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Comparative troughs
In many ways the Greek-Cypriots were the (little acknowledged) direct economic
beneficiaries of the 1963/4 civil war, which effectively removed Turkish-Cypriot
compétition. Of the Republic "it can be said that for Cyprus, trouble became also its
salvation." 6
What Ozal Sarica meant by this was that as a conséquence of the
1963/4 violence, the economy benefited from the military multiplier deriving from
the permanent presence of over 2000 well paid UN troops, up to 12,000 less well
paid Greek troops, up to a few thousand even less well paid Turkish troops and the
new invisible receipt of Turkish financial assistance (which entered Cyprus via the
Central Bank). To that could be added the fact that Greek-Cypriots also benefited
from the Turkish-Cypriot retreat (as Turkish-Cypriots subsequently did in 1974/5
from the Greek-Cypriot retreat) by exploiting and over-riding property rights, when
they drove the Turkish-Cypriot community out of areas of weakness. 7
Greek-
Cypriots also benefited by monopolising public sector employment (30% of which
had been reserved for Turkish-Cypriots) and other sectors of the economy where
Turkish-Cypriot compétition could have been significane As a resuit of the events
of December 1963, the growth and development of tourism on the island almost
completely passed Turkish-Cypriots by 8 .
6 "Provisional Turkish Administration" 1970. The Economy of Cyprus and the Turkish Cypriot
Community Nicosia: Turkish Planning Organisation, p.ll.
7 See Patrick R. A. 1976. A Political Geographv of the Cyprus Conflict: 1963-1971. Ontario:
University of Waterloo, Dept. of Geography Publication Series No. 4, pp. 110-111.
8 Martin J. "The History and Development of Tourism", pp.340-342, in Dodd 1993. op. cit.
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