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this was the point at which Denktash's NUP began to look abroad for friendly
capitalists, or latterly for successful Turkish-Cypriots, who could apply new capital
and acquired entrepreneurial skills to restructuring the economy of the north^.
Turkey did not seem to offer much hope of providing the necessary capital stimulus.
In March that year, the Ecevit Government fell and the military took over. The
Economist described Turkey as the "sick man of Europe again". At this point the
spot-light, in the form of a Turkish-Cypriot representative in London, fell on Asil
Nadir, a successful London Cypriot who already had some very small economic
interests in northern Cyprus.
When the Military took over in Turkey in 1980, Turgut Ozal (the former World
Bank economist) was put at the heim of economic policy ana began to introduce
open market reforms. In Aprii 1980 the first new commercial regime was drawn up
in northern Cyprus, with help from Turkish experts. The immediate impact of the
changes on the economy of northern Cyprus, was a significant rise in the cost of
living which was followed by a new wave of strikes and wage disputes as
disgruntled workers attempted to maintain real wages. By the June 1981 élections
for the President and the Legislative Assembly, "the left-wing parties could openly
campaign on the slogans of the 'down-trodden worker'...[which] owed a good deal
to the severe economic troubles..." 91
Unlike the south, northern Cyprus did not benefit from a period of reduced
industriai conflict. The immediate post war period, characterised in the Republic as
having historically a very low number of man-days lost in industriai disputes (see
Figure 2.23), did not seem to be followed in the north 92 . Whilst the war had for a
while homogenised preferences in the south, the threat from Turkey acting as a
90 Hindle T. 1991. The Sultan of Berkeley Square: Asil Nadir and the Thatcher Years. London:
Macmillan, p.ll.
91 Dodd 1993. op. cit., p. 119.
92 ibid., pp. 108, 111.
215