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http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e9f0f436-c577-11de-8193-00144feab49a.html

Turkish influx tests balance

Published: November 8 2009 23:14 | Last updated: November 8 2009 23:14

An evening scene in north Nicosia during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, with Red Crescent volunteers handing out the iftar meal that breaks the daily fast to a queue of shabbily dressed men, highlights social change in the self-styled Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

Most of those waiting in line were economic migrants from south-east Anatolia. More religiously and socially conservative than Turkish Cypriots, they are conspicuous on the streets of north Nicosia, because of their large families and their traditional village style of dress.

The migrants rent space in the dilapidated Ottoman mansions of Nicosia’s old city. Formerly grand Turkish Cypriot residences, they are now semi-derelict, their owners having moved to modern homes in the suburbs.

Greek Cypriot authorities call the immigration from Turkey a deliberate attempt at “massive colonisation” – a process that they claim is intended to change the demographic composition and “Turkify” north Cyprus, making reunification harder to achieve.

Turks have been settling in northern Cyprus since 1974 when immigrants from Anatolia were encouraged to come and work land abandoned by Greek Cypriots fleeing the invading Turkish army. The trend has continued intermittently since.

The precise number of Turkish migrants living and working in northern Cyprus is hotly contested, but figures indicate there are now slightly more “Turkish-origin people” – as they are officially known – living in north Cyprus than indigenous Turkish Cypriots in a permanent population of around 250,000.

The immigrant community is both ethnically and religiously diverse. Members of the Alevi sect, for example, who arrived in the first wave of immigration, have integrated successfully into secular, westernised Turkish Cypriot society and prospered.

Tekin Soylemez, an Alevi lawyer, settled in Cyprus after meeting his Turkish Cypriot wife at university, but says it took time to be accepted.

“To be from Turkey was difficult. I am also a Kurd, so that was really difficult,” he says. “And it was quite a long time before I was brave enough to say I was an Alevi.”

The most recent wave of Turkish immigration started in 2003, triggered by the opening of the Green Line, the unofficial border that divides Cyprus. Amid a construction boom on both sides of the island, Turkish workers arrived to replace Turkish Cypriots who crossed the Green Line daily to work at higher-paid jobs in the south.

The governing left-wing Republican Turkish Party, which wanted to introduce European-style labour practices, provided free education and healthcare to more than 30,000 immigrant workers who registered with their Turkish Cypriot employers, and their families.

The move has put a severe strain on public finances and medical facilities in the north, according to Hassan Gungor, an economist.

“It became common for people to wait six hours to see a doctor at the state hospital, or even wait all day and go home without getting medical attention,” Mr Gungor says.

Some Turkish Cypriots believe their identity is under threat. Murat Kanatle, general secretary of the New Cyprus party, says that, despite linguistic and religious differences and despite sporadic communal violence, the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities “have more in common with each other than with these people from Anatolia”.

But the Turkish Cypriot authorities brush aside ethnic and religious distinctions in the north. Immigration from Turkey had nothing to do with politics, according to Aytug Plumer, a senior official.

“Turks and Turkish Cypriots are all part of the Turkish nation. There are no cultural differences, and these people have integrated well,” Mr Plumer says.

Sevgi Tarhan, who campaigns for gender equality among mainland Turkish communities in northern Cyprus, takes a different view. A Turk who came to live in Cyprus after marrying a Turkish Cypriot, she works mostly in remote parts of the north among isolated migrant communities where pressure to conform to family and social traditions is strongest.

“One family will try to improve things for the daughters, allow them to get a job in the city, for example. Then the neighbours will come round and tell them they are letting down the reputation of people from Adana or wherever it is they come from,” Mrs Tarhan says.

The future of the Turkish immigrants is among the most sensitive issues facing Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders in the reunification talks.

Many Greek Cypriots who abandoned homes in the north in 1974 believe their chances of recovering property will be reduced unless some migrants are required to leave the island under the terms of a peace settlement.

Umit Alkan, a pastry chef at a Kyrenia hotel, moved to Cyprus 30 years ago from Kars in eastern Turkey. His children and grandchildren were born on the island, yet he is willing to leave if the current talks produce a settlement that requires his repatriation. “I will go back, I don’t want to be a problem,” he says.

But many Greek and Turkish Cypriots see Mr Alkan as an exception.