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Ultimately the failure to act on privatisation policy cornes down to a lack of politicai
will, and a seeming lack of economic priorities. (The Polly Peck episode was
unique and also derived from public sector initiatives 101 .) For too long, strategie
concerns have dominated Turkish-Cypriot policy makers and their Turkish advisors.
For as long as the latter carry with them a letter of indemnity from the Turkish
Treasury, under-writing the status quo, it will be a brave politician who challenges a
system that has proved both successful and generally populär (particularly if past
troughs - i.e. 1964 - are considered, as they generally are in the media and the
officiai rhetoric). The economy of the Turkish-Cypriot community has improved
dramatically in the past thirty years, (though this statement depends crucially on the
indicators, the weighting
and the base year used). No matter that the argument
suggests that it is unfortunate for the Turkish-Cypriot community, that history has
bestowed on Cyprus two différent processes of economic development 102 . Skewed
economic development and barriers to growth on both sides, seem to point to
significant complementarities from economic unification. More important than that,
international isolation and a settlement of the wider politicai problem, seems to be a
necessary prelude to increased efficiency and accountability. As elsewhere, rational
economic arguments may hold little sway with politicai elites who seem committed
to ensure that two différent and unequal economic realities survive. A separate
Turkish-Cypriot economy managed to survive as a resuit of sacrifice and, since
1974, improvised institutional innovation. However, short to medium term solutions
have continued into the long term, proving better at delivering initial results in the
reconstruction process, than sustaining or selecting quality investment over the
longer term. Ironically, a total commitment to separate communal development may
ultimately undermine the existence of a separate Turkish-Cypriot identity. The
continued widespread use of improvised public and quasi-public sector Substitutes
101 Hindle 1991. op. cit. p.ll.
102 Olgun 1991. op. cit. and UN Security Council, 17 December 1993. op. cit.
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