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dominateci by: textiles, footwear and processed agricultural products and by 1990, a
very high proportion were going to the United Kingdom (67.2 %) 88 . However, other
than the activities of Polly Peck in the period, most manufacturing enterprises were
conducted by either state or co-operative enterprises. It is then perhaps ironie, that
the Turkish-Cypriot leadership talked in terms of the free market when its market
was so constrained. In the south, while the Greek-Cypriot leadership talked in terms
of safety nets, subsidies and regulation, its market seemed to flourish.
Change in economic direction; rhetoric or reality?
In 1979 a major politicai split occurred over economic direction. Five years after
the war, the economy of the Republic of Cyprus was again growing rapidly, by
contrast the north was lagging. Even the "President" (Denktash) is recorded as
having ädmitted in his much quoted statement that: "we are in the middle of a crisis
both in our commercial and economic life" 89 . Two former Prime Ministers (Necat
Konuk and Osman Orek) broke from the ruling Party of "President" Denktash
(National Unity Party - NUP) and formed a new party (Démocratie Peoples Party)
favouring the re-establishment of a working relationship with the south (in an
"independent, non-aligned, bi-regional and bi-communal, sovereign, federai,
Cyprus Republic, purged of all foreign bases"). This, they hoped, would encourage
economic growth and development in the north for Turkish-Cypriots. Arguably this
encouraged the rump of the ruling party to look for an alternative route to economic
growth that did not necessitate politicai compromise. Tim Hindle has argued that
88 0lgun 1991. op. cit., p.16.
9 Halkin Sesi, 16/12/78, quoted by Dodd, 1993. op. cit., p. 177.
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