New name for Ercan?
ERCAN airport could be renamed after the late Turkish Cypriot leader Dr Fazıl Küçük, President Ersin Tatar indicated on Tuesday.
Mr Tatar said he was in favour of changing the airport’s name once the new terminal, the construction of which has been beset by delays, is completed. The government must approve any name change.
Mr Tatar said that he had consulted with Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu about the proposed new airport name and that they were “pleased” with the idea. President Tatar noted that the name Ercan, taken from the Turkish pilot Major Fehmi Ercan who was killed on the first day of the Cyprus Peace Operation, could be given to Geçitkale airport.
He made the comments following a meeting with the chair of the Dr Fazıl Küçük Foundation board of trustees Mehmet Küçük and his associates.
During the meeting, President Tatar stated that Turkey and the
Turkish Cypriots had taken an “historic step” at the “five-plus UN informal meeting” held in Geneva last month and underlined the dangers of the “federation thesis”
for Turkish Cypriots.
Explaining that a single sovereignty federal structure within the
EU would mean that Turkish Cypriots would come under the rule of the Greek Cypriot side, President Tatar said: “The Greek side’s concept of a federation is not the same as ours. The game was over in Geneva.”
Referring to a statement made by Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades on April 1 claiming that “Cyprus is a Hellenic island, Eoka are the heroes of the independence of Cyprus”, Mr Tatar asked: “What kind of an agreement can be reached with this mentality?”
Drawing attention to the “pivotal role” Dr Küçük played in history and the importance of his contributions to social solidarity and national consciousness, Mr Tatar said that he closely follows the activities of the Dr Fazıl Küçük Foundation.
Naming the new airport terminal under construction after Dr Fazıl Küçük would send the world a “strong message regarding the struggle for freedom of Turkish Cypriots” Mr Tatar noted.
“With the torch that Dr Küçük lit, the Turkish Cypriots have a sovereign country,” he said. “Important successes can be achieved in the region with the solution that envisages the cooperation of two sovereign states.”
Mehmet Küçük informed President Tatar about the activities and problems of the foundation. He then presented him with a letter requesting the airport be named after Dr Fazıl Küçük, including the reasons why, along with copies of books published by the foundation.
❐ SELEN Ercan, the granddaughter of Fehmi Ercan, wrote on social media on Thursday that President Tatar has shown “great disloyalty to my martyred grandfather and all the martyrs of the Cyprus Peace Operation, which has deeply hurt us”.
Ms Ercan said that she has launched a petition on Change.org called “Ercan Havalanının Ismine Dokunma” (Do not touch the name of Ercan airport).