Download (28Mb) - LSE Theses Online

was made on the basis of a fixed income allowance to the head of each eligible
family. In 1964 the sum paid amounted to approximately £20 per month, a figure
that was paid to Turkish-Cypriots as members of military units or as public officers,
irrespective of rank. The Turkish Army Contingent received its own pay and
conditions as members of the Turkish Military. Payment for Turkish-Cypriot heads
of families through the military unit, provided income to most Turkish-Cypriots.
All able bodied Turkish-Cypriot men were members of military units which, in the
absence for many of other forms of employment 49 , became via the male head, the
source of all payment and food distribution. Through the medium of the family unit,
people either received financial assistance as members of an army unit or the army
unit organised distribution to known needy people within its area of opération.
However, the private sector was still permitted to operate; the public sector and the
military merely facilitated the distribution of aid, acting as an information service
and in some cases, a welfare and distribution service as well as an employment
service 50 .
Even during the period of total embargo in 1964, the central distribution of food in
the Nicosia enclave was organised by civilian authorities though the military played
a key rôle in distribution. Again because of spatial séparation of this the largest
enclave from both grain producing enclaves and from the coast, the provision of
grain to the mill in Nicosia and flour to the bakeries was co-ordinated by public and
quasi-public bodies. Despite the shortages deriving from the embargo and dislocated
production, the Turkish-Cypriot population were not issued with ration cards. As a
1/11/1969. Patrick (1976. op. cit., p. 108, p. 161) states that Turkish Cypriot sources confirmed a
slightly higher figure. In 1968 alone he claims Turkish aid amounted to £8,000,000 and by 1971 that
had risen to a total of £10,000,000. "The budgets were never published, nor were they dépendent
upon any form of legislative approvai. In these circumstances, the leadership's critics were free to
speculate about mismanagement or even misappropriation... " p. 161.
49 In December 1966 a UN report estimated that a third of the Turkish Cypriot population needed
some form of welfare. UN Security Council, Dec. 1966. "Report on UNFICYP and the Cyprus
situation for the period 11 June to 5 December 1966." NY. S/7611.
50 Patrick 1976. op. cit., p. 160, and Chapter 5, footnote 33.
140