Cyprus-Forum.com

[halil]

Turkey will significantly boost its annual financial aid to northern Cyprus, announced the Aid Commission of Nicosia Embassy.
The planned amount of financial aid for 2008 is expected to be YTL 790.2 million. Last year, only YTL 550 million of a planned total of YTL 791 million was used. After deducting losses due to new exchange rates, a total of YTL 218 million is expected to be carried over to this year's projects.The terms of service for the assistance and credits supplied by Turkey were determined in the Protocol for Northern Cyprus Projects for 2008 Fiscal Year which was signed between Turkish Cypriot Prime Minister Ferdi Sabit Soyer and Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Çiçek.

[DT.]

We're so close yet so far...

AFX News Limited
Cyprus' 'AA-' long-term foreign currency IDR affirmed; outlook stable - Fitch03.10.08, 10:33 AM ET

(Thomson Financial) - Fitch Ratings said it has affirmed the Republic of Cyprus' long-term foreign currency issuer default rating (IDR) at 'AA-' with a stable outlook, and added that membership of the euro area and fiscal improvements over the last five years have helped Cyprus achieve its current ratings.

Fitch affirmed the country's short-term foreign currency rating at 'F1+', local currency IDR at 'AA-' with a stable outlook, and the country ceiling at 'AAA'.

The country formally joined the European Union on Jan 1, 2008.

[Tim Drayton]

Few people ever ask why a developing country like Turkey pours so much money into her puppet regime in the north of Cyprus.

Part of an interview with Aydan Karahan, who served as the Turkish Republic’s Ambassador to Cyprus in 2004-2006, by journalist Hasan Hastürer published in Kıbrıs on 20 May 2006 helps to shed light on this matter (original text + my translation):

“Ayhan Karahan-
[…]

Kıbrıs Türkü’nün refah düzeyinin Güney’deki komşuyla aynı refah düzeyine gelmesi, hatta onun üstüne geçmesi o tarihte hedefti, bugün de hedeftir.

Hasan Hastürer- Yani Türkiye, Kıbrıs Türkü’nü Anadolu’nun bir kenti ya da bir bölgesiyle değil, Güney Kıbrıs’la kıyaslayarak refah düzeyi bakımından bir yerde görmek istiyor.

Ayhan Karahan- Otuz sene önce de böyledydi, bugün de. Anadolu, Türkiye ile mukayeseyi Kıbrıs’ı ziyaret eden Türkiyeli biri söyleyebilir. Resmi sıfata haiz kişiler olarak bizim talımatımız, tüm planlarımız söylediğim doğrultudadır. Kıbrıs Türkü’nün refah seviyesini, Güneyde’ki komşusundan aşağı göremeyiz.

Çünkü şuna da en başta ben inanıyorum ki Kuzey’le Güney arasındaki refah çizgisi birbirine yaklaşmadan çözüm olamaz.”

***

TRANSLATION

Ayhan Karahan-
[...]

The aim was for the standard of living of the Turks in Cyprus to rise to the same level as that of the neighbours in the South, or even to rise above it, and this is the aim today.

Hasan Hastürer- So, Turkey wishes to see the Turks in Cyprus enjoying a standard of living on a level comparable to South Cyprus, and not to a town or region of Anatolia.

Ayhan Karahan- This was the case thirty years ago, and it is today. A mainland Turk visiting Cyprus can make the comparison between Anatolia or Turkey. As persons engaged in an official capacity, our instructions and all of our plans were directed towards the aim I have mentioned. So that we may not see the living standards of the Turks in Cyprus at a lower level than that of their neighbours in the South.

Above all I believe that there will be no settlement until indicators of living standards in the North and South are at similar levels.

***

So, the cat is out of the bag. Turkey is not bailing out the Turkish Cypriots from the goodness of her heart, but for tactical reasons.

I don’t know how many Turkish Cypriot motherland lovers have ever been to the east of Turkey. I personally have visited Kars and it was an eye opener. It is one thing to hear about the difference in living standards between the west and the east of Turkey and another to experience it first hand. Just think. Turkey is devoting resources that could otherwise be devoted to lifting her own citizens out of abject poverty to raising Turkish Cypriots’ living standards to first world levels. With the aim of strengthening Turkish Cypriots’ hand in negotiations. Remove a potential settlement from the equation and will Turkey continue to bail out the north of Cyprus? Or, if partition is made permanent and the north of Cyprus becomes a province of Turkey, will the tap be turned off and living standards there eventually fall to those seen in a province like Kars today? I think this is a question the partitionists need to address.

[Nikitas]

The dude will not even stoop so low as to use the word Greek or the phrase Greek Cypriot. Not hard to see where he is coming from. It is incredible that this interview was recorded in the 21st century. If there was no date it could easily have passed for a 19th or early 20th century text.

[Nikitas]

Some details escape the diehards in the north. The wealth in the south, as the wealth in the northern part of the island before 1974, is CREATED wealth. The economy is competitive in real world terms and self sustaining. It is not the result of handouts and subsidies handed down from above with all the distortions that such a system entails, some of which are emigration of the indigenous people, and unemployment. The north has not cultivated the channels and means for creating wealth, and should the aid from Turkey cease then what?

Artificially raising the standard in the north also poses the question of who will continue to foot the bill if a settlement is reached and Turkey has better things to do with its money.

I have not been to eastern Turkey, but a trip to Kusadasi years ago was an eyeopener. Once you go past the thin veneer of the hotels on the coast and see inland you realise that the living conditions have a ways to go before they catch up to even the poorest parts of Cyprus.

[souroul]

so, how much is that in Euros? like 5000?

[zan]

Some details escape the diehards in the north. The wealth in the south, as the wealth in the northern part of the island before 1974, is CREATED wealth. The economy is competitive in real world terms and self sustaining. It is not the result of handouts and subsidies handed down from above with all the distortions that such a system entails, some of which are emigration of the indigenous people, and unemployment. The north has not cultivated the channels and means for creating wealth, and should the aid from Turkey cease then what?

Artificially raising the standard in the north also poses the question of who will continue to foot the bill if a settlement is reached and Turkey has better things to do with its money.

I have not been to eastern Turkey, but a trip to Kusadasi years ago was an eyeopener. Once you go past the thin veneer of the hotels on the coast and see inland you realise that the living conditions have a ways to go before they catch up to even the poorest parts of Cyprus.

We have been through this before Nikitas.....The TCs have not been allowed to exist so how the hell would you expect them to create wealth.....When I was there six about seven years ago the hotels were empty because the mayor of london illegally stopped advertising for holidays

[Viewpoint]

Some details escape the diehards in the north. The wealth in the south, as the wealth in the northern part of the island before 1974, is CREATED wealth. The economy is competitive in real world terms and self sustaining. It is not the result of handouts and subsidies handed down from above with all the distortions that such a system entails, some of which are emigration of the indigenous people, and unemployment. The north has not cultivated the channels and means for creating wealth, and should the aid from Turkey cease then what?

Artificially raising the standard in the north also poses the question of who will continue to foot the bill if a settlement is reached and Turkey has better things to do with its money.

I have not been to eastern Turkey, but a trip to Kusadasi years ago was an eyeopener. Once you go past the thin veneer of the hotels on the coast and see inland you realise that the living conditions have a ways to go before they catch up to even the poorest parts of Cyprus.

Your economy hangs on the shoe string of English tourist handouts if they are turn to a new destination which is very likely if you do not upgrade you would soon find it hard to sustain your current standards. Then you are hypocritical enough to continue and compare the advantages of sole recognition and all its advantages pitted against our non recognition and isolation, shame on you Nikitas all us the advantages you see fit for youselves with no restrictions and see what we can do, give us 5 years and the economy of the north will have passed that of the south.

[DT.]

Some details escape the diehards in the north. The wealth in the south, as the wealth in the northern part of the island before 1974, is CREATED wealth. The economy is competitive in real world terms and self sustaining. It is not the result of handouts and subsidies handed down from above with all the distortions that such a system entails, some of which are emigration of the indigenous people, and unemployment. The north has not cultivated the channels and means for creating wealth, and should the aid from Turkey cease then what?

Artificially raising the standard in the north also poses the question of who will continue to foot the bill if a settlement is reached and Turkey has better things to do with its money.

I have not been to eastern Turkey, but a trip to Kusadasi years ago was an eyeopener. Once you go past the thin veneer of the hotels on the coast and see inland you realise that the living conditions have a ways to go before they catch up to even the poorest parts of Cyprus.

Your economy hangs on the shoe string of English tourist handouts if they are turn to a new destination which is very likely if you do not upgrade you would soon find it hard to sustain your current standards. Then you are hypocritical enough to continue and compare the advantages of sole recognition and all its advantages pitted against our non recognition and isolation, shame on you Nikitas all us the advantages you see fit for youselves with no restrictions and see what we can do, give us 5 years and the economy of the north will have passed that of the south.

don;t think so...the emphasis is now to move to the majority of the GDP to the financial services. Already one of the largest banks in Eastern EUrope is a Cypriot one.

The plan is to move to Singapore type economy and so far its working. Tourism will be a bonus.

[souroul]

Cyprus peace would bring in billions, say academics



12/03/2008



Cyprus' economy would gain at least 1.8 bln euros on an annual basis if there was a reunification deal on the ethnically-partitioned island, economists said.



Economic benefits would come mainly from new business opportunities with Turkey, tourism revenue and construction, the survey sponsored by the Norway-based PRIO peace institute said.



"Translated into household income the annual dividend per family comes to approximately 5,500 euros per year," PRIO said. That represented 20% of the average income of Greek Cypriots, and 40% of Turkish Cypriots, it added.



Economic disparities between the two sides are huge. Gross domestic product in the south was 15.5 bln euros in 2007, and approximately 2.0 bln euros in the north in 2006, according to the latest data available.



The authors of the report, Fiona Mullen, Özlem Oğuz and Praxoula Antoniadou Kyriacou, based their projections on a seven year gameplan if a settlement were reached in 2009, and using Greco-Turkish trade relations, which have flourished in the past decade, as their reference point.



According to their calculations, if Cyprus were reunited, the recurring annual benefits to Cypriot businesses in the first seven years after reunification would generate, on average:







· EUR 510 mln per year in additional exports of goods and services to Turkey, of which EUR 385 mln would be tourism and EUR 22 mln would be transport;

· EUR 393 mln per year in new business for construction companies;

· EUR 155 mln per year in new business for real estate companies;

· EUR 316 mln per year (excl. new business from Turkey above) in new business for local tourism enterprises;

· EUR 162 mln per year of additional revenue for the university education sector;

· EUR 103 mln per year in additional income for Cypriot accounting and legal firms;

· EUR 184 mln in new foreign direct investment (excl. construction and real estate above) into Cyprus.

The survey added that the annual boost to business — the annual peace dividend — would rise from EUR 283 mln in Year 1 to EUR 3.9 bln, or 10% of GDP, by Year 7.



The peace dividend is the equivalent of approximately EUR 1.8 bln per year (over CYP 1 bln or more than YTL 3 bln).



If this is translated into the annual dividend per family (household) in Cyprus, it comes to an annual peace bonus of approximately EUR 5,500 per household per year.



This calculation is the least that can be expected since it focuses only on the sectors that stand most to gain. Moreover, the peace dividend calculated could be almost doubled if important regional developments, such as new business from the Baku-Ceyhan oil pipeline (EUR 1.3 bln) and the implementation of the Ankara Protocol (EUR 187 mln per year) are taken into account.



The Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) is financed by the Norwegian Research Council, the United Nations and the World Bank.




keep in mind, thats in euros:)