Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Tourism, Culture, Youth, and Environment, Fikri Ataoğlu has expressed strong criticism over a German-based tour operator’s recent email to travel agencies, where it referred to the TRNC as the “occupied northern part of Cyprus.”

Ataoğlu emphasized that determining the status of the TRNC is not within the purview of a German tour company.

He described the use of the term “occupied” by the tour operator, TUI, as unacceptable and scandalous.

In a statement to the press, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Tourism, Culture, Youth, and Environment Fikri Ataoğlu called on tour operators not to fall into what he described as the traps set by the Greek Cypriots, who he claims resort to various tactics every summer to undermine tourism in the TRNC and weaken its economy.

He noted that preventing tourists staying in South Cyprus from crossing into TRNC territory violates both freedom of travel and European Union free movement laws.

This controversy arose after TUI, a German-based tour operator, sent an email to its partner agencies stating that tourists visiting South Cyprus would no longer be taken on day trips to the TRNC, and that existing bookings would end on August 31.

The email, sent by TUI’s Cyprus Operations Manager Eva-Maria Scharin, referred to the TRNC as the “occupied northern part of Cyprus.”

President Ersin Tatar had previously highlighted that the Greek Cypriot Administration was illegally blocking the passage of EU and other foreign nationals who had already booked holidays in the TRNC.

Tatar accused the Greek Cypriot leadership of engaging in hostile actions aimed at undermining the TRNC’s tourism sector.

In recent developments, the Greek Cypriot administration has initiated legal proceedings against third-country nationals who have purchased property in the TRNC, accusing them of “pillaging Greek Cypriot property.”

In the past six months, two Israeli and one German national who had either bought property or engaged in real estate activities in the TRNC were detained in South Cyprus and brought to court.

The Greek Cypriot press recently reported that rentals and hotels in the TRNC were negatively affecting their own tourism industry, leading the Greek Cypriot side to take steps to block the entry of tourists who had made reservations in the TRNC.

Furthermore, they have issued threats of sanctions against tour operators and guides who facilitate such trips.