Fact Check
By Turgut Denizgil
The lack of direct international flights to the northern part of Cyprus has long been a subject of political and public debate. Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhürman recently stated that the issue is being exaggerated, and argued that many island nations lack direct flights. For the purposes of fact-checking Erhurman’s argument, CIReN looked at flight routes both to island-states as well as non-sovereign islands, to see which ones do not have direct international flights and whether the situation in the northern part of Cyprus is in fact comparable.
The claim
According to reports published in the Turkish media, Erhürman, in an interview with a group of journalists from Turkey, said:
“We sometimes exaggerate the issue of the lack of direct flights. You can’t fly directly to many island nations in the world. You have to change planes to get there. But there’s an attraction there. Can you create that attraction or can you communicate the existing attraction? That’s where we have a deficiency. We still have an untapped area in tourism.”
Erhürman was speaking about the tourism sector, and his opinion that the northern part of Cyprus has not been able to establish itself as an appealing touristic destination despite the potential. In doing that, he was comparing the north to other islands that also lack direct flights, but have higher touristic appeal.
Methodology
CIReN reviewed flight routes for 47 island-states and 23 non-sovereign islands. The analysis is based on airport route data from publicly accessible aviation databases to identify which of these islands can be reached via direct international commercial flights without a mandatory stopover in a third country.
The facts
Due to the fact that the northern part of Cyprus is not internationally recognized, there are no direct flights to the breakaway state from any country except Turkey. The international aviation authorities do not recognize Ercan/Tymbou Airport in north Cyprus as an official international entry point. Therefore, international flights cannot legally land there directly. They must go through a recognized airport in Turkey, as it is the only country that recognizes the northern part of Cyprus as a state.
Although flight patterns may vary seasonally, CIReN’s analysis confirms that only 5 islands out of a total of 70 inhabited islands with at least one airport, systematically do not have direct international flights.
What is typical for island nations?
The data also shows that the vast majority of both island countries and non-severeign islands have direct international flights to at least two foreign countries, often across multiple regions.
Large island nations such as Japan, Indonesia, Ireland, and the United Kingdom operate extensive direct flight networks.
Medium-sized island nations – including Cyprus, Malta, Iceland, Mauritius, the Maldives, and Seychelles – have direct flights to dozens of countries across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa.
Even small island nations such as Samoa, Dominica, Saint Lucia and Tonga generally have multiple regional direct links to neighbouring countries or major aviation hubs.
The microstates of Tuvalu and Micronesia, with exceptionally small land areas, low populations, and status as isolated Pacific island nations, rely largely on flights from a single regional hub.
Non-sovereign islands
CIReN also looked into non-sovereign islands and whether most have direct flights or not.
According to our analysis, the only non-sovereign islands that do not have direct international flights are the very remote islands of Ascension (UK), Christmas (Australia) and Norfolk (Australia).
Limited exceptions – and why they exist
The dataset analysis identifies a very limited number of microstates or very small islands, primarily in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans with extremely limited direct air access.
These cases are all characterised by very small populations and extreme geographic isolation.
Ercan/Tymbou Airport in northern Cyprus: direct flights only from Turkey
The northern part of Cyprus differs fundamentally from the microstates and non-sovereign islands analysed above. It is not geographically remote, has a population of 476,214 according to the latest official data, and is located in the Eastern Mediterranean – a major regional aviation corridor.
Why the comparison does not hold
Erhürman’s claim conflates two very different situations where stopovers occur due to distance, scale, or market demand, and a territory in a major aviation corridor, where direct international air access is restricted due to political and legal reasons.
While stopovers are common in global travel, reliance on a single country for all flights is not typical even among most small islands..
The analysis shows that the northern part of Cyprus is not experiencing a normal phenomenon but a unique constraint.
Verdict – wrong
The claim that the lack of direct flights to the northern part of Cyprus is being exaggerated and many island countries lack direct flights is not supported by the data.
Moreover, the claim obscures the political and legal reasons behind the restricted air access to the northern part of Cyprus and attempts to present it as a normal and common feature of island geography.