Turkish Cypriot businessman Asil Nadir has threatened to take the government to court after it nullified its agreement with him for the operating rights of Geçitkale Airport, Kibris Postasi reports.
“No one should expect me to accept the trashing of our Geçitkale Airport project and to keep quiet. My struggle is not for myself, but for our people and the TRNC“, he said
Nadir’s company Resource Consulting Services Ltd. won the tender for operating rights for Geçitkale Airport in 2010.
The government announced recently that Geçitkale Airport was to be handed over to the Cyprus Turkish Peace Forces Command, noting that Nadir’s company had not paid fees owed for operating rights and citing ‘force majeure’.
Asil Nadir, who issued a written statement on the subject, said, “I thought a lot before making this statement” adding that throughout his life, “I have never betrayed the just struggle of the Turkish Cypriot people, they are not politicians, they have no political goals, as a son of the Turkish Cypriot people, I have achieved great and social change”. He noted that he had always maintained opportunities for local potential, the importance and necessity of thinking in a holistic way about the world.
Regarding his operating rights at Geçitkale Airport, Nadir said that there had been a problem with high voltage lines installed in the area which prevented aircraft from landing, but no solution had been found as yet. He noted, however, that the contract periods had been extended by mutual agreement.
Nadir said that the airport could be used both by the military and civilian aircraft.
Handing Geçitkale Airport over to Cyprus Turkish Peace Forces Command as a landing site for Turkish military drones was wasting an opportunity to provide employment directly or indirectly for tens of thousands of people, Nadir said.
