Erdoğan to visit TRNC on Republic Day, picnic in Maraş
TURKISH President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Turkey’s Nationalist Movement Party leader Devlet Bahçeli are due to travel to North Cyprus for tomorrow’s celebrations to mark the 37th anniversary of the establishment of the TRNC.
The pair will join President Ersin Tatar at the main parade in Lefkoşa while the Public Works and Transport Ministry announced on Thursday that all “chartered and non-chartered flights” in and out of Ercan airport have been banned from 10am to 10pm tomorrow due to “heavy VIP” air traffic.
Speaking at an event in Turkey earlier this week Mr Erdoğan repeated his plans to hold a “picnic” in Maraş.
“The TRNC has completed its [ presidential] election process. As a result, a brother who loves and embraces Turkey became the President,” he said.
“A new era is about to begin in the TRNC . . . We will be in the TRNC on November 15 with Devlet Bahçeli. We will attend ceremonies and have a picnic in Maraş.”
There was hive of activity in Maraş this week ahead of the visit, where workers have been busy planting and pruning trees and painting roads. Mr Erdoğan is also expected to officially open the new Turkish-funded emergency hospital in Lefkoşa. Official Republic Day proceedings
will start today with a BRT TV “Address to the Nation” by President Tatar accompanied by a 21-gun salute in Lefkoşa, a Public Information Department spokesperson told CyprusToday.
Wreath-laying ceremonies will then take place at the burial places of former Turkish Cypriot leader Dr Fazıl Küçük and TRNC founder Rauf Denktaş at 3pm and 3.30pm respectively.
Wreaths will be laid at the Atatürk statue in Lefkoşa at noon tomorrow before the main event on the capital’s Dr Fazıl Küçük Bulvarı at 12.30pm that will begin with the singing of the Turkish national anthem and the hoisting of the Turkish and TRNC flags.
Mr Tatar and Mr Erdoğan will then give speeches followed by performances from folk dancers from the Youth Department and an Ottoman-style marching band.
The ceremony will end with a military parade which will include a fly-past by Turkish jets, although there will be no separate air show above Girne, as in previous years, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
However a “kite flag show” organised by the Kite Federation will take place at 3pm today in Girne on the coastal strip between Dome hotel and the historical harbour.
Various sports events were held yesterday to mark Republic Day with more planned.