Turkish Cypriots await reward for ‘Yes’ vote

Date: 29/04/04

ON FRIDAY evenings Cyprus is united over huge trays of fish.

At Sezai and Yelken's restaurant in Kyrenia, Turkish Cypriot owner Sezai Kiraçoglu displays his singing skills, while a chain-smoking Greek Cypriot accompanies him on bouzouki.

Fuelled by wine and raki, the more boisterous diners start smashing plates.

A sun-kissed coastal town, Kyrenia lies in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), a state recognized only by Ankara.

The playing of Greek Cypriot music in local eateries is the product of last year's move to ease restrictions on Cypriots travelling across the UN-patrolled green line dividing the island.

That gesture prompted hopes that reunification of the island was on the horizon.

Last weekend, though, proved the optimism was premature. Some 75% of the Greek Cypriot electorate rejected the blueprint for ending partition sponsored by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

By doing so, much of the international sympathy the Greek Cypriots have garnered for their cause over three decades evaporated.

By contrast, the EU and the wider international community resolved to end the isolation of the Turkish Cypriots, 65% of whose voters supported the Annan Plan.

Being perceived as the "good guys" is a novelty for the Turkish Cypriots. For years, the outside world believed the main obstacle to a political settlement was Rauf Denktash, the man who proclaimed the state's establishment in 1983 and has been its president ever since.

True, Denktash was the most prominent Turkish Cypriot on the "No" side before last Saturday's (24 April) referenda, held simultaneously in the north and south.

Yet the diminutive octogenarian does not command the respect he once did. The younger generations seemed more eager to support Mehmet Ali Talat, their prime minister, who worked enthusiastically for a "Yes" vote.

Indeed, the media-savvy campaign run by his Republican Turkish Party appealed directly to the youth. Its newspaper advertisements announced that rock group U2 is planning its debut appearance in northern Cyprus. The claim was bogus but the small print explained such eventualities could arise in the case of a "Yes" vote.

There is a profound feeling among Turkish Cypriots that the international community has only paid heed to the Greek Cypriot version of recent history.

Many resent how the Turkish troops, who landed on the island in 1974 are regarded as an army of occupation. It is conveniently forgotten, they say, that it was Greek Cypriots advocating unity with "mainland" Greece who staged the coup the same year.

The Turkish army had to intervene, they argue, because Turkish Cypriots were being massacred, pointing to the discovery of mass graves as supporting evidence.

In truth, both Greek and Turkish Cypriots have suffered considerably in the past three decades. More than 160,000 of the former were driven from their homes due to the invasion. The latter, meanwhile, have endured an economic embargo.

This has been nowhere near as crushing as that imposed on Iraq during the Saddam Hussein era, which was blamed for leaving hospitals without basic medicines.

But it has contributed to the relative impoverishment of northern Cyprus, where the income per capita is around €4,500, according to newspaper Cyprus Today. The corresponding figure for "Greek" Cyprus is more than €15,500 - making it the richest of the EU's ten incoming member states.

Faced with limited economic prospects, the Turkish Cypriots emigrated in droves. The UK is estimated to have a Turkish Cypriot community of 250,000.

This could outstrip the total of Turkish Cypriots still living in their own country, given that the number of Turkish Cypriots registered to vote last weekend was 143,600.

One of the steps taken by Talat when he became premier earlier this year was to appoint Erhan Erçin as his EU "harmonization coordinator". The 28-year-old has studied in the UK and Turkey, as well as working briefly with the European Commission in Brussels.

"It would not be a humanistic approach to continue punishing the Turkish Cypriots now that we have voted 'Yes'," Erçin told European Voice.

"Under these circumstances, we are the ones in favour of peace, so we should be supported."

Erçin is working on practical proposals about how the embargo can be lifted. This could prove difficult for legal reasons due to a 2000 ruling from the European Court of Justice.

The Luxembourg-based body found that food safety certificates applying to imports from northern Cyprus could not be accepted, as they were not issued by a recognized state.

To bypass this ruling, it is likely the Turkish Cypriot administration will ask that EU inspectors be sent to northern Cyprus so that they can give the produce their seal of approval. As a result, it is hoped that exports of citrus fruits, olives, potatoes, dairy products and possibly meat from northern Cyprus to the EU will be facilitated in the near future.

Arguably, though, the most concrete manifestation of northern Cyprus' isolation is the ban on direct international flights there.

"We don't expect to have an opening of trade from day one," says Ali Erel, president of the Turkish Cypriot chamber of commerce. "It is going to take some creativity. But maybe we could find a way to have direct flights, even though this could be very difficult.

"The International Civil Aviation Authority does not allow airlines to fly directly to non-recognized states."

For the time being, the possibility that the EU could recognize the TRNC is remote. The southern Cypriot government would almost certainly block any such step.

Nevertheless, Tassos Papadopoulos, the Greek Cypriot president, has said he is open to all moves to ease the plight of the Turkish Cypriots, short of recognizing what he calls their "pseudo-state".

Mustafa Akinci, who leads the main opposition party in northern Cyprus, the Peace and Democracy Movement, has said that the TRNC could be accorded a similar status by the international community as that of Taiwan. This would enable the EU to steer away from formal recognition but to nonetheless allow free trade with the north.

Despite the embargo, a growing number of foreigners have been buying property in northern Cyprus. Some of the houses concerned belonged to Greek Cypriots before 1974. But there has also been a proliferation of newly built houses.

It is estimated that €124 million worth of property deals have been concluded in northern Cyprus between the easing of border restrictions in April 2003 and February of this year. A large number of buyers have hailed from Britain; regional English accents are now frequently heard on the streets of Kyrenia, for example.

German entrepreneur Peter Franzen is a consultant for Yesilada Bank in the Turkish Cypriot part of Nicosia.

Banks in the TRNC, he says, have been cut off from the rest of the world due to the embargo. They cannot, for example, join the SWIFT system for international money transfers.

"All the Swiss banks will not work with us," he adds. "The British banks are very difficult with us. The banking system here is completely underdeveloped. It is still in the middle ages due to this [the embargo] and also due to the fact there's no competition. But when the embargo is lifted, things will change very soon."

Yet the resulting economic developments will have both negative and positive consequences.

Those who have flocked to northern Cyprus because of the sun and unspoiled landscape are worried about what could happen if it encounters mass tourism, such as that found in the south of the island.

Its beauty could be marred by large apartment blocks but there are concerns too about the effects on flora and fauna.

The turtles at Alagadi beach, some ten kilometres from Kyrenia, could disappear if just one seaside bar is opened, for example (turtles are allergic to artificial light), while some botanists have calculated there are 30 types of orchids unique to northern Cyprus.

"We want special interest tourism, not the kind that has destroyed Limassol in the south," says Mustafa Akinci, a TRNC tourism minister in 1999-2001.

"I would very much like to see direct flights to the Turkish Cypriot north. They would provide a boost to the economy.

"Plus they would send a message to Tassos Papadopoulos' government that if it continues with the negative stand, then maybe the relations between the international community and the Turkish Cypriots will go to a point that he will not like."