A STRANDED yachtsman, his boat flames off the shores of Kyrenia, is unlikely to care if his rescuers speak Turkish or Greek but the topic of who patrols the island’s waters has been a bone contention for almost 30 years.
On a calm, sunny Mediterranean day, troops from the north pretended to be stranded airmen, a yacht fire was staged with smoke bombs and the TCG Gelibolu cruised from “rescue” to “rescue” before a watching press corps and military observers.
Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash clambered the ladders and gangways of the Turkish frigate TCG Gelibolu (Gallipoli), buoyant in blue naval cap with gold crest, as it cut through shimmering and calm waters last yesterday.
He arrived on the ship, which was anchored off the coast of Kyrenia near the castle, aboard the frigates helicopter. He leaned over a rail and snapped avidly with his camera as helicopters and boats brought a total of 22 ‘rescued’ victims stranded at sea as a result of various mock accidents.
The Caner Gonyeli Sea and Air Rescue (SAR) exercises are the second of their kind, and for the first time Turkish Cypriot SAR teams based on the island conducted exercises within the north’s coastal waters. A large section of the event was conducted in international waters northwest off of the cape of Kormakiti.
Alarm bells rang in north Cyprus and Ankara last year when the government-controlled areas said they were ready to take over Sea and Air Rescue operations for the whole of the island from Britain’s sovereign bases. Britain has run SAR operations from its bases since the 1960s, initially because no-one on Cyprus was able to do it.
In an awesome display of speed, the 138 metre-long, 14 metre-wide, four storey-tall ship surged forward as it left the waters off of the shores of Kyrenia to accelerate to a top speed of 32 knots (roughly 70kph) or the speed of a small motorboat. The frigate was joined by a small flotilla of other Turkish naval vessels, coast guard vessels, and helicopters to support the search and rescue operations.
Though the mission was strictly humanitarian, the ship was armed with harpoons, a Surface to Air missile systems and guns for offence and defence. One Turkish military official on board said: “This is a peacetime exercise, it should not be politicised. We are talking about human lives here.
“The waters between the southern coast of Turkey and northern Cyprus are the second busiest sea lane in the region after the Bosphorus,” he added.
Speaking to the media after the exercises, Admiral Yener Karahanoglu, commander of the fleet in Turkey’s southern waters, said: “Search and rescue operations in Turkey and the rest of the world has attained great public approval.”
“As seas and air traffic throughout the world increases, and parallel to this, the number of non-seaworthy vehicles increasing together with the number of illegal immigrants furthers the necessity for search and rescue activities,” added Admiral Karahanoglu.
A noticeably tired Denktash also made an address after a long hot day under the Mediterranean sun, congratulating all that took part in the exercises. “These exercises proved one more thing. It proved that the agreements signed between Turkey and Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is not just a service to the Turkish Cypriot people, but to all of humanity,” said Denktash.
“The team that performed these exercises today proved that they are ready to serve and face any disaster and should be congratulated,” he added.
