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Increasingly however,
tourism dominateci Turkish-Cypriot foreign exchange
earnings, though it was not high on the state's agenda in the cruciai period before
1986. Concentrating on the most productive economic activities was not likely to be
the only, or even dominant priority of the leadership in the north immediately
following the war of 1974, even if it were possible in terms of financial and human
capital resources. Much as has been argued above about the south, other priorities
prevailed for policy makers in the newly ethnically homogenous north Cyprus
economy.
The Turkish-Cypriot community had experienced a long and slow recovery from the
economic collapse of 1963/4 before 1974 61 . That very graduai recovery must be
seen in the context of the rapid growth of the Greek-Cypriot economy which
averaged 9.8% GDP growth (at constant market prices) after the recovery of 1965,
until 1974 62 . Until the exogenous shocks of the Greek coup and Turkish invasion,
little changed in the separate economy of the enclaves, making it, if nothing else,
easier for the minority community to uproot itself once again; prior to which,
considerably lower than average Cypriot living standards prevailed along with low
growth, high unemployment and pervasive under-employment. After the 1967/8
relaxation of the embargo, things did improve (mostly due to increased co-operation
with both other Turkish-Cypriot enclaves, the Greek-Cypriot economy and the
possibility of increased co-operation with the Turkish mainland economy). It was
not until Turkish military success brought about de facto partition, that real
improvements in income, living standards, economic potentials and economic
diversification in the community really began to take effect. Seemingly, once the
politicai direction of the community corresponded with the leadership's optimum
61 Bicak H.A. 1993. "An Evaluation of the Turkish Cypriot Position. Debts of Greek Cypriot
Community". Paper submitted to the U.N. Représentative in Cyprus, table 3, P.8. Patrick 1976. op.
cit., pp. 109.
62 Republic of Cyprus, 1992. 1960-1990 Time Series Data. Nicosia: Dept. of Statistics and Research,
Ministry of Finance, p. 65.
263