TURKEY WANTS to stop bankrolling the regime in the north by introducing a series of privatisations in key sectors, it was reported yesterday.
According to Turkish Cypriot press, the Turkish diplomat stationed in the north, Halil Ibrahim Akca, called for a reduction of the financial assistance given by Turkey to the Turkish Cypriots.
The diplomat reportedly spoke about the need to redirect the hundreds of thousands of dollars in Turkish aid given annually to the breakaway regime from paying the salaries of public sector workers to investment and growth in the private sector.
Akca said Ankara will no longer finance airports, electricity production, telecommunications and the ports in the north, instead encouraging their privatisation.
He further highlighted that when Ankara hears of Turkish Cypriots spending money south of the buffer zone in the government-controlled areas, this makes the Turkish government more reluctant to continue propping up the regime.
The Ankara government, and in particular its Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, believes the Turkish Cypriot authorities spend too much of the approximately US$600 million worth of aid it gives on public sector salaries.
Tomorrow, Turkey and the Turkish Cypriot leadership will celebrate 29 years since the unilateral declaration of independence of the ‘Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus’ which the United Nations Security Council condemned in two separate resolutions.
However, relations between Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots have become increasingly tense in recent years as the latter warn of losing their identity as a result of direct rule from Ankara and the continuous policy of sending mainland Turks and Turkish private capital to the north of the island.
Early last year, Turkish Cypriots held a number of mass rallies in north Nicosia, with thousands of people filling the streets, protesting against an Ankara-inspired economic austerity package and against the privatisation of key enterprises being sold off to mainland Turkish business interests.
Demonstrators held banners calling for self-rule, and against interference by Ankara. Rally-goers carried banners calling on Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party to “get your hands off the Turkish Cypriots”. Some protesters were seen attempting to put up the Cyprus Republic flag on the walls of the Turkish ‘embassy’ in the north, to the displeasure of the mainland Turkish press.
In turn, Erdogan brazenly called Turkish Cypriots “ingrates” for protesting on the one hand while being fed and maintained by Turkey on the other.
The Turkish PM further raised the ire of Turkish Cypriots by replacing his ‘ambassador’ to the north with Akca, the chief architect of the austerity package, who made the recent comments on the privatisation of the north’s key sectors.