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This thesis has, however, argued against the dominant impression of a stagnant
Turkish-Cypriot economy 12 . Further arguing against the mainstream, 13 this thesis offers
some economic justification for division on ethnic grounds, both from a Greek-Cypriot
perspective (the surprising, given their rhetoric, but clear economic beneficiaries of
division) but also from a Turkish-Cypriot perspective (see pp. 302-303). However, this
thesis has also consistently argued that from the de facto division in December 1963,
the Turkish-Cypriot economy has been run with priorities other than economic growth.
For understandable and urgent reasons, security interests prevailed in the 1960s. The
suggestion here, based both on the qualitative and quantitative evidence presented
above, is that security continued to dominate decision making, even after it had been
guaranteed by Nato's second largest military force. As detailed in Chapter 3, 4 & 5,
economic growth, productivity gains and the general efficient exploitation of
resources, have not played as large a part in the Turkish-Cypriot leadership's decisions
as they have in the Greek-Cypriot community, partly because the Greek Cypriot's
economy has been more market driven and more open, and therefore has attracted and
retained more investment (which has helped it achieve a higher rate of growth and
therefore attracted further investment). The Turkish-Cypriot economy did not join this
virtuous circle. Security and political interests remained a primary concern amongst the
managers of the Turkish-Cypriot economy, almost as they had in the 1960's. The
difference for the Turkish-Cypriot community is that economic considerations now
play a secondary role in decision making to someone else's security interests. Northern
Cyprus has become a strategic buffer, protecting Turkey's under belly from real or
perceived threats from Greece and / or Syria. So security concerns still dominate,
affecting transparency and incentives to the extent that little entrepreneurial endeavour
flourishes for long, unless there are good political connections; what Julie Scott
referred to as "torpiF 14 .
12 Wilson R. 1992. Cyprus and the International Economy. Basingstoke: Macmillan, p. 132-4.
13 ibid., p. 134; UN Security Council, 17 December 1993. (Unpublished) "Report of the team of
experts on the economic benefits of the Varosha and Nicosia International Airport package".
14 Scott 1998. op. cit., p. 151.
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