TRNC Waited Far Too Long

TIME waits for no man, so the saying goes. And time certainly did not wait for Turkish Cypriots to regain statehood and their sovereign rights in Cyprus. In fact, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) had waited for far too long - 37 years to be exact - for the Cyprus problem to be settled. And this is at the expense of its economic development.
In the TRNC, the economy has always been second to freedom and settlement. In fact, under more strenuous circumstances from 1963 to 1974 - at the height of the one-sided war against the Turkish Cypriots and the brutal massacres of their men, women and children - it had no economic life at all.
For 27 years since Turkey intervened in Cyprus in 1974 - which put a stop to the one-sided war - the TRNC leader, Rauf Denktash's priority was to regain statehood and the sovereign rights of the Turkish Cypriots in Cyprus.
His priority remains but the TRNC leader realised that one of the ways to gain international recognition is to be strong economically.
"For a very long time, we waited, from year to year, for the Cyprus problem to be settled. We woke up all of a sudden and realised that the Greek Cypriots were using the negotiating table to gain time and the time they gained, they embedded themselves more and more as the Government of Cyprus at our expense.
"The continuation of the talks was working against us because they (the Greek Cypriots) were telling the international community that the Government of Cyprus was talking to the minority (Turkish Cypriots). All these came to light eventually," he said.
During these so-called talks, the TRNC's economy remained static. On top of that, it is slapped with a partial but very damaging economic embargo by the south. This has further stifled growth. Athough the TRNC's economy has gone bad, Denktash still sees light at the end of the tunnel.
"It is still in existence. It still has a foundation on which further improvements will be made."
When the Americans, British and other Western diplomats told him how bad the economy was and to hurry up and accept Greek Cypriots as the government and get it over with, Denktash said: "I asked them if they are not ashamed... (they) allowed Greek Cypriots' embargo to continue for so many years against us... an illegal embargo, not sanctioned by the United Nations. They obeyed it, they accepted it."
TRNC has to, among others, pay Customs duties for exports to Europe, which the south is exempted from. TRNC does not get any aid from other countries either compared with the south which continues to get all the foreign aid to develop their economy.
Ahmet Aker, who is in charge of economic affairs in the TRNC, said the northern side also has limited right of travel and communications. It also has no right to do business and to trade.
"But we have been able to expand with Turkey's help. And we will continue to do so with Turkey's support."
Turkey is the only government which recognises TRNC's existence.
Aker described TRNC's dependence on Turkey as "the support that compensate the disadvantages that we face as a result of the embargo imposed on us. Remove the embargo and we shall need no help from Turkey.
"The fact that Turkey is close, not only in terms of physical distance but also coming to our rescue, is a great consolation. Our people are confident that we will resolve our problems with the efforts and contributions of Turkey."
The TRNC, he said, asks for no special privileges. All it wants is the right to equal opportunity and the possibility to compete in the international economic arena.
"We have been in existence for the last 27 years as a democratic republic. "It does not matter what you call or label us, (but) you cannot deny our existence."
The backbone of the economy in the TRNC is the agriculture sector but its share of the gross domestic product (GDP) is decreasing from year to year. The mainly agriculture-based TRNC economy underwent a major structural transformation with the expansion of its industrial and services sectors.
While the share of the agricultural sector of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) dropped from 17.3 per cent in 1975 to 9.3 per cent in 1990, that of industrial sector rose from 8.3 per cent to 18.4 per cent. Last year, the agriculture sector was 7.6 per cent of the GDP.
The TRNC now sees tourism, services, light industries and electronics as its main economic sectors.
Where manufacturing is concerned, there are small-scale enterprises manufacturing cosmetics and in food processing, garment making, meat-processing and citrus-processing.
Looking ahead, Denktash sees potential in turning TRNC into a distribution centre for, not only the 65 million population in Turkey, but also Europe as well.
"The idea of creating free trade zones (FTZs)... to spread their goods from the centre of the Mediterranean to all directions, I think is a very good beginning."
In TRNC, there is already the 115-acre Famagusta Free Port and Zone, offering foreign investors opportunities for transit trade as well as manufacturing opportunities.
Among the activities that can be undertaken in the zone is the assemblying and repair of any kind of ships, banking and insurance services, transshipment and re-export activities and manufacture af all kinds of industrial products. The free port and zone is totally exempted from controls and regulations regarding trade and finance, which are applicable within the TRNC.
The TRNC will also introduce incentives to foreigners who invest less than US$5 million (US$1 = RM3.80) and additional incentives to those who bring in more than US$5 million. Good tax reductions will also be given regardless of nationality.
There are also monetary and fiscal incentives for those who want to invest in the tourism and education sectors in the TRNC. These include free availability of land and also deferment of taxes for 10 years.
The TRNC is also looking at cutting down red-tape by setting up one-stop centres to attend to the needs of the foreign investors.
At present, TRNC has trade relations with some 70 countries. It mostly imports from these countries. Most of its imports are from Japan, in the form of electronic products and vehicles.
While there may still be hindrances in its move towards economic development, Denktash said his people will not be waivered.
The people in TRNC - from its leaders to the lowest paid of personnel - have previously survived on STG30 (STG1 = RM5.54) each a month. The Red Crescent had sent them food but was stopped at the Famagusta Port as the Greek leaders said taxes should be paid for it. Still, the Turkish Cypriots are unmoved in their fight for their rights.
They said "first my freedom, my rights". "We are very sorry for our people who are suffering economically," Denktash said, apologetically. "They are not at fault but we know they will bear with us until the economy improves and they will not ask anyone to bargain on their freedom or their statehood.
"We can improve the economy any time but if we lose the statehood, the sovereign rights of the people, we will not get it back," Denktash said.