The ‘isolation’ of Turkish Cypriots and its relevance to a constitutional convention

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Acknowledgement

This paper is adapted from the authors' book, Cyprus: The Post-Imperial Constitution (Pluto Press, London, 2009). We thank Pluto Press for giving us permission to reproduce some of its copyright material here.

Notes

¹ For the concept of ‘humbug/bullshit’, see Harry G. Frankfurt, On Bullshit, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 2005.

² Denktash, The Cyprus Triangle, Allen & Unwin, London, 1982, pp. 37–38, 46–47.

³ UN SC Resolution 186 (1964), which followed the withdrawal of Turkish Cypriots into militarily protected enclaves, recognized as the only legitimate government on the island that led by the Greek Cypriot president, Archbishop Makarios.

⁴ Turkish Cypriot liberal intellectuals and sections of the Left are in total agreement on this with the Greek side, see in particular Jon Hemming (Reuters), ‘North Cyprus: tied to “motherland”’, Kathimerini (English edn—insert in International Herald Tribune), 9 August 2000, p. 2.

⁵ We have ample historical evidence for this Turkish policy—see, for example, the works by Makarios Drousiotis, The Dark Side of EOKA (in Greek), EOΣτα´χυ, Athens, 1999; Ioannis Stefanides, Isle of Discord, Hurst, London, 1999; Neoklis Sarris, The Other Side (in Greek), Vol. 2, Γραμμη´, Athens, multiple editions, and many others.

⁶ Isaac Deutscher interviewed by Alexander Cockburn, Tom Wegraf and Peter Wollen, ‘On the Israeli–Arab war’, New Left Review, 1967, pp. 30–40.

⁹ Mehmet Ali Talat, ‘Turkish Cypriots’ expectations from the European Union', Turkish Policy Quarterly, Fall 2005, available at < http://www.devplan.org/Frame-eng.html>.

⁷ See, for instance, Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Operations in Cyprus, S/2004/437, S/2006/931 and S/2007/699.

⁸ Among others, European Council–General Affairs Council, ‘EU financial support for the Turkish Cypriot community’, Brussels, 6810/06 (Presse 60), 27 February 2006.

¹⁰ Morton Abramowitz and Henri Barkey, ‘Cyprus sabotage’, The Wall Street Journal, 9 October 2007.

¹¹ Among others, (Ambassador) Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis, ‘The alleged “isolation” of Turkish Cypriots: myth and reality’, PIO, Republic of Cyprus, 2005; ‘The economy of the occupied part of Cyprus: an assessment’, Ministry of Finance, Republic of Cyprus, June 2006.

¹² Independent scholarship also agrees with some crucial Greek Cypriot arguments, see, among others, Mehmet Ugur, ‘EU membership and the North–South development gap in Cyprus: a proposal’, in Vassilis K. Fouskas and Heinz A. Richter (eds), Cyprus and Europe: The Long Way Back, Bibliopolis, Mannheim, 2003.

¹³ The Republic claims that the total expenses provided for Turkish Cypriot social insurance pensions and social benefits were £6,760,390 (Cyprus sterling) in 2003, £12,658,297 in 2005 and £15,527,370 in 2006. Whereas between 1975 and 2002 the Republic issued to Turkish Cypriots 4192 passports, 2754 ID cards and 4538 birth certificates, the numbers between 2003 and 2007 soared—obviously because of the Republic's entry to the EU—to 45,488 passports, 74,620 ID cards and 79,898 birth certificates. See, Civil Registry and Migration Department, Republic of Cyprus, 2007 Data.

¹⁴ This is tantamount to saying that an Anglo-Saxon plan would have become part and parcel of the French–German historical attempt to politically unify Europe. This is why France has been a firm supporter of the Greek-led Republic of Cyprus throughout. On this, see also Vassilis K. Fouskas, Zones of Conflict, Pluto Press, London, 2003.

¹⁵ See, ‘Memorandum of Understanding between the Republic of Cyprus and the United Kingdom’, 5 June 2008, available at < http://www.number10.gov.uk>.

¹⁶ Mehmet Ugur, ‘EU membership and the North–South developmental gap in Cyprus: a proposal’, in Vassilis K. Fouskas and Heinz A. Richter (eds), Cyprus and Europe: The Long Way Back, Bibliopolis, Mannheim, 2003, pp. 121–133. Ugur's essay was written in 2002 and published in 2003.

¹⁷ Robert Solow, ‘A contribution to the theory of economic growth’, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 70, 1956, pp. 65–94.

¹⁸ Peter Samuelson, ‘International trade and the equalisation of factor prices’, Economic Journal, 58, 1948, pp. 163–184.

¹⁹ On this topic, see the work by Immanuel Wallerstein, Giovanni Arrighi and others.

²⁰ This adjustment is mediated by diminishing factor returns.

²¹ Turkish Cypriot authorities argue that they do so because the commodities are imported from a ‘third country’. This gives the Greek Cypriots grounds to argue that the motives of the Turkish Cypriots are political: namely, that they use the ‘isolation myth’ to gain political advantages—see, among others, the speech by the then Republic's Foreign Minister, Yiorgos Lillikas, at the 2006 Cyprus Independence dinner in London on 2 November 2007, available at < http://www.mfa.gov.cy/mfa/mfa2006.nsf>.

²² Peter Romer, ‘Increasing returns and long-run growth’, The Journal of Political Economy, 94, 1986, pp. 1002–1037.

²³ Paul Krugman, Geography and Trade, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1991.

²⁴ Turkish Cypriots still have ‘personal rights’ as EU citizens, but ASA falls outside the scope of EU legislation and fiscal reach.

²⁵ On this theme, cf. Vassilis K. Fouskas, ‘The Left and the crisis of the Third Hellenic Republic, 1989–97’, in Donald Sassoon (ed.), Looking Left, London, 1997, pp. 64–87; James Petras, Evangelos Raptis and Sergio Sarafopoulos, ‘Greek socialism: the patrimonial state revisited’, in James Kurth and James Petras (eds), Mediterranean Paradoxes, I. B. Tauris, Oxford, 1993, pp. 160–224.

²⁶ State Planning Organisation (SPO), Follow Up and Coordination Department, ‘Guide for foreign investors’, Nicosia, February 2007, p. 2. We are grateful to Huseyin Isiksal of Keele University for drawing our attention to the website of SPO, < http://www.devplan.org>. See also the pages with the main economic and social indicators of ASA, ibid.

²⁷ St Antony's College, University of Oxford, European Studies Centre, Workshop on Cyprus, 10–11 March 2006.

²⁸ We have compared here SPO data with those of the Statistical Services of the Republic. See also, Nick Kochan ‘Bring Northern Cyprus back into the fold’, available at < http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21774034/>.

²⁹ On these issues, see the comprehensive account by Nikos Skoutaris, ‘The application of the acquis communautaire in the areas not under the effective control of the Republic of Cyprus: the Green Line regulation’, Common Market Law Review, 45, 2008, pp. 727–755. The ‘Green Line’ regulation includes basically provisions on the crossing of persons and goods.

³⁰ Noe and Watson, ‘Convergence and reunification of Cyprus: scope for a virtuous circle’, ECFIN Country Focus, 2, 2005, pp. 1–6. See also, SPO main social and economic indicators, op. cit.

³¹ Ray Barro and X. Sala-i-Martin, Economic Growth, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1995.

³² Subrata Ghatak and Suha Fethi, ‘Economic growth in northern Cyprus: a co-integration analysis, 1977–1996’, Economics Discussion Paper, Kingston University Faculty of Human Sciences, London, 1999.

³³ Subrata Ghatak and Suha Fethi, ‘Economic growth in northern Cyprus: a co-integration analysis, 1977–1996’, Economics Discussion Paper, Kingston University Faculty of Human Sciences, London, 1999, p. 4.

³⁴ See Talat's interview to journalists after meeting the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on 17 October 2007.

³⁵ See, ‘Easing isolation, Turkish Cypriots to open trade office in Israel’, International Herald Tribune, 10 March 2008.