Crete, an Independent State?

The Irish airline, Ryanair, with its new commercial spot, is reviving theories on the independence of Crete.
How so? Ryanair, on a video showing the changes prepared by the airline for 2014, presents various destinations such as Nice, Lisbon, Berlin etc. One of these destinations is the Greek island, Crete, depicted with the flag of the period of the Cretan State (1896-1913).
Unlike the other cities with famous touristic monuments such as the Brandenburg gate of Berlin, the flag of the Cretan State with the “Sultan’s star” was chosen for Crete. This flag was a combination of Greece’s flag of 1822 with the Turkish one.
It is worth mentioning that the Cretan State was the official name under which Crete was recognized as a self-governed state, after the Cretan Revolution in 1896 and the island’s secession from the Ottoman Empire. It was then that Crete was under the protection of the Great Powers – Great Britain, France, Italy and Russia. This was a transitional stage before the union of Crete with Greece in 1913.
(source: Greekreporter, by Iro-Anna Mamakouka)