The latest provocation by the Turkish state in the lucrative tourism / travel sector has focused on the occupied north of the eastern Mediterranean island republic, which Turkey controls militarily since an invasion in July 1974.
Dubbed “Island Cyprus”, the international advertising campaign echoes the ultimately failed “TurkAegean” promotion launched by the Turkish state tourism organization to showcase the western Asia Minor coasts along the eastern Aegean.
The “Island Cyprus” campaign was unveiled in Istanbul by Turkish Vice-President Cevdet Yılmaz, who claimed that the initiative will boost the tourism sector in the “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus”, a reference to the pseudo-state set up in 1983 by Ankara in the 37% of the island republic it occupies.
Yilmaz also reiterated the now mostly entrenched Turkish position of a “two-state” solution on Cyprus, in opposition to UNSC Resolutions and the positions of international and regional organizations, including the European Union.
Tourist arrivals to the internationally recognized Republic of Cyprus exceeded 3.7 million over the first 10-month period in 2024, marking a return and even surpassing of pre-pandemic levels.
In a bid to end its international isolation as a pseudo-state, the Turkish Cypriot administration in the occupied north has attempted to boost tourism, with the emphasis first in attracting Turkish nationals. Flights to the occupied territories are only conducted by Turkish carriers, while ferry boats link the mainland with occupied ports on the island.
Speaking at the same event, the leader of the Turkish Cypriot community and the pseudo-state’s “president”, Ersin Tatar, claimed that visitors arriving from Turkey to the occupied areas exceeds half a million a year at present.
