The Air Traffic Controllers’ Union (HTKS) has laid the blame for the chaos caused by the power cut at Ercan Airport today mainly at the door of the Transport Minister Erhan Arıklı, Yeniduzen reports.
A statement from the union said: “If the deficiencies at Ercan are not addressed one by one, strikes and protests will continue without interruption“.
Around midday today, there was a power failure at the Ercan Air Traffic Control Centre, and when none of the generators came into operation, all radars, meteorological information, phones, and radios were unable to function.
The statement emphasised that, “As a result, two planes coming to Ercan landed in Adana and Antalya, and one plane ready for takeoff could not take off“. The union continued its statement: “Numerous air traffic in the airspace narrowly escaped great danger due to the sudden interruption of service and communication. We were forced to transfer control of the air traffic in the airspace, without any errors in service, to Ankara and Nicosia control towers using unregistered and unsafe information exchanges via mobile phones and the internet. We cannot thank our colleagues enough who did their best and showed complete success in crisis management. The crisis we experienced/encountered is a situation that the entire transportation community should be ashamed of“.
Regarding the statement made by Transport Minister Erhan Arıklı about “sabotage“, the union stated that it was unfortunate and strongly condemned Arıklı. The union’s statement continued: “Since they came to power, we have been experiencing the consequences of the deficiencies, negligence, and obligations that they have left unfulfilled in aviation. In such a crisis, coming out and saying that the incident could be sabotage is thoughtless. As the HTKS, we want to declare that we can no longer tolerate Erhan Arıklı’s efforts to evade responsibility with such shameless statements. If there is sabotage in aviation in the country, it is clear that it is a result of the negligence of those in charge who put Ercan in this situation, as evidenced by the crisis we are experiencing today. The biggest culprit of the crisis we are experiencing today is Erhan Arıklı. Without a doubt, if the deficiencies at Ercan are not addressed one by one starting today, strikes and protests will continue without interruption!”
