human rights to travel."