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een overcome to the extent that northern Cyprus declared itself independent, that
share of strategie commodities and materials gradually fell to below 30%, though
the CTCCB remained the sole importer of key agricultural inputs, such as fertilisers
and fodder composites.
Whilst it may have contracted in the depth of its opérations, the CTCCB has not
done likewise in terms of breadth. The organisation continued to expand the scope
of its economic opérations in the north, a sign of its relative economic strength, or
the continued weakness of alternatives. The main aim of the Co-operative Central
Bank and independent co-operatives generally, was to provide liquidity to their
members. All subséquent diversifications, such as the CTCCB into the Dairy
Products and Animal Fodder industries, allegedly followed these objectives;
however, the role of the co-operative movement is generally pereeived as more
strategie than that. Both the dominance of agriculture in the economy of the north
and the unique problems facing the région after Turkish military intervention in
1974, have led to those requirements being interpreted fairly liberally. Underlining
its dominant role in the economy of the north, there are currently 17 divisions of the
Co-operative Central Bank, 11 of which are in non-banking activities. All divisions
are directly under the authority and management of the Co-operative Central Bank
head quarters in Nicosia. A key aim of the CTCCB appears to be maintaining
industries that have a key supply or employment role in the "TRNC", particularly
those with direct and strategie links with agriculture. However, the continued
presence of such a large, centralised co-operative organisation in such a small
economy, appears to be another example of how short term expediency has been
carried into the long term.
Of the 6 Banking divisions in 1995, 5 are domestic branches and they all stem from
the Nicosia Banking Division which was established in 1959. Guzelyurt (Morphou)
and Iskele (Trikomo) are both relocated branches from Paphos and Larnaca
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